[SDL] [OT] Minimum resolution

[Bob Pendleton]

On Wed, 2006-12-20 at 08:52 +0100, Nicolas Goy - kuon - 時期精霊 wrote:
> On 20 Dec 2006, at 02:25, Ryan C. Gordon wrote:
> 
> >
> > 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.   :)
> >
> 
> We use OpenGL, and we have no trouble to scale up and down  
> everything. It's just a matter of details. We want to produce a good  
> interface, no matter the resolution. It's just we have to work a bit  
> more for 800x600. And if we can avoid that bit more, by staying  
> correct to our users, we will. It's not we are lazy or anything, but  
> from 1024 to 1920, our interface can keep the same size (pixel wise),  
> which means the work is nearly done. Adding 800x600 would require a  
> scaling of the interface, and we can't just scale in a barbaric way:P  
> (think about text alignment, text justification...)
> 
> So even if adding 800x600 is not really that a big deal, if we can  
> move forward and avoid it, we would be happy.

Lets try looking at this question a different way. Who is going to buy
your game? It sounds like the game already requires a 3D graphics card.
How much of a graphics card does it need? Who has those kinds of
graphics cards? Are you selling to adults, or are you aiming at
children? Are you trying to sell to schools, other institutions, or to
home computer users? My guess is that you are targeting home computer
users who play 3D games.

My guess is that people with the 3D hardware needed to run your game
also have 1024x768 or better screens. To verify that I did a quick
google search on web browser screen statistics. The actual screen size
is very important to web designers. I looked at a couple of sites with
real data and learned that roughly 80% of people browsing the web are
using a screen size of 1024x768, or larger, and the same percentage are
using 32 bit color.

People who play games that require 3D hardware tend to have nice
computers and displays and roughly 80% of people browsing the web are
using displays that are 1024x768 or larger. To me that says that at
least 80% of the potential market for your game will be perfectly happy
with a minimum resolution of 1024x768. My guess is that more than 90% of
people who may want to buy your game have displays capable of 1024x768.

What I haven't, and can't, factor in is the 3D performance required by
your game, but since you said it would run on a video card with 32 megs
(less if you turn off textures) and there haven't been many cards like
that built in the last 4 or 5 years, I suspect you don't need much in
the way of hardware support. So, it may not be a consideration.

Or, put another way, you may lose 10% to 20% of sales if you do not
support 800x600. Is that worth the cost of building an 800x600
interface?

		Bob Pendleton

P.S.

I normally charge for this kind of analysis, but you got it for free.

> 
> Best regards
> 
> 
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