retro-compatibility of modules. Why is it useful?

[Monsieur OUXX]

Is retro-compatibility of custom-script really useful? Do people creating a new game choose to make it with an old AGS on purpose, or am I missing something like "DOS users can only use AGS versions older than x.y" ?

[Ashen]

I think it's there partly because not everyone updates all the time. The move through 2.62, 2.7, 2.71 to 2.72 happened quite quickly (compare the gap between 2.7 and the first 2.71 beta with the gap between 2.72 and the 2.8 betas - for a while there was a new version at least once a month), and breaking compatability between releases would have pretty much crippled anyone already working on a game, but wanting to keep up. So, I guess it's not so much people starting a game now choosing to "make it with an old AGS on purpose", as people who've already started a game in an older AGS choosing whether or not it's worth updating. (Hell, there're still people plugging away at games started in 2.62...)

Oh, and according to the version history, 2.31 was the last DOS based version, and 2.62 was the last that could produce DOS exe.