About resolutions and ratio

[Nurz]

Hello.

The issue: I want to create a game that can be played in a wide variety of resolutions and thinking of how to proceed in making the backgrounds. Create them in the highest res the game will support and then scale them down to match the lowest? Will they look as good as the drawings in Runaway for example, from low to high res?

And what about the 16:10 vs 4:3 ratios? I want to create scenes that can be played under 1920x1200 [or 1600x1200] to 1280x800 [or 1024x768]. Is AGS capable of automatically scaling down the image and handling the ratio somehow? Is there another way around? And finally, will AGS support resolutions up to 1920 or 1600?

Thanks.

[GarageGothic]

The highest resolution currently supported by AGS is 800x600. While it may be raised eventually (as the new hardware accelleration support makes it easier for the system to handle), I wouldn't expect a doubling of the maximum resolution anytime soon. Your best bet for maximum compatibility with widescreen monitors would be to develop your game at 640x400 resolution and use "Force alternate letterbox" for 4:3 monitors. You give up a bit of screen area to the letterbox bars, but the game will fill up the entire screen on 16:10 monitors. Unfortunately 800x600 mode doesn't have any equivalent widescreen resolution.

For more on the whole aspect ratio issue, you can follow the on-going discussion in these two threads:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=33896.0
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=33578.msg439247#msg439247