Any casual gamers out there plan on supporting widescreen gaming any time soon or are you just gonna stick with 800x600 until people start complaining?
Widescreen casual gaming
Miscellaneous Forums/General Discussion/Widescreen casual gaming Isn't it annoying that in casual games, there's zero choice in resolution? Independent developers seem to think the idea of adding options is going to confuse their stupid players into a coma. I hate them.
well apparently it's been tested on the average player, and they don't change the options. I guess it would be nice to have the option for non-average players ;-) I think lots of people, myself included, are thinking of auto-detecting widescreen and using it if need be.
Personally, I like to run my games in a window if I can. Even full screen games, I would like them to run in a maximized window. That way I can still use my browser and other things on my other screen while playing.
Game like Grey's Fairway golf, I don't even like to run at full screen at all. I would rather they played like his does, in a window that is big enough to get the job done.
The only time i like a full screen game is when it requires the mouse movement to move it, like an FPS game. Then, the immersion into the game and the fact that you can't move the mouse out of the game anyway, kinda forces you to play full screen.
Game like Grey's Fairway golf, I don't even like to run at full screen at all. I would rather they played like his does, in a window that is big enough to get the job done.
The only time i like a full screen game is when it requires the mouse movement to move it, like an FPS game. Then, the immersion into the game and the fact that you can't move the mouse out of the game anyway, kinda forces you to play full screen.
Well I guess the trick then is to simulate an 800x600 screen on a 1680x1050 screen. It's not really 800x600 but it 'looks' similar in size to a 19 inch 800x600 screen.
My current project detects the aspect ratio of the monitor and selects an appropriate resolution. The extra space is then used up by showing more of the game map. However, there is little impact on the ease of the game as I seriously restrict the number of resolutions a player can use. If the game fails to find something it defaults to a 4:3 ratio.
The game will run in a window as well, but as it's fairly arcadey it's best to be run full-screen, as I feel BlitzMax programs tend to run better in full-screen than in a window.
The game will run in a window as well, but as it's fairly arcadey it's best to be run full-screen, as I feel BlitzMax programs tend to run better in full-screen than in a window.
I just write for widescreen and letterbox if you're on a 4:3.
We need to stop using graphics that are resolution dependant, it would make this issue disappear.
If there was a de-facto vector image format which was easily renderable within Blitz (even if just to grab it back as a bitmap image), this would be an easy task.
The alternative is to use bitmaps that are designed for high resolutions and then scale them down to fit into smaller ones if needed.
If there was a de-facto vector image format which was easily renderable within Blitz (even if just to grab it back as a bitmap image), this would be an easy task.
The alternative is to use bitmaps that are designed for high resolutions and then scale them down to fit into smaller ones if needed.
Well no that wouldn't negate this issue. Resolution independent is a separate thing from aspect ratio. 800x600 and 1024x768 are different resolutions at the same aspect ratio; widescreen is a different aspect ratio.
jhocking: I see your point, but resolution independance breeds aspect ratio independence. The only thing you have to worry about is whether you want to reformat the display properly for 4:3 or 5:4 (1280x1024) displays or use letterbox instead.
Most PC gamers expect the full 4:3 screen to be used, so it could put them off. For many games, this isn't an issue because 4:3 is assumed and the extra widescreen areas are used for background or unimportant stuff.
IMHO, the balance has tipped now largely in the favour of widescreen and thus 4:3 letterbox should be the preferred format. Most of the people in the UK I've spoken to about this (for films, not games) agree that widescreen / letterboxing is best. Americans, however, will often fervently swear that "I will never watch a movie in widescreen, I want to see ALL of the movie, not black bars".
Of course, a lack of understanding is to blame, but we're not talking about what is right so much as we are talking about what will sell.
Most PC gamers expect the full 4:3 screen to be used, so it could put them off. For many games, this isn't an issue because 4:3 is assumed and the extra widescreen areas are used for background or unimportant stuff.
IMHO, the balance has tipped now largely in the favour of widescreen and thus 4:3 letterbox should be the preferred format. Most of the people in the UK I've spoken to about this (for films, not games) agree that widescreen / letterboxing is best. Americans, however, will often fervently swear that "I will never watch a movie in widescreen, I want to see ALL of the movie, not black bars".
Of course, a lack of understanding is to blame, but we're not talking about what is right so much as we are talking about what will sell.
jhocking: I see your point, but resolution independance breeds aspect ratio independence. The only thing you have to worry about is whether you want to reformat the display properly for 4:3 or 5:4 (1280x1024) displays or use letterbox instead.
This is true, but your other point about doing it all in software with some kind of universal vector format is a step backwards, in my judgement. These days, most monitors are capable of high quality upscaling, and it's only a matter of time until the old ones which don't are phased out. In a couple of years, high quality upscaling won't be an issue so it wouldn't be worth investing in some kind of software solution which will be outdated before it's widely used.
I just write for widescreen and letterbox if you're on a 4:3.
Of course that doesn't necesarily mean that you have to slap a couple of black bars on the screen -- you can also make some kind of decorative border that fits the graphical look of the game itself, if need be.
Is there a standard 16:9 resolution which all widescreen monitors support? I'd like to support this aspect ratio but I don't want to offer 100's of resolution options either.
Stevie
Stevie
I did a bit of research and it seems most computer monitor wide aspect is 16:10, basically the width is 1.6x bigger than the height.
you can also make some kind of decorative border that fits the graphical look of the game itself, if need be.
You could, but personally I think that would look a bit cheap. Moving score / hiscore and other info into the areas the letterbox black bars occupy is a valid tactic. I wish movies did this with subtitles.
Depends on the game though, obviously.
Perhaps a standard procedure to handle aspect ratio and resolution changes? After all, not all displays have 1:1 pixel aspect. Coding for widescreen TV for instance, where the display aspect is nowhere near the pixel aspect, that can be a challenge.
I did work on one a while ago (18+ months). Gave up when I got a girlfriend.
Depends on the game though, obviously.
Perhaps a standard procedure to handle aspect ratio and resolution changes? After all, not all displays have 1:1 pixel aspect. Coding for widescreen TV for instance, where the display aspect is nowhere near the pixel aspect, that can be a challenge.
I did work on one a while ago (18+ months). Gave up when I got a girlfriend.
What really is bothersome to me is that if you run your 800x600 game on a 22 inch monitor then youre game is a pretty small window. If you run if in full screen of course it stretches it. What I wanna do is find a widescreen resolution that is as close to 800x600 as possible and just compensate for that. Does that sound good?
Sounds completely daft to me... why not just give people the option of res?
I hate widescreen, it sucks. Unless im watching a movie, but that looks the same on a normal monitor anyway. It has black borders top+bottom and the picture part the same res as on a 1280x800 monitor, so it really is no use at all on a pc.
(except for making laptops a couple of inches smaller, and making screens a bit cheaper)
(except for making laptops a couple of inches smaller, and making screens a bit cheaper)
Chroma: I see what you're getting at. The res you're after is probably 960x600 (exactly half of 1920x1200). It is highly unfortunate that you can only us it if the user has configured it as a custom resolution in Windows.
It's what I played BioShock in on my 7800GTX. Anything more was too slow, anything less wasn't widescreen.
800x600 is the standard guaranteed res in the CRT world.
If 1280x800 is the standard guaranteed res for a widescreen TFT (I've certainly never seen a lower widescreen res, apart from ultraportable notebooks), can we not just code for this?
It's what I played BioShock in on my 7800GTX. Anything more was too slow, anything less wasn't widescreen.
800x600 is the standard guaranteed res in the CRT world.
If 1280x800 is the standard guaranteed res for a widescreen TFT (I've certainly never seen a lower widescreen res, apart from ultraportable notebooks), can we not just code for this?
Rob you should do some testing then. Run an 800x600 game in a window on a widescreen monitor set at 1680x1050 and you'll understand what I'm talking about. If you run an 800x600 screen in full screen then it stretches. So what I'm trying to do is find a unversal widescreen resolution that is close to 800x600. People may not be concerned but I assure you it will be an issue in the near future.
@Vinylpusher: Hmm if 1280x800 is the norm for widescreen then I don't it should be adopted as the norm for widescreen casual gaming.
So I'll just give the user the choice between a resolution of Normal or Widescreen. Normal will be 800x600 (of course) and Widescreen will be 1280x800. Sounds like a plan to me. Good call VP!
I hereby declare on this day of December 19, 2007, that the casual gaming standardized widescreen resolution is 1280x800.
Start allowing this resolution option in your casual games and be sure to credit myself and vinylpusher for setting the industry standard! ;)
So I'll just give the user the choice between a resolution of Normal or Widescreen. Normal will be 800x600 (of course) and Widescreen will be 1280x800. Sounds like a plan to me. Good call VP!
I hereby declare on this day of December 19, 2007, that the casual gaming standardized widescreen resolution is 1280x800.
Start allowing this resolution option in your casual games and be sure to credit myself and vinylpusher for setting the industry standard! ;)
yeah and that aspect ratio is 16:10 too. Basically what I was going to do was, dectect desktop res, calc aspect ratio, check for full-screen resolutions available in same ration, pick the closest that has 600 minimum as the height. Draw my 4:3 game in the middle and either a) black bars on the side or b) some extra background graphics. Also may need to draw bars (or bg graphics) along top and bottom if the height is >600. Lots depends on the type of game. Some kind of platformer or shooter, or tile-based game like JazzieB's game can fill up the whole screen no matter what res. However, a casual game with a predefined aspect ratio and screen-size will have to stay like that unfortunately otherwise you'd have to make some major changes...
The nearest 16:10 resolution to 800x600 is 800x500, which I'm sure you'll agree is pretty dam close.
The other alternative for windowed games is to double-up the graphics so that each pixel is 2x2. Obviously this would need to be an option in-game that the player can activate.
As Grey has already stated, I do exactly what he says. I have a pre-determined maximum and minimum height for the screen and store all the resolutions that fit this criteria into an array. The aspect ratio of the desktop is then compared to the stored resolutions and then sorted in order of resolution and how close each matches the desktop. The first one in the list should be the closest match. The only thing to watch for is that you need to allow for a small margin of error when determining if a certain resolution matches the desktop, otherwise you may end up with 800x600 being picked over 640x480 when you wanted the latter.
All of this may seem complicated, but as long as you build this into your game from the beginning it shouldn't be too difficult. I generally use constants for anything screen related (such as the width and height of the screen), and if I then want to make the game more flexible it's just a matter of changing the constants to globals and programming the functionalty to change those in game.
The other alternative for windowed games is to double-up the graphics so that each pixel is 2x2. Obviously this would need to be an option in-game that the player can activate.
As Grey has already stated, I do exactly what he says. I have a pre-determined maximum and minimum height for the screen and store all the resolutions that fit this criteria into an array. The aspect ratio of the desktop is then compared to the stored resolutions and then sorted in order of resolution and how close each matches the desktop. The first one in the list should be the closest match. The only thing to watch for is that you need to allow for a small margin of error when determining if a certain resolution matches the desktop, otherwise you may end up with 800x600 being picked over 640x480 when you wanted the latter.
All of this may seem complicated, but as long as you build this into your game from the beginning it shouldn't be too difficult. I generally use constants for anything screen related (such as the width and height of the screen), and if I then want to make the game more flexible it's just a matter of changing the constants to globals and programming the functionalty to change those in game.
I just work out the screen going from -1,-1 (top left) to 1,1 (bottom right) everything is positioned in the same place regardless of the res. You just got to do a bit of maths jiggery pokery on your display stuff calls.