Deployment strategies for IP safeguards

[BreakerZero]

This is the most logical place I could think for this, but has anyone ever put any consideration toward deployment of a finished game with respect to asset safeguards (e.g. spoiler prevention, IP theft etc.)? I ask because I recently got the idea to run slideshows during setup and unfortunately NSIS (when I originally envisioned Inno Setup) has a logbook feature that you either expand, show or switch off. This is also true when you uninstall - very annoying if you don't want spoilers in either part of your setup routines... or even worse in the case of asset trolls. And conventional methods for an in-place replacement (like a slideshow, for instance) don't seem to work on Windows 10 from everything I tried off the official sourceforge.

Or maybe you want to provide information during setup and you find a way to script a choreographed full-screen overlay to take things further (and even replace what you intended to have on the install page itself) and settled on building a customized status app (something built in Visual Studio, for instance). And by doing so you thereby push the actual install to the background while a choreographed progress bar and introductory slideshow plays in the immediate view of the end user (preferably with just a few minor spoilers if you absolutely have to for basic training purposes, background information, etc.) And then you do the same for upgrade purposes (reuse the same Visual Studio project or a duplicate copy) while setting NSIS to detect an uninstaller saved to local application resources (something like C:\users\digeca\appdata\local\game\uninstall.exe) in the event that registry detection fails (which I somehow ALSO noticed on Windows 10). And then you bring up the uninstall progress version of the information app set with a sort of "out with the old to bring in the new" advisory displayed while rollback is commenced so the end user doesn't lose his **** over the delay in setting up the latest release of your game.

With that part now said, does anyone here think of any other reasonable safeguards that could also be considered?

 

[Poryg]

Before I start talking about IP safeguards, I have one note to make in regards to your idea.
Please, save yourself the unnecessary effort.
We're in 2018, the times when "it is recommended you close every program before installing this" are long gone. I don't have to stare at the install screen anymore, I can just minimize it and do something else. Not to mention, 7200 RPM drives are becoming standard and installation runs very fast. In fact even on a 5400 RPM drive I've been able to install a 10 GB game in mere 20 minutes. So unless your game has a disgustingly large size, don't even bother with slideshows. It is a waste of time and effort.

And last but not least, I don't appreciate programs hiding files in my appdata. I have no idea where this phenomenon came from, but I separated my drives to C and D for a reason - C for my system to have the advantage of SSD's fast boot, D for data. And SSD drives have low durability; 500k writes and that chunk is no longer usable.

Anyway, the only really safe asset protection is file encryption with decryption code stored in a server. However, this requires internet connection... And unless the game has multiplayer, players are not going to appreciate it.
Anything else fails on the fact that the computer cannot understand things implicitly, so for example decryption needs to be in a readable form for the computer... Which I can have fun with in the memory.

 

[Kes]

[move]RPGMaker MV Deployment[/move]

 

[BreakerZero]

Part of the AppData situation is UAC (read: the system function that keeps your program files and other important things locked down on Vista and later) so unfortunately we're stuck with it. Also I have modified the installer to put a guaranteed hide-away there for app removal because of what I ran into on Windows 10 pertaining to the registry method (which is for upgrade purposes) and this will now will allow me to move the actual game files elsewhere now that I have debugged that portion. Additionally, this is probably only going to serve for self-paced deployments under select circumstance (direct download off the mirror host and not by service download methods) once I get that part figured out. And I have accounted for the actual average install time already as a consequence of the development process.

So what I'm doing this for is built around spoiler aversion and upgrade procedures while keeping the end user informed. May be a bit long-toothed these days as you have accurately noted but for my needs I still have a place for it as it's a part of the presentation and serves to provide end users with background information and some useful advice before the game is ready.

EDIT: Forgot to mention this but you obviously don't have to stick around for the whole thing. On top of that, my vision is heading into supersize territory anyway and I don't want total boredom either. That's why I have both the slideshow and an audio clip going at the same time, with the audio clip going off from the outset to completion while the slideshow takes over during the file copy portion.

EDIT 2: Didn't notice the discussion area for deployment matters (I'll have to make note of it) as this is literally my first query about this for just being at this point of developing my project.

EDIT 3: Ran into a snag with NSIS relative to the uninstall phase so I'm rolling it back and going with the actual install location for its output until I can build a strategy for dealing with this one (which probably means another Visual Studio job is due). Also, on a semi-related note I'd like to know what you think about temporary checkpoints relative to work-in-progress material such that when I implement the option to "keep your logbook information" the end user can save at designated points without losing progress and pick up again when the material for that plot detail is fully, completely and totally implemented.

 

[BreakerZero]

Another thing I noticed is that I need to be sure that in addition to the main deployment I have a preview of sorts to offer. Using my strategy of field advice during setup, would it be fair to include the same information as in the full game even when you're doing a trial run off the preview edition? Reason is that I just put my package to MSRP for the rest of the early access process.

With that I'm shifting back to Decision 2018 until my next question comes due.