[casual_games] Full Screen or Windowed Mode?

[Andrew Payne]

I suggest generating art resources at even higher resolutions. That  
way if your game is a hit and you take it to retail the package  
designer will have something to work with. You can always scale down  
the rez on the files you actually put into the game, but by keeping a  
300+ dpi version in reserve you'll save yourself soooo much trouble if  
you later need to do any printed promotional pieces.

  -andrew payne
   webmaster, graphic designer
   drup at brightermindsmedia.com

Stressed out?  Try your hand at some free games!
Click on the "Games" tab on our new website:
http://www.brightermindsmedia.com/



On Jan 14, 2008, at 9:11 AM, Ricky Haggett wrote:


> I'd suggest producing art resources at the highest resolution you're  

> ever

> likely to need. For example, if it's at all possible you might  

> target xbla

> at some point, you'd want to be able to display your game at a higher

> resolution than 800x600 (or 1024x768).

>

> We have an in-house engine which currently handles everything at  

> 1280x960

> internally, but allows switching between fullscreen and windowed, and

> scaling the resolution all the way down to 640x480. On startup it  

> can choose

> a suitable resolution for the machine its running on.

>

> We make all our artwork for a resolution of 1280x960 - if we hit a

> memory/filesize limit before release we scale down the largest  

> images -

> usually the background ones (scaling the images down by a fixed  

> amount is

> trivial with a Photoshop action or similar; obviously the impact on  

> your

> game code depends on how it's been written).

>

> Ricky

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org 

> ]

> On Behalf Of James Terry

> Sent: 14 January 2008 13:54

> To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List

> Subject: Re: [casual_games] Full Screen or Windowed Mode?

>

>> From what I have seen from the casual portals, games are required  

>> to run

> at a minimum of 800x600 and start by default in full-screen mode.  

> There

> are a good number that are 640x480, and that's the largest mode they  

> go

> to, but rather than force the resolution in full screen, they will

> stretch to the current resolution of the monitor.

>

> A lot of laptops run at 800x600, especially if you are hooking them up

> to a non-HD projector or S-Video cable, as higher than 800x600 will

> require scrolling on a standard definition TV.

>

> When you start getting into the new monitors and such, like the 24  

> inch

> widescreens that run a native resolution of 1920x1200, a 640x480  

> game is

> very small, and for the multi-taskers, windowed mode is a priority.

>

>> From a filesize standpoint, it can be a good idea. If you take a

> 1024x768 game and reduce the resolution to 800x600, you are cutting  

> out

> more than half of the filesize. The drop from 800x600 to 640x480 is  

> only

> about a third of the filesize reduced.

>

> James R. Terry

> Game Developer

> Yatec Games

> (225) 274-1550 Ext. 104

> jterry at yatecgames.com

> www.yatecgames.com

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org

> [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Lum

> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 4:45 PM

> To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List

> Subject: Re: [casual_games] Full Screen or Windowed Mode?

>

> Hi Everyone,

>

> I think people are misunderstanding my question. I expect that 95% of

> users are running at least in 1024x768.

> However, 95% of casual games are developed in 800x600.

>

> The real question is how many casual gamers play in Full Screen  

> Mode. I

> expect that most casual gamers won't be able to tell a huge difference

> between 640x480 and 800x600 while in Full Screen Mode. However, this

> will very obvious in Windowed Mode especially if they are running at

> resolutions higher than 1024x768.

>

> Additionally, I don't recommend any developer to developer their  

> game in

>

> higher than 800x600 resolution for filesize reasons and for the lack  

> of

> windowed mode support on 1024x768 monitors.

>

> Andrew Lum

>

> Aaron Murray wrote:

>> Andrew - hopefully someone will chime in with a link to support their

>> statements, but we just went through this decision and I was quite

>> suprised by the results...something like 95% of users run 800x600 or

>> higher, and 60%+ run 1024x768 or higher/wider.

>>

>> In addition, if someone is still running 640x480, what are the  

>> chances

>> that they are:

>> A. using a PC with enough ram/disk to play your game

>> B. going to purchase it

>>

>> Just my 2 cents. Like I said, hopefully someone can provide a link to

>> some recent portal stats.

>>

>> -Aaron

>> Tandem Games

>>

>> On Jan 11, 2008 4:26 PM, Andrew Lum <andrew at fugazo.com> wrote:

>>

>>> Hi Everyone,

>>>

>>> Fugazo is working on a new game and we are considering making the

> entire

>>> game in 640x480 resolution to save on space. We've decided that the

> art

>>> style looks fine in Full Screen 640x480 but we're not sure how many

>>> users play casual games in Window Mode. At 1024x768 a 640x480

> windowed

>>> game isn't too bad but we're concerned about users who have a

> 1280x800,

>>> or 1280x1024, or higher.

>>>

>>> Does anyone have any sort of data on what percentage of casual  

>>> gamers

>>> play games in Windowed Mode? Additionally, does anyone have any data

> on

>>> what percentage of customers have monitors set to higher than

> 1024x768?

>>>

>>> Thanks!

>>>

>>> Andrew Lum

>>>

>>> --

>>> ____________

>>> Andrew Lum

>>> andrew at fugazo.com

>>> 206-349-7805

>>> CEO, President

>>> Fugazo, Inc.

>>>

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>

>

> -- 

> ____________

> Andrew Lum

> andrew at fugazo.com

> 206-349-7805

> CEO, President

> Fugazo, Inc.

>

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