Counting on 1024/768.

I've a bit of a problem. 800/600 res doesn't leave enough room for the gameplay I have in mind. Also, it would mean that the gfx wouldn't be as good of a quality as their 1024/768 counterpats. This also depends on the size of the graphics and how much detail I can cram in to them in an 800/600 environment.

Is it safe to have a 1024/768 res as the standard res for my game?

How much in % of potential buyers will I lose if I only have a fixed res of 1024/768?

This is for a 2d game. What res was Easter Bonus/Xmas Bonus?

What currently is the most popular res?

Thanks :)

800x600. Chosen very carefully too as the games didn't need 3D cards, so ran on older PCs. However, if you are using Max, they must have a half decent card so it must be able to do 1024x768 (you hope). But you will loose a small % of the market.

depends on the type of game, and thus the potential gamers you are aiming at too. Something like easter bonus and such are aimed at the casual gamer (from all appearances). Something like an RTS or turn based wargame would probably have a better chance at hitting fewer people with low end cards. What kind of game are you making?

Let the user choose!

Almost everyone who has an LCD will not have a 4:3 aspect ratio native resolution.

I've been thinking about this question also, because my chess program only runs in 1024 X 768 (the board fills the screen) or 1280 X 1024 (my favourite). This is because I don't really want to compromise the graphics too much - I want them to look as good as possible. However, I have added the option of 16 or 32-bit colour to help slower systems - but still keep the detail. So you could try that.

But if it's an action game then that would push the system further. One thing to remember with BlitzMax is to tile your graphics into 256 X 256 sections because slower graphics cards slow significantly with large textures.

If you go with a fixed res, at least give an option to run in a window, for those of us with TFT's!

1024x768 is going to look cack in fullscreen mode on my monitor. Seriously. Cack. With a capital C.

I think it's a bit risky to assume 1024 unless you really want to deliberately tarket a narrower niche market or higher end users. According at least to web statistics it seems people are gradually using 1024x768 desktops more often these days, but there's still probably just as many people who use 800x600 ... going just by that and assuming that means these are their highest resolutions (which may not be true), I would probably target for 1024 and have 800 as a fallback mode.

How can a screen res have any relation to gameplay?
Or are you making a battle mode centipede where by your snake is a line of pixels and the level is 1024x768 :)

Consoles are only just starting to be able to cope with resolutions of 1024x768 (or there abouts of TV approximates)
I'm intrigued to know how your game MUST have this res :)

I can't wait to test the resolutions on my new 1049088 pixels, widescreen, HDTV/monitor. I wonder how many different ones it will support?

Can't wait to hook B3D up for a bit of the old Large.

Yes, now you can watch England lose the World Cup in crystal clear perfect vision. :)

Plus it has Picture in Picture - I can play games and watch the World Cup at the same time.

Say you had a tile based game. You could fit more tiles of 50/50px(with good quality GFX) on a 1024/768 res than you could on an 800/600 res.

You could ofcourse shrink the tiles on an 800/600 res setup but you would lose gfx detail.

Be advised that one of those resolutions is a 4:3 aspect ratio, and the other is a 5:4 aspect, and thus the graphics might not look identical.

So? Would be better than not being able to play it at all.

I know. But, people usually always buy something that looks good.

> I know. But, people usually always
> buy something that looks good.

That counts me out then. I think you've got some more things to learn yet :)

Suppose it helps to have something interesting to do while the football is on...

> Plus it has Picture in Picture - I can
> play games and watch the World Cup at the same time.

I solved that problem like 15 years ago by having having a TV right next to my computer screen.