[SDL] [OT] Minimum resolution

[Ryan C. Gordon]

Peter Mulholland wrote:
> Hello Nicolas,
> 
> Tuesday, December 19, 2006, 7:03:04 AM, you wrote:
> 
>> Hello there,
> 
>> It's more a conceptual and design question than a pure SDL question.  
>> But I think you may be a source of good expertise on this one.
> 
>> We are currently working on a game, and we are designing the  
>> interface. Our designer came to me with a project (very nice), but it
>> will require to use at least 1024x768 resolution.
> 
>> So, is it ok to put 1024x768 as a minimum requirement these days? I  
>> mean, in your experience, do you often deal with old 800x600 or  
>> 640x480? I already worked very hard to give a very efficient "level  
>> of details" option. Even if the full game engine require an ati 9200  
>> with 512mb vram, it can run on an old ati with 8mb ram. (ok, to go  
>> under 32mb ram, you have to disable textures... But it works!)
> 
>> But the interface is one of the keys of a game. So, we need it to be  
>> good. First design my designer gave me was for 1280x1024, but I  
>> thought it was a bit exagerated. (he said, but that's small on my  
>> 1920*1200 screen!)
> 
>> Best regards and wishes for new year and xMas. (I use little endian,  
>> I swap the things around)
> 
> The only thing that I think this might affect, is people who play on
> laptops. 1024x768 would be fine on pretty much any desktop.
> 
> Perhaps you can have two user interface designs - one for 800x600 and
> one for 1024x768 and larger. The 800x600 one would obviously have to
> cut some things away or shrink some buttons etc... but it would work.

I'd be amazed to find a laptop made in the past several years that 
couldn't do 1024x768 fullscreen.

I also don't know any big-resolution displays (like those 30" LCDs from 
Apple/Dell) that can't do 1024x768...so if you're willing to play 
fullscreen, the graphics shouldn't be "too small" there, although maybe 
they'll be a little fuzzy. In practice, I consider this free 
anti-aliasing, though.   :)

We're probably at the point where a PC that can't do 1024x768 should be 
considered below minimum requirements.

That being said, if you're using OpenGL, consider making something that 
scales to whatever resolution, so it's (mostly) not a problem if the 
user wants 800x600 or 1920x1200. If you're not using OpenGL, consider 
using OpenGL.   :)

--ryan.