Comments on: Res Gestae

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:09:28 +0000

There’s a bunch of standard resolutions, but more importantly, they’re closely associated with aspect ratios. I think the best resolution selector menu, from a user perspective, would:

a) use my desktop resolution/refresh rate as a default (pick the main monitor if more than one)
b) if I go to configure it, offer a drop-down of common/sensible resolutions at that aspect ratio, a drop-down box with other aspect ratios and a separate refresh rate box.
c) have an advanced button and let those crazy power-users just type in the horizontal, vertical and refresh rates that they want. For bonus points, indicate the aspect ratio they’ve chosen to show how crazy they are.
d) Have an apply button, change the resolution live (so you can see the results) and do the whole ‘is this new resolution ok?’. Yeah, it’s annoying to most, but when you accidentally screw things up, it saves your bacon. Make sure the default choice isn’t ‘ok” so people don’t double click through it.
e) Write/read everything to/from an .ini file for people who prefer the old-school approach (or screw things up and manage to hit ok despite it).

Of course, this is assuming that the underlaying game supports it. Best of luck!

By: Rei Onryou

Rei Onryou — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 21:49:53 +0000

I was hoping to hug you at Rezzed! Oh well, I suppose you have your priorities…

By: Scott Parker

Scott Parker — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 17:08:15 +0000

Thank you so much for the effort. As someone that plays with a non-traditional resolution (my only gaming rig is hooked up to our HDTV), I’ve had to write all Paradox games as un-runnable and others like Warlock as un-playable because of incredibly tiny text.

By: Ben Hymers

Ben Hymers — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:01:44 +0000

So go on then, what solution did you go for? Don’t leave us hanging :)

By: Ash47

Ash47 — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 21:27:42 +0000

Awesome to hear :D

By: Philippe

Philippe — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 21:13:20 +0000

Now, just wait until you do a German translation and none of your stings fit in the boxes anymore.

By: Murray Lorden

Murray Lorden — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 15:02:10 +0000

As a recent mover from game design to coding myself, too, there is a deep satisfaction in solving annoying problems in an elegant way.

And part of you wished the problem just wasn’t there – that it would solve itself through some magical “common sense” algorithm! Like, “why do I need to totally rearrange my HUD based on the resolution, and worse, the pet ratio?! Can’t the HUD just kinda sort itself out!”.

But once you’ve actually put in the brain and leg work yourself, there can be a vindictively satisfying feeling that you are now on the well-earned superior side of the fence! You’ve earned an advantage over your competitors and peers that you now don’t want to be “easy to solve”, because you’ve earned your stripes the hard way!

By: Dogac Yavuz

Dogac Yavuz — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 14:56:44 +0000

“I get a new, dark and terrible thrill from seeing other people fail at the thing I just solved.”

You are a terrible person – and I wholeheartedly agree.