Screen Resolutions for a VN

[Peach]

So while I´m trying to figure out stuff for my project, I came across the issue of size and resolution.

It´s safe to assume that the majority of people with internet access and an interest in VNs have a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768 - or is that just my own experience? In fact, noone I know even uses 4:3 resolutions anymore.

Since Ren'Py comes with the automatic option of Fullscreen, I would like to know if using a widescreen resolution would be a good idea, or maybe to keep it usable for more people, making it 800x600 in size.
Also, what do you prefer? 4:3 or widescreen in windowed VNs/Games in general? Do you care about how much space it takes up on the screen?

(on a more technical note, how do I get my Ren'Py game to open in the resolution I specified in options.rpy? I tried setting it to a few different things for comparison, but after a certain point it always opens it in a smaller window than specified :/)

[Asceai]

I think widescreen is still very usable for people. People with 4:3 displays can still play widescreen games- they will be just fine windowed, they will be letterboxed in fullscreen.

The current standard VN resolution is 1280x720. If you have 9,504円 in your wallet* and you go into a store in Japan and buy a new VN, it will almost definitely be 1280x720. A few years ago everything was 800x600, now it's 1280x720. Nothing stopping you from going higher, of course, but I'm just saying this is the standard now.

(on a more technical note, how do I get my Ren'Py game to open in the resolution I specified in options.rpy? I tried setting it to a few different things for comparison, but after a certain point it always opens it in a smaller window than specified :/)

I wrote a short post describing physical and logical resolutions here.

The upshot of it is that if the resolution is too big for the display (ren'py has some built-in factors to determine this) it will be scaled down. The easiest way to fix this is to go into Preferences in your game and click 'Windowed'. This should return it to the right size providing your display is large enough for that size.

This is generally a good thing, because it means that people can play your 1280x720 game windowed on those awful 1366x768 laptop displays that are way too common for their own good, without the window needing to cover up the taskbar or something else in order to fit. However, the game will remain scaled down even if you fix the size, so to reset it, go into Preferences and click 'Windowed'.

*that's what you get for voting in the LDP, Japan. the DPP weren't THAT bad~

[Tempus]

There's already many threads on this subject. If you search for 'screen resolution' in the creator discussion sub forum you'll find them.

The long and short of what you'll find is: widescreen = good, bigger = better. I'd add that it makes a lot of sense to future-proof your game by choosing a resolution above the currently most popular. Currently 1366 x 768 is the most popular resolution IIRC. It wouldn't be at all surprising if 1920 x 1080 supplanted that soon. If it's no extra effort, go HD.

[Peach]

Okay, I´m sorry then, a quick search didnt bring up much. I´ll go deeper next time.

And thanks for the input both of you! Especially the resizing part is interesting, even though it means I´ll never see how my game looks in full capacity - I do own one of those awful laptops

[Coren]

Being the owner of an awful laptop... I'd still say 800x600 all the way. Lol.

[DaFool]

Even with rescaling, HD VNs take their toll on my laptop, causing it to overhead and force a shutdown. Especially if the background images are 1mb or more.