Creating A Game/App Installer - Tools and Best Practices?

Hi,

I am new to the Windows platform (having been a Mac user all my life) and am soon going to need to create an installer for the playable alpha of Jetboard Joust.

Ideally I’d like the game to install as one ‘package’ rather than a folder of separate .xnb and .dll files etc but I don’t know if this is even possible or what people would normally expect on Windows.

I will also need to install dependencies, of which OpenAL is the only one of which I’m aware. I’m using the WindowsGL project in MonoGame.

Does anyone have any sage advice for me? From scanning threads I’ve seen NSIS and Inno Setup as recommend tools to make installers. or maybe it’s completely acceptable just to zip up the folder Visual Studio creates and distribute that for the alpha?

Any pointers appreciated.

cheers

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