image dimensions/background for iPad

xyloFUN

Hello,
I have decided to render out new images for my app and would like to ask for advise on the dimensions.
The background image shows a trumpet and I am wondering if I should go "edge to edge", using up all the with of the display in order to show a nice big instrument or if it would be better to leave a little bit of room?

The thing is that all my life, I've never actually played games and therefore I am not accustomed with UI design.
From what I've seen in youtube tutorials, it should be ok to go as wide as possible.

Last point: I am planning to make my app for iPad Landscape only! Is that ok to do or should I give the users the choice of rotating the display as they wish?

gyroscope

xyloFUN said:
Hello,
I have decided to render out new images for my app and would like to ask for advise on the dimensions.
The background image shows a trumpet and I am wondering if I should go "edge to edge", using up all the with of the display in order to show a nice big instrument or if it would be better to leave a little bit of room?

The thing is that all my life, I've never actually played games and therefore I am not accustomed with UI design.
From what I've seen in youtube tutorials, it should be ok to go as wide as possible.

Hi xyloFUN, graphic designers, like wot I am/used to be/am/used to be/am.... have some "rules" which a couple are: white space (or background space) is just as important as what's in the space. (Painters and illustrators abide by this as well).Even if your game is for children, where I would think you need the image fairly large, jolly/funky and colourful, you still need what's said as a bit of air around it (that's the second "rule". It's a personal thing sometimes, and I wouldn't get too bogged down in finer details like that at the beginning of game planning/production anyway; it can always be tweaked at a later stage after you've " lived with it" for a while and decide it must change.

xyloFUN said:

Last point: I am planning to make my app for iPad Landscape only! Is that ok to do or should I give the users the choice of rotating the display as they wish?

That's fine, except Apple have been rejecting apps if all of the orientations haven't been selected. So what you do there if you want the user to not turn it, I don't know. It would mean the user turning the iPad, seeing that the screen images don't change to match, turn it back again, and turn on the switch on the iPad to fix the orientation. Always thought that whole thing a bit clumsy, but that's the way Apple want it...don't know if any other Forum members will chime in here with more info....

Hope that's helped; good luck with your game-making! :-)

Edit: I hope any of that doesn't sound condescending; wasn't meant to be!

xyloFUN

thank you so much!

I am not sure what to do because i am new to all of this.
For the end user, it would be best if the device is being used in landscape mode as it shows a nice big instrument and more important, as the levels progress, more sounds need to become accessible so i really need as much space as i can have.
Unfortunately, I don't have an iPhone so I can not test it at all but i'd love to have the app available for an iphone too ... just with smaller image dimensions.

agian, thank you for shedding light on this!

p.s. i've just finished rendering out the images but i will save them in tiff format so that i can reduce the size if needed.

Also, do you (or anyone reading this) think that I should/could ask Apple for advise? IT would be sad to be rejected just because of this one thing!

JohnPapiomitis

It only would have to rotate between the 2 landscapes, so you dont need portrait. you just need to go into every scene go into scene attributes go in autorotate and check landscape left and right.

xyloFUN

Thanks John,
i will do that