Android/iOS dimensions

[3dmasons]

If a background was designed, and everything had to be visible on mobile devices, what resolution/dimension should you use? I am being asked to create a background at 1920x1080 to be perfectly visible in mobile devices and this just cannot be true, or is it?

[KittyWills]

Depends on what phone you are using. Iphones don't have the same dimensions as androids. Then you have iphones vs ipads. What your client is asking is kinda impossible.

You could either make a BG that only have clickable items within your smallest res box. Or have separate image pack for every resolution. I've looked into mobile res quite a bit, but still haven't found the perfect answer. I'm curious what other would have to say. =/

[3dmasons]

Not long ago I did some Google research trying to find the best average resolution for mobile and I came up with deciding to use 640x480. There are devices that can display much larger resolutions but that would then be measuring which devices are more widely used by the target audience. The request to design using 1920x1080 when mobile devices will be the main target seems extreme to me.

Once I get Android deployment working I will be experimenting with this these coming days. Maybe I can come up with some more information to share. I don't have very many devices to test.

Thanks for your reply, KittyWills.

[3dmasons]

I really could use input on this from veteran developers of Ren'Py to know of their experiences when dealing with released content for PC and mobile. I have been doing a lot of tests, still having issues with Android deployment to perform more valuable tests, and I am stuck in a position that doesn't allow me to continue forward.

If you've released Ren'Py games/novels strictly for Android/iOS, what design resolution (stage, canvas) did you use and what Ren'Py window dimensions did you use? If you released for all platforms, what did you use? I would appreciate the answers.

I am being asked to design (stage, canvas) 1920x1080 for what may end up being a resolution of 640x480. Therefore you need these giant buttons that take up 20% of 1920x1080 to look good enough at 640x480. I would rather make two versions at this point and maybe even settle for the fact that PC will have a 1024x768 resolution.

What is the average PC resolution for the visual novel target audience based on latest public releases?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Aviala]

I don't know much about the subject but if you're being paid by someone and they're asking for a high-res image, it's probably best to just roll with it. :') They might need the high-res image for marketing purposes, for example. Have you discussed this issue with your employer/team? Communication usually sheds some light to issues like these.

For PC releases 1920x1080 is probably the modern standard - most PC users probably have HD screens and even if some are using 4K screens, FullHD still looks pretty good (and has the same aspect ratio).

EDIT: If you're planning to release on both PC and mobile you probably need to have different graphics for each - as you mentioned, UI that works on a big screen won't work well on mobile and vice versa.

[Pando]

On this other topic on the same subject, gas suggested using 1280*720 since it fits almost everywhere.
Maybe he'll elaborate on that if he's around here. I personally have no experience on mobile.

[3dmasons]

Thanks for the replies, Aviala and Pando. Greatly appreciated.

[Darim]

I've tried my demo on different devices. I'm going to use 1920 x 1080 for Android.
Basically the PC Version with a optimized GUI for small and touch screens.

[3dmasons]

Darim, thanks for your answer. I had taken a look at multiple resolutions, on multiple android devices, and you are correct.

Pando, gas; thank you for that suggestion and gas is correct. It looks the best for all platforms.

Thanks everyone.

[Tyrantauranox]

If a client asked for 1920x1080, that's what I'd give them. They can scale it down if they need various smaller sizes, and they can do a bit of cropping if they need different aspect ratios. If someone handed me a 720p image when I asked for 1080p, I'd say: "Okay, this is a nice proof. Please send me the 1080p image."

There might be an exception to that if the "client" was not paying, though.