2D on mobile

[Rick]

I'm nervous about dealing with 2D on mobile platforms, given so many different resolutions and aspect ratios. Testing for all the different variations and potentially needing different sizes of the same image (not stretced because it could look bad) just seems like a giant pain

 

Has anyone made a game on mobile that had 2D elements and have any tips?

[tjheldna]

I've been used a bit of cocos 2dx with Levelhelper and Spritehelper. If you want to go 2d I highly recommend these. Levelhelper and Spritehelper are OSX only, but they both compile for use on iOS and Android.

[Rick]

Not looking to go 2D, but there will be 2D menus in my 3D game, which is my main reason for my question.

[YouGroove]

You just have to wait for LE 3 GUI system and editor, menahwile you can develop your game.

 

Why not 3D menus ? Or simple rectangle polygon with text on it ?

[Rick]

1) For sure not waiting for LE GUI seeing as my game is probably 1-2 weeks from being complete.

 

2) I've thought of 3D GUI and I might go that way, but 2D is generally easier (make a image, DrawImage() on the screen, minus the resolution issue).

[Rick]

OK, I'm going 3D with this stuff I think. The main menu background I'll just make a material for and slap it on a CSG object in front of the camera. Will do the same for the buttons I think and just pick them for selection. That way I don't have to worry about this 2D ****

[knocks]

For Spritehelper pc alternative i use TexturePacker

[MCP]

To answer your original question Rick. I faced the same problems when I developed my first Android game which I published roughly two years ago. Depending on your game's graphical requirements it's best to design your game to the absolute smallest screen you think it will be comfortably played on. You can then rescale your graphics to fit larger screen sizes and/or reference higher resolution bitmaps to fit. Remember to preserve the aspect ratio of your original screen size then centre the game area on the larger screen and you should be fine.