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time limited demo

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Beginners Area/time limited demo

shawnus(Posted 2008) [#1]
what is the best way to limit your application to eg 5 minutes playing time so that when the time expires the application exits, please?


Kev(Posted 2008) [#2]
my software protectors enable trial mode, although the trials only run in days.

see sig for link

kev


shawnus(Posted 2008) [#3]
Kev, thanks for this.

Kind rergards, Shawnus


andy_mc(Posted 2008) [#4]
put something like gametime = millisecs() a the start of the code

then put in the main loop:

if millisecs() - gametime = 300000 then end


then it'll quit the game instantly as soon it's been running five minutes.


shawnus(Posted 2008) [#5]
Andy_mc, thanks for the reply- I will try this.

Kind regards, Shawnus


Ginger Tea(Posted 2008) [#6]
then it'll quit the game instantly as soon it's been running five minutes.


pleas pleas please route it to some code that takes you to a splash screen telling you your time is up and not just drop you back to windows unceremoniously as people will think its a bug and not buy the full game if they find themselves booted out all the time

someone posted a developers blog where they checked to see if you were running a pirated version or a known bad key and would quit you out willy nilly
it got reported as a bug even though it only affected pirated games but it damaged the games rep
but he said if he took em to a splash screen that would just be worked around by the crackers and then they would be playing just as much as the genuine gamers

...

and 5 minutes seems short to me
if its just a demo and not an "enter regeistration key to unlock" program then just limit what you put in

eg imagin playing tetris and finding out you've run out of bricks "sorry the demo has run out of bricks ... for more bricks please buy this game online"

limit the amount of levels found in game it is a demo after all
R-type end of level boss #1
you encounter boss #1 and instead of being able to shoot at him he says "you have reached the end of the demo, to defeat me please buy this game online"

5 mins might seem long for casual games like bejewled and match3 etc but i think its way too short fps'ers more so