Questions on Layout Size/Aspect Ration/Screen Resolution

Hi all!

I have been reading a lot of tutorials/forum posts and I'm still stuck with a couple questions.

What is a good layout size if you want to create a mobile game, or a good layout out size for PC? Does it matter? I noticed some people use 1280,1024, ,others use smaller layout sizes. I wanted to make a larger level than 1280,1024 but was worried I would be compromising performance. Is there a general limit I should follow for each level on layout size for mobile games? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the point of Layout size. I'm assuming it's what "size" you want your level to be before moving on to the next one. Why does the dotted line always start in the upper left? Is there a way to move that elsewhere?

Also, I found a tutorial that suggested for mobile games to build for a 16:9 Aspect Ratio and Scale outer, but keep major game play elements inside 3:2. That makes sense, but is there a way inside Construct to have a grid that shows me where 3:2 is exactly? I'm assuming the dotted line is showing me what a 16:9 aspect ratio person would see when I chose 16:9 as a project.

Anyways, I hope my question isn't too silly! Thanks for your time! =)

Layout size and window size are two different things. The 16:9 (or every other ratio for that matter) that you mention, is related with the window size parameter. This is in effect the default screen resolution of your device. The topic "which dimensions or aspect ratio should I choose for my game" is debatable and has a lot of posts, with great suggestions already. Don't confuse the window size with the layout size. The latter is the overall size of your level and, in theory, can be...huge without performance penalties. What does affect performance are the number of objects that are displayed on the screen at the same time, their transparency level, particle systems, webGL effects and so on. Also, the the added texture size of all sprites on each level on devices with low memory capacity, will prove to be a major factor.

For mobile resolutions I recommend staying under 480x800.

Edit

360x640 is also a good resolution to use.

Thanks to both of you for the your replies! It helps clear things up!

Go with 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio and use Scale Outer/Scale Inner

Good Luck

Thanks TGeorge, will do!