Apple Event 1st Of September

[MrPinkPanther]

theres no point not adding it. Developers dont have to change much. The apps developed on the 480x320 screens work on the 1024x768, as well as 960x640. Theyd just have to design apps for the, what im guessing, would be something like 2048x1536 or w/e. as the graphics in this, would scale proportionatly to the other resolutions

There is an expectation amongst consumers that apps will run in their native resolution. Have you tried running standard iPhone apps on an iPad screen? They look less than impressive. Coping with a higher resolution is fine for larger companies but for indie developers it alienates them from the app store to a certain extent and they are the people who essentially fuel the appstore. From a programming perspective it isn't too difficult to adapt to but from a graphical standpoint it can require a complete graphics overhaul in order to cope with the resolution.

[Recursion]

I'm not so sure. Apple need to be careful about constantly changing screen resolutions because it annoys developers. Since the start of this year they have moved from one consistent resolution (480x320) to 3 (480x320, 1024x768, 960x640), would they want to add another?

I think they can easily pull it off, Android supports many many resolutions with XML-based App UIs, essentially it's like building a HTML/CSS website for many different resolutions, there's no doubt Apple can manage it.

[kk.]

There is an expectation amongst consumers that apps will run in their native resolution. Have you tried running standard iPhone apps on an iPad screen? They look less than impressive. Coping with a higher resolution is fine for larger companies but for indie developers it alienates them from the app store to a certain extent and they are the people who essentially fuel the appstore. From a programming perspective it isn't too difficult to adapt to but from a graphical standpoint it can require a complete graphics overhaul in order to cope with the resolution.

ye but even on the current ipad resolution, the graphics are good, so they wont look too bad on one that has a better resolution. So theyve had to adapt to that if they want to support it. and the overhauls of the graphics, at least ones which are still updating, shouldve already happened by the new year. People SHOULD, not will be but should, be developing apps in HD now, rather than standard res

[MrPinkPanther]

I think they can easily pull it off, Android supports many many resolutions with XML-based App UIs, essentially it's like building a HTML/CSS website for many different resolutions, there's no doubt Apple can manage it.

But it's not always that straightforward is my point. Take the game I'm developing at the moment, the camera is a certain distance away from the level itself, moving it closer or further away would completely change the gameplay because you are only supposed to be able to see a specific part of the level. Now if I were porting it to the iPad properly (which I hopefully will be) then it will require a complete graphics overhaul because the 3D work that has been designed for it will look frankly awful at the bigger size. Reworking all textures to a higher resolution and adding more polys to 3D models is a lot of work for the indie studio I'm employed by. The more resolutions Apple adds the more expensive and difficult it becomes to develop for their devices.

Of course many applications do not have the problem that we do but even with the simplest of games moving the Camera out could drastically change the speed of the gameplay and hence alter the game altogether. Basically if the resolution of the device gets larger then you have three options, either move the camera out allowing the user to see more of the world, enlarge the world and redesign the graphics or do nothing. None of these options are attractive.

[Firehorse]

But it's not always that straightforward is my point. Take the game I'm developing at the moment, the camera is a certain distance away from the level itself, moving it closer or further away would completely change the gameplay because you are only supposed to be able to see a specific part of the level. Now if I were porting it to the iPad properly (which I hopefully will be) then it will require a complete graphics overhaul because the 3D work that has been designed for it will look frankly awful at the bigger size. Reworking all textures to a higher resolution and adding more polys to 3D models is a lot of work for the indie studio I'm employed by. The more resolutions Apple adds the more expensive and difficult it becomes to develop for their devices.

develop the textures in high res at the start and then scale it downwards rather than upwards? much simpler way to go.

[HotelUser]

develop the textures in high res at the start and then scale it downwards rather than upwards? much simpler way to go.

In my brain this is what I'd think would work best, then again I know nothing about 3D game development

[MrPinkPanther]

develop the textures in high res at the start and then scale it downwards rather than upwards? much simpler way to go.

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. Well what you are saying isn't wrong but once you change the polys of an object the whole texture is thrown out of line and needs to be redone or heavily tweaked at the very least. The actual remodelling of the 3D object is a lot more complex too. It's virtually impossible to take the poly count down efficiently and it can even often prove troublesome adding polys whilst maintaing the style.

Basically what I'm saying is it's unnecessary effort for what it is. Realistically a resolution change does little to improve the end users experience and it can prove costly to the developer. That's my opinion on the matter anyway.

[Recursion]

Unfortunately it doesn't work like that. Well what you are saying isn't wrong but once you change the polys of an object the whole texture is thrown out of line and needs to be redone or heavily tweaked at the very least. The actual remodelling of the 3D object is a lot more complex too. It's virtually impossible to take the poly count down efficiently and it can even often prove troublesome adding polys whilst maintaing the style.

Basically what I'm saying is it's unnecessary effort for what it is. Realistically a resolution change does little to improve the end users experience and it can prove costly to the developer. That's my opinion on the matter anyway.

I'd have to totally disagree!

Movies and photos will be more defined, I'll be able to see more on a game (e.g. an FPS), I'll be able to see more information in a document or on a web page, the list goes on.

Although it may cause some issues for the developers (which would be dependant on the platform... like XML based UIs) in the end it really is noticeable and can impact the user's experience greatly

[HotelUser]

To elaborate onto what Tom said look at Habbo. Before we were stuck at 600x800. Now with more real estate we can zoom into small rooms, fit entire large rooms on our screen, customize size to fit the choose and friends list, even the hotel navigator on all at once. Being limited in screen size makes me feel uneasy, I like the freedom of customization!

[MrPinkPanther]

I'd have to totally disagree!

Movies and photos will be more defined, I'll be able to see more on a game (e.g. an FPS), I'll be able to see more information in a document or on a web page, the list goes on.

Although it may cause some issues for the developers (which would be dependant on the platform... like XML based UIs) in the end it really is noticeable and can impact the user's experience greatly

I'd agree if the iPad was low resolution but 1024x768 is ridiculously high for such a small device. Increasing it wouldn't really give you any more detail in movies films or games. Like take your FPS example. Run standard Nova and Nova HD on an iPhone 4, you get no real kind of gameplay change but Gameloft had to spend money remastering the graphics for it. Fine for them but not indie devs. Oh and in regards to web pages, who designs websites for larger than 1024px? Most monitors are still at that resolution no?

To elaborate onto what Tom said look at Habbo. Before we were stuck at 600x800. Now with more real estate we can zoom into small rooms, fit entire large rooms on our screen, customize size to fit the choose and friends list, even the hotel navigator on all at once. Being limited in screen size makes me feel uneasy, I like the freedom of customization!

But with the iPad we aren't talking about a screen size change, we are talking about a resolution change. The reason Habbo changed was because the window got larger, not because it had more PPI.