It's not retina. Really?

[Rubicon]

I've seen a lot of threads talking about retina support on iPad 3 and whatnot and it's clear that at least a small group of people won't buy a game that doesn't run at silly res if they own an iPad 3.

We're about to ship our magnum opus and have been researching how to handle this situation. We have a build at the full new resolution and one at the "old" resolution but with MSAA enabled. (It's a full 3D game btw)

We have two new iPads so we put them side by side for comparison. None of us here could tell them apart, even by putting our noses on the screen and squinting, so what's the big deal here? Am I missing something I shouldn't be?

Unless I am, Great Big War Game will NOT be using retina on iPad3. Instead we'll be using the extra horsepower the GPU provides to add dynamic shadows and better terrain shaders - something that actually makes a noticeable improvement.

Compared to the build running on iPad2, we seem to have 3 choices:

1) Leave it like the iPad 2 graphics and have an even better frame rate
2) Leave it at iPad 2 size and add more graphical fluff and effects
3) Run without extra stuff on a higher resolution we just can't appreciate

Clearly 3) is the worst choice to me, so I have no clue why anyone would promote it as the best.

Discuss?

[drelbs]

I'ma gonna vote 2 because:

1) It won't blow up the file size as 3 probably would and...
2) It should be easier for you to toggle on/off said effects and...
3) I'm not dying for higher FPS in GLWG.

[Rubicon]

+1 Paul likes this.

[RCastle]

My vote was, if the framerate can be made smoother that's always my main concern.

Nothing worse than beautiful, slow as molasses, games.

60 fps FTW!

[JagerBombS]

That is a tough decision and one I thought about recently with the launch of NOVA 3. On the new iPad it looks great with the higher resolution but it doesn't include the effects that the iPad 2 has, which is a big let down. It really takes away from being drawn in to the game (can't believe I'm saying that about a mobile game). In a lot of cases I bet having great bells and whistles will look better than just more pixels. But to the mass consumers, if it doesn't say RETINA in the description, they won't buy it. Or they will rate one star for it, which I just saw this morning for a review of Defender Chronicles 2, where i believe I read their artwork was mostly done before the new resolution came out, but it still looks great. Anyways, can't wait for GBWG with all the bells and whistles!

[JBRUU]

iPad 2 res with more effects, hands down. Just keep the framerate stable. I can't wait to see what devs can do with the a5x.

[TakenXXDeadly]

Well, with 2D games you can't sometimes really tell the difference, but with 3D games hell yes I can see the difference. Take gangstar rio for example.

[Rubicon]

@JagerBomb, this is why I'm even considering these options.

For my own personal sensibilities I'm a 2) man, but 1) isn't far behind, and 3) is off the table completely. An utter waste of available resources.

However, the 3) option is the only one that might cost lost sales for not being picked.

I'm still open for more discussion as I do find this an interesting subject. However I'm already coming to a conclusion for what to do myself - stick to principle, make the best game I think that I can and bugger the complainers. After all, there's usually a vocal minority that would find something to complain about anyway!

[RCranium666]

You obviously don't have an ipad3. I want to use mine at its ultimate potential.

Originally Posted by Rubicon

I've seen a lot of threads talking about retina support on iPad 3 and whatnot and it's clear that at least a small group of people won't buy a game that doesn't run at silly res if they own an iPad 3.

We're about to ship our magnum opus and have been researching how to handle this situation. We have a build at the full new resolution and one at the "old" resolution but with MSAA enabled. (It's a full 3D game btw)

We have two new iPads so we put them side by side for comparison. None of us here could tell them apart, even by putting our noses on the screen and squinting, so what's the big deal here? Am I missing something I shouldn't be?

Unless I am, Great Big War Game will NOT be using retina on iPad3. Instead we'll be using the extra horsepower the GPU provides to add dynamic shadows and better terrain shaders - something that actually makes a noticeable improvement.

Compared to the build running on iPad2, we seem to have 3 choices:

1) Leave it like the iPad 2 graphics and have an even better frame rate
2) Leave it at iPad 2 size and add more graphical fluff and effects
3) Run without extra stuff on a higher resolution we just can't appreciate

Clearly 3) is the worst choice to me, so I have no clue why anyone would promote it as the best.

Discuss?

[Rubicon]

Care to describe what that max potential would be?