Scary Monsters

[Ryne]

I like it, but it depends on how big the viewport is going to be. How big of a 1:1 resolution will the game's screen be? i.e., if you were to scale that image down to 1 pixel = 1 pixel, how big would the initial window size be?

It depends on screen resolution to begin with. My screen is 1920x1080, and I feel that the game would be best played at 4x like so:

http://d.pr/T6eV

though if someones screen resolution were say, 1280x720, or even 1280 or lower then the game would probably best viewed at 2x, like the current screenshots.

then again, scaling works pretty fantastic in love, even at uneven numbers like 3x, or 5x. So I could always have an option to scale the screen at the users preference. I don't like the idea of the game being played at full screen though. I think one of the things that makes the current art so appealing is that it's small and looks somewhat detailed, but when viewed in fullscreen you can notice that it's not really that detailed.

[TechnoCat]

then again, scaling works pretty fantastic in love, even at uneven numbers like 3x, or 5x.

It doesn't have to do with if the scale is even or not, it has to do with if it is a natural number or not.
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[Taehl]

If you want a small view area, but also want fullscreen, one possible middle-ground would be to have a very wide border around the edges of the screen, which could possibly show HUD, or a map, or text of a story... Be creative.

[Ryne]

If you want a small view area, but also want fullscreen, one possible middle-ground would be to have a very wide border around the edges of the screen, which could possibly show HUD, or a map, or text of a story... Be creative.

no HUD.

I could however just NOT scale completely. For example the current resolution is 160x90, so x2 scaled would be 320x180 and so on through 16:9 resolutions. Though I could just have scaling max at like 4x, then if it's full screen it would render more of the world around the screen. I'd probably need some fog of war type deal if I wanted to do that though. I don't want the player seeing the entire map.

then again, scaling works pretty fantastic in love, even at uneven numbers like 3x, or 5x.

Isn't what I said still valid?

[Jasoco]

I like it, but it depends on how big the viewport is going to be. How big of a 1:1 resolution will the game's screen be? i.e., if you were to scale that image down to 1 pixel = 1 pixel, how big would the initial window size be?

It depends on screen resolution to begin with. My screen is 1920x1080, and I feel that the game would be best played at 4x like so:

http://d.pr/T6eV

though if someones screen resolution were say, 1280x720, or even 1280 or lower then the game would probably best viewed at 2x, like the current screenshots.

then again, scaling works pretty fantastic in love, even at uneven numbers like 3x, or 5x. So I could always have an option to scale the screen at the users preference. I don't like the idea of the game being played at full screen though. I think one of the things that makes the current art so appealing is that it's small and looks somewhat detailed, but when viewed in fullscreen you can notice that it's not really that detailed.

Well, then you're gonna end up with a main 1:1 size of 480x270. Which would give you
1x: 480x270
2x: 960x540
3x: 1440x810

Which is an interesting resolution for a game. But remember that it will only scale up well on your super high 1080p display. I like to use standard-ish low resolutions for my pixely games like:

320x200 (Standard CGA resolution. Scales up PERFECTLY to 4x on a 1280x800 16:10 display. A common resolution.)
320x180 (Variation that instead works perfectly on a 16:9 display instead.)
320x240 (4:3 resolution)
256x224 (Super NES and NES-style)
160x144 (If you're so inclined to make a GameBoy-style game)

The problem is creating a game that will look right on the three main aspect ratios. 16:10 (Common for computers), 16:9 (Common for TV's and many newer computer displays) and 4:3 (The old-world non-widescreen ratio). I plan on making any game I create work on all three ratios and adjust itself accordingly. You simply need to figure out the aspect at launch and set the correct parameters for placement of on screen stuff. Unless your game is strictly supposed to emulate, say the old 640x480 (320x240)

Then you have to decide whether to offer an option to scale the image at non-whole numbers. Like say if you used 320x240 and scaled it up on your 1080p display you'd end up with it being 4.5x scale to fill the screen vertically. Or you could just stop at exactly 4 and have it windowboxed instead of just pillarboxed. (Bars on the sides since it's 4:3 on a 16:9 screen)

My suggestion: Pick one of those 5 choices for the pixel area, scale it up by each number and see how it looks. Personally, for your game, I'd offer the first three as an option and have the game detect the correct aspect at launch. (By using getModes and I believe choosing the first returned value in the array which should be the current display's maximum and hopefully native resolution. Then do math to figure out what aspect it is.)

[Ryne]

I'd personally prefer the 16:9 ratio's since that's my screen resolution, but obviously I'm not creating the game for myself. I could just have a bunch of resolutions to fit everyone's needs and then just scale the game accordingly. So there would be some 4:3's, and 16:9's. Since the game probably won't have fullscreen there's not really a need to include 16:10, since 16:9 would be presented well anyway. Either way, this is all stuff for late development.

Thank's for the replies guys!

[nevon]

Something to keep in mind about the overlay is that LÖVE doesn't have an equivalent of Photoshop's "overlay" mode. I tried doing something similar once, but I wasn't able to get it right. Maybe you could achieve the same effect with 0.8.0's shaders though.

[Ryne]

Oh, yeah. The "overlay" isn't actually an effect, it's simply a gradient. There's no layer effects applied. Also - if need be - I could just create a separate gradient for each supported resolution.

[Ryne]

So, Some more updates. I've been working the last few days and haven't had much time to design new things.

Another thing is that Robin has decided to help, meaning you guys can expect a prototype once we get things going (don't rush him!).

Another, another thing is that I've decided that I'm not going to just mass-release every small change we make. The minor prototype that we come up with will probably be one of the last things you guys will see before we complete the game and release it fully.

Here's what you can expect:

1. The game has small static areas that are the same for everyone like small towns, or story-specific NPC areas.
2. Some stuff will be procedurally generated, like trees and enemies.

The prototype will be one of those small static areas, and will look like this (hopefully):



I'm going to try to make this game as polished as possible, so that it will hopefully be "sale-quality" (even though were not selling it). I'm still working on a lot of stuff, like the UI, combat, creatures you'll face, and even minor scenery stuff so you guys can expect the game to change quite a bit visually.

You can also expect a nice little soundtrack to go with it. Let me know what you guys think!

[Larsii30]

good luck for everything, I'm looking forward to it .

Greets!