I hope that this is the right forum for this question.
Well, I'm starting to work on my background for my first AGS game, and I wanted to ask this so I decide in what resolution should I make them.
The question is, how slower are 640x480 and 800x600 over 640x400? And with that in mind, what resolution would you suggest to be used?
640x480 can be more detailed than 640x400, but is the loss of speed big and unworthy of the efforth?
Also, how slow these days with P3 and P4 computers is the 800x600 resolution? Is it usable?
Thanks in forward
I think in general performance under 640x400 and 640x480 won't differ much, so you can choose whichever is more appropiate. The mode 640x400 was there because it was an integral multiple of 320x200 which was the "standard" low res VGA mode which AGS original support. Using 640x480 has an aspect ratio of ~1:1, which most people may find more comfortable to work with, so it's a more popular choice.
For 800x600, it's due to personal preference (Idon't prefer it though), it depends on whether you REALLY need so many details in your graphics, as in this mode was just added due to popular request, and would probably be considerably slower on low end computers.
As Gilbot says, you won't notice a difference in speed between 640x400 and 640x480. Choose between these two based upon the the aspect ratio you prefer.
I have made a couple of utility programs using 800x600. I choose this resolution for these programs because there was not a lot of chararacter and object animation/movement and crisp text displays were important.
IMHO, the character art is what drives one to want to have a higher resolution and not the background art. So take a look at what you characters will look like and let that guide you.
Btw, I think most people these days are producing games with hi-color and 640x480/400 resolution.
If you decide to go for the hogher resolution, be sure to let us know how it's turning out.
Cheers
800x600 is a bit slow on lower end systems <800mhz so I'd only reccomend using it if your art looks significantly better than it does at 640x480.
Play The Curse of Monkey Island for an example of how good 640x480 and 256 colour can look.
First, thank you for your responses.
And as for the resolution I think I will go with 640x400. Why? Well, for a first game even that will be a big bite, and will have tons of details, so it's enough :)
Hmmm, may I ask few more questions while we're here? :)
1. Is the Pharalax scrolling plug-in functional in 640x400 res?
2. Can one make GUI similar to the one in Legend of Kyrandia? Like, you pick up the items with the laft button, and you drop the in the inventory fields. Also when you want to use/give item, you pick it from the inventory and drop it on the hotspot/person.
Please, some simple Yes or No answers will do the job :P I hope I'm not asking much of AGS?
1. I would suppose it would work, Scorpious didn't specify, and I wouldnt see why not.
http://www.agsforums.com/games.php?action=detail&id=188
2. I don't know that game, but AGS is really capable of anything, so Im pretty sure you could. Read up on the GUI commands and inventory commands in the manual, and see if that helps, if not, then post the question in the tech forum.