Topic by jack 2012-02-18 19:40:42

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Hi all,
I'm proud to present you with game launcher alpha0.1. Though not actually considered a game itself it's a neat little app that I created to make it easier to launch games, in terms of not having to unload your screen reader. Yes, you can launch games without a screen reader, but it would take going through hundreds of desktop items and if you were to launch it from the start menu you'd have to remember where they are which is quite tedious. If you remember the menu that Jim Kitchen has for his games, this is what it's like. Sorry xp users, the thing won't work for you right now, but I'll release an xp version for you soon. This is because windows7 installs games in c:\program files (x86 and whatever directory the game is installed in, but xp installs it in to c:\program files. So you'll be getting a different version of the game. But now, for windows7 users,
download it here
Since this is an early alpha, it'll only have 3 games for you to launch, but soon I'll add more. note, you must have these games installed in the directory that it is launching the game from, otherwise it won't work.
best regards,
Jack

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Reply by gamecreator 2012-02-18 21:00:40

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no, my friend. that is not the question. IT uses the same folder, but if you have windows 7 64 bits it apears the program files (x86) folder. I am not sure how it works in windows xp 64 bits... never tried it.

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Reply by brad 2012-02-18 22:22:32

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hi.
i'm sure this is a great program but i don't see the point in it. when you can just run a game from the desctop or program menu in all programs.
sorry.
brad.

I'm gone for real :)

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Reply by jack 2012-02-18 22:26:57

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Hi Brad,
It is possible to do that, but when you get like 800 desktop icons like I do it can get tough and tedious.
best regards,
Jack

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Reply by robjoy 2012-02-19 00:55:29

  • From: Budapest, Hungary
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Hi,
Thanks for creating this.
However, as Brad mentioned, I don't really see the usefulness of this utility. At the moment I have 80 icons on my desktop and I have no problems getting to any of those icons.
Another thing is that as far as I know the only screen reader which has issues with audio games is jfw. But even then, its much easier to launch the game, create a jcf file with sleep mode enabled, save and forget about it. You would not need launchers.
One quite important thing you also forgot to mention, what games can it launch at the moment?
Btw, just because of these tons of negative, yet I think constructive, comments don't feel bad. It has potential. For instance, if you could expand it to be able to store urls, programs or any other file people would like to add, you could end up having your very unique generic launcher. Which, imho could be very handy in lots of cases.

Rob

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Robjoy, AKA Erion
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You can also stop by for a slice of Pi

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Reply by bryant 2012-02-20 04:16:34

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Hi jack.
Rob and brad are right, though don't feel bad, because like rob said, it has potential.
What i do to launch games is just create a desktop hotkey, or use the search box in the win7 start menu to find it easily. But like i said, this does have potential, if you could expand it to include other things.

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Reply by jack 2012-02-20 17:22:49

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Hi,
Yes, it can't do a lot right now since it's only alpha2. Alpha2 adds chainsaw and giftanum to the games menu so now you can launch beep, chainsaw, danger city, fart man and giftanum. And yes you can put jaws to sleep, but that doesn't always work. Plus there's window eyes users on here who have the same problem.
You can
download it here
best regards,
Jack

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Reply by jack 2012-02-20 18:36:44

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Hi all,
Here you go, game launcher alpha3.
click here to download it
Enjoy!
best regards,
Jack

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Reply by Nocturnus 2012-02-20 19:59:57

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Moderation!
Jack, doubleposting is a no no on the forum.  It is possible to edit the last post you made and add anything you want to it.  Having consecutive posts can clutter up a topic that people want to read through quickly.

That aside, I'm glad to see everyone being civil on the whole.  Though the feedback has been generally negative, it has not been destructive.  This is the kind of discussion we try to encourage out here.  Keep it up, guys!

When life gives you oranges, demand lemons since everyone else is obviously getting them.

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Reply by jack 2012-02-20 20:30:46 (edited by jack 2012-02-23 05:01:43)

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Sorry, forgot about that. I'll be careful. And yes, I want would appreciate positive feedback. I wrote this thing so you can launch games in an easy to use selfvoicing menu without having to mess with screen reader settings. Yes, you can put Jaws to sleep, but it sometimes doesn't work and you have to unload jaws. And it's tedious and redundant to make a jcf for every game over again especially when upgrading to a new version it would be a lot more eficient to just have a simple menu to launch these games without even having to start the game and then kill your screen reader.
I've now released alpha4. You can now launch beep, bomb stopper, chainsaw, danger city, fartman, fire run, giftanum, the grizzly gulch gunfight, kringle crash and num crunch.
download it here
best regards,
Jack

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Reply by blindncool 2012-02-23 20:55:25

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Nice work Jack. I think it will be  a very very very useful tool for me. Thanks for making this! I'm going to download it.

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Reply by keyIsFull 2012-02-24 00:05:38

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is first letter navigation possible? If there are to be hundreds of games in the launcher, you may want to add a first letter navigation feature or a way to view games by category or developer.

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Reply by jack 2012-02-24 00:39:57 (edited by jack 2012-02-24 00:54:29)

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Hi Keyisfull,
Can you do first letter navigation in bgt?
Xp users, there's good news!
game launcher alpha5 for xp
Please note, this version won't be updated every time the regular one does since this'll be only updated if there's a major change like several games added. By the way, this one adds pipe1.0 to the menu. And now,
download alpha5 for windows vista and 7 here
Enjoy!
best regards,
Jack

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Reply by keyIsFull 2012-02-24 13:12:19 (edited by keyIsFull 2012-02-24 13:13:35)

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If you want first letter navigation, you'll have to pt it in yourself because there's no other way to do it. And also, None of the games launch because in vista, there is only a program files folder, and no program files x86 folder. So all vista users should run the xp version because it works.

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Reply by djrockmasterrob 2012-02-29 05:18:17

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hey where can we get all thees games that can be launched? I ownly have a few of the games

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Reply by jack 2012-05-30 23:45:04

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Philip, in the next revision of bgt could you include something like
menu.enable_first_letter_navigation= then the normal true or false. If true, if you press an items initial letter it will quickly go to items starting with that letter, sort of like what Tom Ward does with mysteries of the ancients.

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Reply by philip_bennefall 2012-05-31 01:03:19

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It is certainly something I can look into. I might add an optional parameter to the function that adds a sound item where you can specify the textual name as well, in order to make first letter navigation work for all items.

Kind regards,

Philip Bennefall

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