itch.io Community » General » General Discussion

System requirements

A topic by Hodslate created Mar 31, 2024 Views: 660 Replies: 14

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Hodslate258 days ago

I've seen a lot of games lately that are fairly slack on system requirements and file descriptions. Have seen a few that claim to support windows, Linux and Mac only to find .exe files inside and nothing else inside the folder. x86/x64 should be mentioned as I'm sure there is potentially a small minority of people running 32 bit windows 10 still. There is still some 32bit Mac games here from 2013ish-2018 which won't run on Catalina and higher which is now 6 years old. There's games claiming to be N64 and PSX. They don't run on these consoles and it's misleading to release a game with a PlayStation logo on the spine of the cover. There are games here designed specifically to run on older consoles. Making a mock up game that is 'inspired' by SNES,PSX, N64, Dreamcast etc is fine but if it runs in 'windows' it's a windows game. It's not inside a Gray cartridge you can physically use. I just feel like some Devs could tidy up this area with just some basic hardware requirements eg.

Minimum Operating systems

Minimum CPU speed

Graphics requirements

File size is automatically shown on download page so that's all good.

It's pretty simple most versions of game engines specify what they can compile for. Be nice to see this included on a games homepage.

No Time To PlayModerator258 days ago(+1)

If you find games that claim to run on more operating systems than they actually support, please report them (as miscategorized) so staff can fix the metadata. That said, it's a good point. Maybe we could use a dedicated rubric in metadata, if it didn't mean even more fields to fill in.

Funny story: I once had the opposite problem, when someone running Win64 couldn't run my game made for Win32 and I didn't know how to help. (Not having Windows, my builds are tested in Wine.) Turned out there's a compatibility mode you have to enable, but that was very close to being a refund.

Maidelen258 days ago

With the years a "Low requeriment games" means 8 GB of RAM and a i7 CPU, and in the future it will mean even more. But, I think it would be a basic solution to categorize the games with the three labels (low, medium, high). Just thinking if requesting all the devs to put the requirements is more complicated.

Hodslate258 days ago

I'd put it far lower than that. I had somebody messaging me a while ago on a some kind of celeron under 1.5ghz with 64mb graphics maybe 1 gig of ram. Pretty sure it was windows 10.

The bottom end would have to be Pentium 3 or 4 surely or an early 32bit core duo. There are also still PowerPC machine running modern versions of Linux. Single cores under 1.5ghz. Be rare to encounter but still out there being used.

Hodslate258 days ago(+1)

1 more thing to add itch.io has uploaded games dating back 10+ years. Most versions of unity around that era could compile for Windows XP still. I remember even AAA games as late as Skyrim supported XP. AAA games still support windows 10 now. Time doesn't move as fast as people think.

The infine one258 days ago

To Make Easy For You Most Games On This Webiste Can Run On A Pc With A 4gb Ram

Hodslate258 days ago

Exactly probably even less

The infine one257 days ago

Rpg maker Games : 1.5gb To 4gb Ram

Shitthy Horror Games : 1gb To 2gb ram

Visual Novel: Same As Shitthy Horror Games

Palformar: 3gb ram

Shooter : Rare Expection 8gb ram [ Overkill the Game ] but Most 4gb Ram

Graphics : Rpg maker [ If You Pc Can Handle Final Fantasy 1-6 Pixel REMSTER You Are Good To Go

Shitthy Horror Games : Pc Can Handle Sonic Adventre 2 You Are Good To go

Visual Novel : Not Much Graphics Card Power Needed

Plaformar : Same As Rpg maker

Shooter : Ranged

Hodslate257 days ago(+1)

Solid breakdown there my friend

The infine one257 days ago (1 edit)

What Game Where You Trying That You Came To This Issue

Hodslate257 days ago

It was this battle of Agincourt game. Had Mac Linux and windows selected as it's platforms. I downloaded and only found an exe in the folder not the other 2 platforms

The infine one257 days ago

Your Lucky. I Got Scamed Once

redonihunter258 days ago

Most games here run on a toaster. It is not that the typical dev here even has the ability to test low power systems or different operating system or has an understanding what to test for. They use an engine. Unless that engine is something like Unreal, the answer to most system requirements is: if your rig can run the browser you used to download the game, your rig probably can run the game.

Or in other words, if asked, I imagine the typical answer to the question of minimum system requirements would be: how should I know? I just downloaded that engine and made my game in it and clicked the export button.

In yet other words, if they can't run the itch app, chances are, that many games also will not run.

Hodslate258 days ago

I've never used the itch app. Don't forget there are also games that would be downloaded here on a computer and exported to other systems via USB/discs etc.

I know of a couple games here that have been played on a 486 from the early 90s

There is also going to be the issue of lack of compatibility etc as tech moves on and some of the earlier games on here become harder to run.

redonihunter257 days ago

The itch app uses a chromium browser under the hood. Similar to the steam app.

Games released for old system probably do a better job stating system requirements. New games would run in the browser, if exported as such, that's where the browser "test" comes from. I should specify that you need a modern browser, capable of html5 and all the bells and whistles. Or at least be capable to run such a browser at a practical and not a theoretical level.

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