Resolutions/bit depth/game speed

[skurken]

Hey!

I´m one of those people planning to create a game in ags. It has actually been one if my goals in life to create a 3rd person point and click adventure game since I got "lure of the temptress" in ´92. I would like to know:

Why seem most of the games created with ags to be in low (300*200 or something)  resolution?

Would I be completely mad to create a game in 600*400, high colour? I really need that resolution (preferably higher) to be satisfied with my gfx. What are the cons?

I can´t seem to find much on this subject, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

skurken

[saanb]

i think one con would be that the game would run slower than a 320 by 200 one. i don't know of any other ones.

[SSH]

The higher resolutions are slower, but if your computer can run Windows XP, its probably powerful enough for you not to notice. Another problem is that all co-ordinates for scripts, etc are in 320x200, so you need to remember to convert the numbers (i.e. divide by 2).

A lot of people here like pixel-art: that is where each pixel is important and counts for some detail. This is one quarter of the effort at 320x200.

[scotch]

On my 600mhz PC I can run any ersolution ags supports at ok speed apart from 800x600 in high colour I think.
640x480 is fine.
(I'd suggest using 320x240 or 640x480 rather than x200 or x400 - people never make their graphics right for those resolutions)

In the help file there are system requirements for each res that seem pretty accurate:

320x200, 256-colour: Any Pentium-class system
640x400, 256-colour: 233 Mhz or above
800x600, 256-colour: 500 Mhz or above recommended
320x200, 16-bit colour: 233 Mhz or above
640x400, 16-bit colour: 500 Mhz system minimum, may need faster if you use large objects
800x600, 16-bit colour: 600 Mhz system minimum, may need faster if you use large objects


Considering the average pc bought now is over 2ghz you shouldn't really have to worry about speed too much... filesize (and download time) does go up fast with res though for obvious reasons.

[Archangel (aka SoupDragon)]

mp3 music makes filesize go up way quicker than hi res. And in practical terms, 640x480x16 shouldn't show any slowdown; most people use 320x200 because they 1. can't draw (like me) 2. love old-school or 3. both.

[Ghost]

the ags games are pretty slow if high resolutions are used, but i guess there's another reason why so many games are low res: since most people you'd like to make an adventure game are bound to know the old classics, i think the want to copy the look and feel of these games. and even very good-looking games had a rather low resolution. maybe that's it?

[skurken]

So, it´s mainly nostalgia that´s making ppl use low res.
I respect that, I even have my Atari ST on the wall in my living room as a decoration.

My system is a 2,4ghz p4 so I should be ok.

thanks,

skurken