Ratio vs resolutions.

Greetings to you all! ^_^

Hehe i just wanted to begin with saying that i have recieved alot of help here in this community, it is really awesome, and as i am learning i will try to help those who are new to this and are seeking help aswell, just like the help i have recieved ^_^

Now to the question!

I am currently creating a 'game' for iphone/android and ipad/tablets.

Now the thing which has been confusing me for weeks is; what resolution can i create in for the game to work on all these devices? I have read the tutorial here and it says to aim for example, for aspect ratio, such as 16;9.

If i create it in 16:9, will it fit all these devices? Because i have seen games on iphone that look very good, but they are in 960x640, which isnt a true 16:9 ratio, since the true 16:9 ratio is 960x560. What is going on here? :/ I should target a 16:9 ratio yes? ANy good resolutions within that ratio that fit pixels well?

Yes i am drawing in pixels, but cant figure which ratio/resolution to go for. Anyone can help me understand this? Thanks in beforehand ^_^

All the best.

Have you read THIS tutorial from Ashley on supporting multiple screen sizes?

Greaver

This is a complex subject ... There are many different resolutions and aspect ratios ... After spending a lot of time I figured that one of the best solution is the most simple one:

1. Design your game for a specific resolution/aspect ratio (I would chose 1280x720 since is the most common ... or 720x1280 for portrait games)

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_resolution

2. Use a Scale Mode

More info: https://www.scirra.com/tutorials/73/supporting-multiple-screen-sizes

Good luck <img src="smileys/smiley20.gif" border="0" align="middle">

Also, when wanting to support multiple screen sizes, there's always scaling involved. So it's either crystal clear, crisp Pixels or multiple screen size support.

The reason for the old pixel games having that clear picture is that the games back then were especially made for that resolution alone (even pc monitors used to support one screen size only!). On the packages you could always read something like "needs 320x240 resolution"

If you want to recreate that sharp pixel feeling for all you would need to basically design the game for each of the resolutions on the mobile market seperately.

Else you have to live with compromises (e.g. sharp images but less canvas on smaller resolutions, or sharp images on one specified resolution, but scaling to fit on all other, etc.)

And yes, go with a 16:9 ratio. It's a de facto standard nowadays. And in general regarding pixels: It's always better to downscale than upscale. So creating your sprites, they should be at least as large as neeeded to show them crisp and clear on the highest possible resolution you want to support.

Hehe thanks guys for the awesome answers! There is just 1 thing here that is messin'm with me and that is when i try the letterbox scale, or the integer scale - and when i export it to my phone through ''cocoonjs''

I get the message 'Construct 2 letterbox scale fullscreen modes are not supported on this platform' - and my screen stays small without scaling to fit.. What is going on wrong here? >.<

Hehe thanks for the answer, but that is the thing, no matter what resolution i choose, my sprites are never crystall clear. I draw in about 200x150 character sizes, but they never appear as i want them to, spec when i cant use the letterbox scale on the iphone >.<