Topic: What screen resolution to use, for a project completing circa 2010? (Read 14775 times)

Mutinate · « **on:** July 02, 2008, 08:28:48 AM »

When starting a Wintermute project for completion in a couple of years (2010/1), what widescreen resolution would it be best to pick to work in?

I figure that most people inclined to play thoughtful and intelligent PC games (as opposed to, say, console-punching adolescents with the attention span of a chipmunk) will by then have 23" or 24" screens running at a native 1920x1200px. This may be especially true of the affluent baby-boomer generation, as they increasingly retire - they can afford a large screen.

But I also think that 1920x1080px (16:9 ratio) could be a good option, so that even if 1920x1200px (16:10 ratio) widescreen becomes the norm, those using a native 1920x1200px screen can still view - just with thin 60px black bars at top and bottom.

Or, should I play safe and assume many people will still be using 20" monitors running at 1680x1050px?

odnorf · « **Reply #1 on:** July 02, 2008, 09:01:08 AM »

Those resolutions look like an overkill to me. According to steam/valve statistics most people are still using monitors with a native resolution of 1280x1024 (19-20 inches 4:3) and I don't think this will change much in 2 years although the (bad quality) cheap 24 monitors will probably start selling more. Another thing to concern is the laptop owners. Many people use them as their main computer and the most common resolution is 1280x720. So, to conclude, the most safe bet is 1280x720 but 1680x1050 can work too if you are willing to (possible) limit your audience.

limonaati · « **Reply #2 on:** July 02, 2008, 02:52:19 PM »

Quote from: odnorf on July 02, 2008, 09:01:08 AM

Those resolutions look like an overkill to me. According to steam/valve statistics most people are still using monitors with a native resolution of 1280x1024 (19-20 inches 4:3) and I don't think this will change much in 2 years although the (bad quality) cheap 24 monitors will probably start selling more. Another thing to concern is the laptop owners. Many people use them as their main computer and the most common resolution is 1280x720. So, to conclude, the most safe bet is 1280x720 but 1680x1050 can work too if you are willing to (possible) limit your audience.

I might be wrong but I think the most common resolution with laptops is not 1280x720 but 1280x800. 1280x720 is most common resolution with HD capable tv's.

odnorf · « **Reply #3 on:** July 02, 2008, 03:05:06 PM »

@limonaati

Oops... you are right of course. That was a typo from me. Thanks for correcting it.

The resolution of HD ready TVs is usually 1366 x 768 and of some crappy plasma TVs it's 1024 x 768 (makes you wonder what they stick the HD ready label on them).

joxer · « **Reply #4 on:** April 27, 2009, 06:01:44 PM »

Please recommend me screen resolution for game (I think it will not be ready sooner than january 2011)- what resolution do you think is smartest to use? do you think 1280x1024 will be enough?

Spellbreaker · « **Reply #5 on:** April 27, 2009, 07:29:05 PM »

Use 1280x800, this is useable on all PC's and notebooks. Especially on notebooks you'll get problems with 1280x1024.

DaFool · « **Reply #6 on:** April 29, 2009, 01:16:51 PM »

I want my game to be playable on Windows netbooks, and many of them are still 1024 x 600 (I don't even want to think about the 800 x 480 ones)

So I'm torn between

1280 x 800
1024 x 640
960 x 600

This will be a fully 2D game with minimal effects, but 3D-rendered.

Spellbreaker · « **Reply #7 on:** April 29, 2009, 04:24:28 PM »

so you answered yourself. If you want to make your game playable on 1024x600 you have to use 960x600 from your list.

Akusa · « **Reply #8 on:** April 29, 2009, 05:43:55 PM »

I think most commercial adventures still use 1024x768.
Also i would not go much higher at this moment because you have still to fill the screen with graphics and higher resolutions need higher details and textures, resulting in more work.

Also personaly i would stick to a traditional 4:3 aspect ratio and not go for some strange laptop resolution because most peolpe still play on their desktop pcs and most time these monitors have bigger problems with laptop resolutions then laptops with desktop resolutions.

Spellbreaker · « **Reply #9 on:** April 29, 2009, 07:24:56 PM »

Obviously you won't be able to play a 1024x768 Game on a 1024x600 Screen.

Akusa · « **Reply #10 on:** April 29, 2009, 11:22:40 PM »

@Spellbreaker: That is true but i just said that commercial games still use 1024x768 .
I never said he should use this resolution. All i said was that i would stick to 4:3 aspect ratio (and this would be 800x600 in that case)

Spellbreaker · « **Reply #11 on:** May 01, 2009, 05:47:14 PM »

Why should he use 4:3? If the player has a 4:3 screen, WME simply adds black bars at top/bottom.

Akusa · « **Reply #12 on:** May 01, 2009, 07:13:40 PM »

Its just a simple design choice.
Do you want to have 90% of your users have black bars and 10% no black bars or do you want to have 10% of your users have black bars and 90% no black bars?
My design philosophy is: you should never offer the best experience to only your minority.

Spellbreaker · « **Reply #13 on:** May 01, 2009, 08:25:12 PM »

There were 4:3 Games that added black-bars just for design purpose, because most people like the "cinema-look" of it on 4:3 Screens. Nowadays, I say 50% of players have 16:9. All Notebooks today are 16:9, and when he releases his game in 1-2 years even more people have 16:9. So everybody who starts a project now should stick to 16:9 if it's no retro-project.

Akusa · « **Reply #14 on:** May 01, 2009, 09:18:13 PM »

Okay you have a point, the development of displays is really more toward 16:9 then 4:3 and the resolution for a new game can have this resolution.
But games with such black borders most time still use them for their menu or subtitles.

Birdline · « **Reply #15 on:** May 02, 2009, 09:37:51 AM »

It is not so simple.
Making a 16:9 game does not mean it can be played to every 16:9 monitor
See this http://forum.dead-code.org/index.php?topic=3185.15

Case 1: Play with Black banners around (no fullscreen)
In this case there is no problem.
Pick ANY resolution. The game will play to ANY monitor with bigger resolution

Case 2: Play in Full screen
In this case we have BIG problems. (depends on the video card drivers)
I made a test game at 1280X800. Played on various PC with monitors 1680X1050, 1920X1200 and Ati/Nvidia cards.
I never got proper full screen play. There is always a very big distortion.
The reason is that the driver does not report 1280X800 as a valid resolution,
so WME uses the so called Backup resolution which in my case is the ugly 1600X900.
The game looks terrible. The 1280X800 is stretched to 1600X900.

So (from my tests), if you want to play in full screen, choose standard 1024X768.
There will be a little distortion on widescreen monitors, but you will always have full screen.

To be honest, this is the reason I stopped (for now) with my game.
I started to making it a wide screen game, but with all these problems .... I don't know..
(making 2 versions? well too much work!!)

Only solution would be if WME could scale, but it does not.

Spyros

Spellbreaker · « **Reply #16 on:** May 02, 2009, 02:47:38 PM »

Did you test it with the latest Version? Because I am using 1280x800 on Various Displays, and since 16:9 and 16:10 is both handled by WME as 16:9 resolution it runs very well on GeForce and ATI Systems.

odnorf · « **Reply #17 on:** May 02, 2009, 03:44:01 PM »

With ati HD2xxx, HD3xxx & HD4xxx all resolutions run on all monitors (ofcourse not larger resolutions) because drivers handle it perfectly so there is no need for wme widescreen features.

Spellbreaker · « **Reply #18 on:** May 02, 2009, 04:10:21 PM »

Don't know, as far as Mnemonic told me it was a GeForce Issue, which has been corrected with one of the last Versions.

joxer · « **Reply #19 on:** May 06, 2009, 11:08:29 PM »

now I am really confused. some of new commerical adventures now comes with 1600x1200. I am really not sure which resolution choose

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Author Topic: What screen resolution to use, for a project completing circa 2010? (Read 14775 times)