The OS lacks the open nature that indie developers like

Aug 7, 2012 13:51 GMT  ·  By

Indie video game developers have offered their opinions on the upcoming Windows 8 operating system for the PC, which Microsoft will be launching late this year, and it seems that most of them see its closed-down nature as a potential problem.

Chris Delay, who is the lead designer at Introversion, has told Games Industry that, “I really hate the general concept of 'closing down' Windows, and this seems to be where Microsoft are intending to go. Nothing scares me more than the thought that one day, all Windows apps may have to be certified by Microsoft before they can be released and installed on users’ computers. That just fills me with dread because I've been on the receiving end of Microsoft's certification process for Darwinia+.”

The developer went on to detail how hard it is to launch content on the Xbox Live Arcade series and his fears that the same tough certification will make it harder for indie teams to launch their own content on Windows 8.

Jonathan Blow, the designer of Braid, was also asked about the impact of Windows 8 and said that he lacked a lot of information but the overall concept shown by Microsoft is not encouraging.

Chris Hecker, who is working on Spy Party and has long been a Will Wright associate at Maxis, added, “I don't actually know much about Windows 8, to be honest. I tend to treat those kinds of things as 'the weather'; as a developer I can't control it. The variable I have direct control over is game quality, and so if I turn that up as high as I can, I have to assume there will be some place to sell my game when I'm done.”

Microsoft will launch Windows 8 on October 26, 2012, with a new interface and core file system.