Thoughts on visual novels moving to widescreen

[Link2link8]

Always occurred to me, but I was wondering what are peoples thought's on widescreen visual novels.

for me I see it as a reason to move to HD gaming, since visual novels that do use widescreen use HD now, but the original boxed sized ones felt more "VN" like if that makes any sense.

just curious at peoples thoughts and looks to this.

[Sapphi]

I sort of dislike the concept of wide-screen monitors (They feel awkward to look at) and due to this, any visual novels I make aren't going to be wide-screen. That being said, I won't overlook a visual novel if it's in that format, it's just not usually better in my opinion. I guess a good thing about the format is that you could fit more sprites on the screen at once, though.

My opinion should be taken with a grain block of salt, of course, since I've always been extremely slow to move to new technology when everyone else was pretty well sold on it (Preferred tapes to CDs and VHS to DVDs as a kid simply because they were more friendly and familiar; prefer my flip-cell phone to those newfangled touch screen phones; prefer CRT monitor vs other monitors, etc.). In general I'm not entirely a fan of HD television simply because I think it makes a lot of things look worse rather than better to my eyes.

But that's just me.

[DaFool]

Youtube went widescreen late 2009. Apple iMacs dropped 16:10 aspect ratio and switched to 16:9 last year. I think it's suffice to say that 16:9 is here to stay (16:10 seemed like an in-between adjustment period in hindsight).

I think all resolutions will eventually reach HD Ready (1280x720p) or Full HD (1980x1080p) eventually, but in the meantime some are using 1024 x 576, such as:
http://www.typemoon.com/products/mahoyo/index.html

I think it's a means to accomodate Netbooks and Tablet PCs until they too reach HD / retina-grade resolutions as well.

[jack_norton]

I have 2 games in production that use 1024x576 and I think most future ones will use that resolution as well.

[netravelr]

It pretty much depends on what your target audience is using. I like the idea of using a 16:9 resolution, but I want older computers to support it so I use a lower one. Plus if you do full screen it will look like a widescreen movie. Just my two cents, of course.

[emihaumut]

I must be crazy since I'm the only one that uses 1067x600, lol. Which actually, now that I'm thinking about it, 1024x576 makes a lot more sense to use.

But yeah, I have to agree with netravelr. I used the 16:9 ratio because it felt more cinematic.

[delta-ion]

Actually I do not really care, if the ratio is 16:9,16:10 or 4:3 when reading a vn, but when I try to position a spirit i think it's harder in 16:9 for the screen feels rather empty if only one spirit is required. In my opinion the text also gets protracted which makes it harder to read. But on the other hand it is true, that soon we will only have screens with 16:9 ratio, so I think that it will be inevitable to change in the near future.

[LVUER]

I don't think widescreen or not is a problem. Perhaps we feel uncomfortable simply because we're not used to widescreen VN. Or even if VN is do strange in widescreen, we'll be able to think the solution to that... eventually.

[Melkoshi]

Mine is currently a 16:9 (1024x576) set up. I prefer it due to the fact that most people now a days will have a wide screen(buying a 4:3 screen just...doesn't happen anymore in stores, least around here). and if not, the black bars on the top and bottom aren't that bad with my layouts. My primary monitor is still a 4:3(can't let go of it!) but I have a 16:9 2nd monitor as well hooked up so I can see how both of them look in comparison.

[SusanTheCat]

I don't like VNs in wide screen because the reading area is often made too wide and I have trouble reading because the lines are too long.

I am certain that a well designed screen layout won't cause this.

Susan

[DaFool]

Yeah the way framing works for widescreen is different, but not bad... actually, it's easier, I think.

Instead of sprites from the knees-up, you just need sprites from the waist-up. The closer viewing distance is less forgiving of compositing errors. When directing a conversation screen, two side-by-side waist-up sprites work perfectly.

The textbox will need to be chopped at the sides so it won't be too long, or just shifted left or right to where the talking sprite is.

Just google for PSP and PS3 VN screenshots.

[LVUER]

Or we could just add lots of buttons to the textbox, reducing the width,

[IceD]

As DaFool said, it mainly depends on the framework of a visual novel. Both 16:9 and 4:3 aspects have their own good and bad sides. As for me, I'm rather accustomed to 4:3 resolutions, than widescreen ones. Furthermore, 16:9 resolutions aren't normal and it sometimes feels awkward to watch a vn that utilises a HD widescreen resolution. 4:3 monitors seem more comfortable to me. I'm also not sure if widscreen will someday totally replace standard monitors. It's the fact that both of them were originally created for different purposes and standard resolutions are just much older; they will be slowly replaced but won't dissapear permanently, although I'm sure it might affect most of normal users and in few next years we will see the demise of 4:3 aspect ratio monitors; widescreen is just a next step in evolution of screens and everyone seems to like them in overall.

From a technical point of view, 16:9 format is very useful for those who work at art or use programs or applications that need a lot of workspace (such as music trackers, game creation software), or watch a lot of movies, while 4:3 formats are more compatible with games (yes, 16:9 isn't natural) and enough for those who write or program (yet, it still depends on what they do).

As for visual novels - 16:9 allows you to put more characters on the screen at one time and has a potential for a bigger textbox, so you may create more elaborate stories with far more writing and descriptions; it's downside is that such screen is quite shorter than those of 4:3... As for Ren'Py, one shouldn't be specially concerned because the OpenGL support will handle both of those formats on any screen you'll choose (16:9 resolution vn's on 4:3 will be stretched horizontally, resulting in two black horizontal stripes and a smaller picture, while 4:3 resolutions on 16:9 will be stretched vertically and you'll get two black squares on the sides, that's all to it).

Most of japanese vn's still use the standard 4:3 format instead of 16:9 (although it seems that more and more new games nowadays appear to favorize widescreen resolutions, but it's still a relatively small number).

[Timeenforceranubis]

I think for a while, it's simply gonna be a choice. Widescreen has become a standard for a lot of genres of game, but VNs are fundamentally different from most games. I think, eventually, they'll move to widescreen, as widescreen becomes the standard for monitors, but until then, it'll be up to the developers to decide which format best fits how they want their game to look.

[AxemRed]

..., as widescreen becomes the standard for monitors...

Widescreen is already the standard, and has been for years.