Should I bother with Resolution Independence?

TouchTiltGames

I'm about to start converting Rodent Rage from iPad to iPhone and I've read a lot of posts on here and it sounds like a headache when it comes to checking that IR on.

So I'm wondering what your experience has been for those who have already taken an ipad game to iPhone with IR checked? I don't have an iPhone 4 so I wouldn't know if there is really a big difference and whether just doing pre-iPhone 4 resolution noticeable enough on the iPhone 4.

jonmulcahy

if you can do it, it'll only be better. The graphics will look so much better on the iPhone4, and it's something you can advertise too.

I'm working on a new game, and it's my first attempt at resolution independence. It's worth the effort in the long run.

TouchTiltGames

How has it been thus far? I get that you obviously need to scale the graphics down, but they need to be a power of 4 or something like that?

jonmulcahy

I just doubled everything. for instance, lets say I want my actor to be 30x60. I made the graphic 60x120 and dragged it into GS. GS made a 30x60 graphic for me, and the actor itself is 30x60. I still design the game as if it was 320x480, but on an iPhone4, it uses the larger graphics and larger screen real estate.

i don't know if this is 100% the best way of doing things, but it works for me.

jonmulcahy

some of the more advanced users have already released a few RI games, they might eb able to chime in too.

scitunes

jonmulcahy said:
if you can do it, it'll only be better. The graphics will look so much better on the iPhone4, and it's something you can advertise too.

I'm working on a new game, and it's my first attempt at resolution independence. It's worth the effort in the long run.

I'm not sure this is correct. The game I just submitted has graphics that are all doubled and then the actor size is set to the correct size for the game (half the image size). On my iTouch 4th gen it looks incredible with no IR checked. After reading the forums closely it seems that checking the IR causes GS to make scaled DOWN versions of each image to optimize the game for OLDER devices. So IR does not seem to do anything to help performance or the look of a game on an iPhone 4 or 4th gen iTouch. IR seems to be geared towards older devices. the idea is that if older devices have to deal with the double image sizes it may cause them to lag. I found that in my game it wasn't a problem so I didn't bother. And again it looks incredible on my new iTouch.

jweaver911

If you already have the images at the Hi-res state (i.e. double) then it's kind of a no-brainer. If you've built everything right, then there's no reason not to use IR in my mind. Those older devices can use all the help they can get when it's gamesalad we're talking about. I didn't have a single hiccup when I made Chameleon Count IR. I think it works like a charm. I have iPhone 4 and my wife has 3Gs so we've tested on both devices resolution.

Just one thing to take note of is the icon BUG. You have to re-select the 114x114 icon every time you build or it will default back to the 57x57 version.

my .02

-josh

TouchTiltGames

Thanks guys,

So Scitunes - your game you're referring to has iphone 4 resolution but you didn't check off IR? OR you just did the 480x320 resolution?

gazjm

My game ballurst uses RI and didn't have any issues, comparing my 3GS to my mates iPhone 4 I can really tell the difference. just submitted zombie dropzone with RI ticked too.

For this I created the game with RI ticked then unticked and compiled to the viewer, with it unticked and not creating the smaller images it used alot more ram. for best results if the game is image heavy and you want it too look good on iPhone 4 I'd recommend using RI!

quantumsheep

Gravitrix will use RI.

I think the plan is to finish the game with the large version graphics installed, then save a second version of the same file with RI ticked.

Then, if it doesn't work right, at least there's a fallback version without RI ticked.

Personally I'd leave it as the last thing I did! Though my artist may think differently!

QS

TouchTiltGames

Ok so to recap a checklist, if you will, for converting an iPad game to iPhone4:

✔ Copy your project
✔ Double size all your images to 960x480
✔ Overwrite the existing ones in the new projects' package contents images folder
✔ Check the IR radio button, duh.
✔ Manually adjust the sizes of the actors (or create a change attribute size I guess)
✔ Manually adjust the actor's x/y positions

I think the last one will be a pain in arse, unless there's an easier way to do this. Too bad there wasn't a more streamlined way to publish your game to all the iDevices.