What is the Optimal Screen Resolution?

I've realised I haven't given screen resolution much thought. Going by a couple of the video tutorials I've ended up using 1280 x 720, but I'm not sure why. I would like the game to look nice on bigger screens as well. I tried playing the game full screen on a 27 inch 2560 x 1440 and it is noticeably less attractive.

Whatever resolution you specify in the game tab will be the default resolution. Your game will automatically scale up/down to each individual players screen resolution. There will always be artifacts whenever anything is scaled because that's just the way things are.

You can't simply change the default resolution of your game in the editor unless you are willing to redraw your graphics to suit the new resolution as it won't automatically scale them in the editor for you. Let's say you have a default resolution of 1920x1080, now what this means is that your scene backgrounds need to have a minimum width & height of 1920x1080. If you create the background images larger than the default resolution you set then they will automatically become scrollable scenes, which means that when the character reaches a certain point in the scene that the camera will scroll to show the hidden part of the scene background & will try to center the camera on the character.

Quick note: The most popular monitor resolution according to Steam stats is 1920x1080, followed by 1366x768 (if I remember correctly). 1920x1080 is most common for monitors & TV. 1366x768 is the most common resolution for laptops.

The question to ask I suppose would be, what sort of graphic style are or will you be using for your game? Pixelart should use low resolutions & will not look very pretty on any modern screen in fullscreen mode because, well... it's pixelart - I think it's best viewing pixelart games in window mode at 1x or 2x scaling so the images stay fairly crisp. If you are planning on using 3D graphics or hand drawn/digital cartoon style graphics like Daedalic use, then I would recommend using 1920x1080 instead.

I'm definitely closer to the Daedalic style than pixel art, so I'm switching to 1920x1080. So far I'm still using placeholder graphics so it shouldn't be that much work to update to higher definition.

One follow up question though: when the game scales down, it scales down the background as well, right? It's only when the background is larger than the default that it becomes scrollable?

I mean if the game suddenly started scrolling in weird places because of a smaller monitor, that could really mess with the intended experience.

correct. The game is measured with the resolution you set in your game, not what the monitor is doing. 

Thanks guys, you made this step really easy for me.

regarding pixel art games @ fullscreen:

They would still look really good as long as a multiple of the games resolution is e. g. full HD. 

So a very low res game with 320x180 pixel would look at nearly every modern resolution great because most resolutions are a multiple of 320 

Yeah, but what I mean is that it becomes harder to make things out the more you scale up pixelart games. I ended up playing the earlier Blackwell games by Wadjet in window mode. The final 2 weren't so bad as they were created at higher resolutions, so you could still easily make out what everything was when scaled up to 1920x1080 on my 24" monitor.

It's not a bad thing, but generally they just lose some of those crisp details that you can make out when viewing at intended resolution or 2x. Scumm engine gave the option of applying filters like 2xSAI & various others which smoothed out the pixels so they looked nicer on larger resolutions, however they often ended up losing details with those filters & ended up looking like oil paintings of sorts.

original pixelated version of my favorite p+c game "Simon the Sorcerer"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzoAJ3GPwT8
versus the trailer for the 20th anniversary HD remake for android (applying 2xSAI filter doesn't make it HD - ding dongs. I wish someone would make an actual HD remake - anyone up for the challenge?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEbuvJyD4pI
Anyway, my point is... look what happens when you viewed at fullscreen.

And also keep in mind the aspect ratio. Nowdays, most of the mobiles and monitors are 16:9 so better to stick with this ratio and from what i've seen in this topic everyone uses 16:9 which is a good thing.

And also keep in mind the aspect ratio. Nowdays, most of the mobiles and monitors are 16:9 so better to stick with this ratio and from what i've seen in this topic everyone uses 16:9 which is a good thing.

In our game we have opted for Full HD 1920x1080 which is sweet also for larger screens.

Anyway, my point is... look what happens when you viewed at fullscreen

Talking about aspect ratios, Simon the Sorcerer (along with all classics ofcourse) run on 320x200, i.e. in less wide res, so i'm sure some kind of stretching has also taken place here which make things even uglier for this 'remake'.

I think a lot of people complained about it, mostly because they had audacity to call it an HD remake which it blatantly is not. Scaled up graphics & a filter isn't a remake, let alone an HD remake. The LucasArt remakes have it spot on. Graphics completely overhauled & redrawn with modern styles to go along with the 1920x1080 resolution. New audio & music in some cases & as a bonus you can switch on the fly between original graphics/sounds & the modern counterparts at any point in-game at the touch of a button.

If someone did that for Simon the Sorcerer 1 & 2, then I would be very happy. Hell I'd even do it myself, but unfortunately I'm not very good with the graphics/animation side of game dev. :'(

If someone did that for Simon the Sorcerer 1 & 2, then I would be very happy. Hell I'd even do it myself, but unfortunately I'm not very good with the graphics/animation side of game dev. :'(

Well that would be nice, would need the rights for the game ofcourse, but i see that Adventuresoft is alive and kicking?? 

If someone did that for Simon the Sorcerer 1 & 2, then I would be very happy. Hell I'd even do it myself, but unfortunately I'm not very good with the graphics/animation side of game dev. :'(

Well that would be nice, would need the rights for the game ofcourse, but i see that Adventuresoft is alive and kicking?? 

http://www.adventuresoft.com/

Sort of... they haven't made anything since the 90's though as far as I'm aware. They were working with some indie devs (StoryBeasts) a couple years back on another Simon game & Chris Barrie from Red Dwarf was supposed to make a return & do the voice over for Simon like he did for the first game. I'm not sure what happened to that project. It looked promising, but it all just seems to have disappeared up in smoke - even their website.

I don't think acquiring rights would be that hard, but someone would need to do a pretty good job of creating enough resources to create at least the first few scenes, which would cost a fair bit of time, money or both.

As long as it's faithful to the original (locations, dialog, events, animations, etc) then I think you would stand a chance of being able to create the remake. Just look at current remake of Fate of Atlantis, which I think Glenfx is part of. That game is arguably from a much more famous game development studio. Adventuresoft are relatively unknown in comparison.

Yeap, could be easier with Adventuresoft, although they still make money out of their games, so they'll want a big piece of the pie to say the least