Pixel Art on the Xbox 360

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    Hey folks,

    I'd like to know the best resolution and settings (MMF, XNA, etc.) for Pixel Art games on the Xbox 360. I've browsed the forum topics and have read a few related threads:

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    Here's what I understand so far (and this may not all be right - please correct me if I'm wrong):

    • Aspect Ratio

      • The Xbox 360 aspect ratio automatically changes depending on the type of display:

        • SDTV - 4:3
        • HDTV - 16:9
      • Development should probably be done for HDTVs as most people will have these (including myself)
    • Resolution

      • The Xbox 360 supports two main resolutions on an HDTV

        • 720p (1280x720)
        • 1080p (1920x1080)
    • Game Resolution

      • You can set your MMF2 game to just about any resolution and the Xbox 360 will resize or "zoom" it to fit the screen
      • Resizing lower resolution games uses "smooth" scaling - which may cause pixel art to become blurry

    Does all of that sound about right?

    So, my question again: Since my game is a pixel art game and I'd like to avoid a blurry display - which resolution and settings (MMF, XNA, etc.) should I be using?

    The game is currently in the neighborhood of 400x300 but I'm okay with changing that around a little. I can redo the necessary artwork (HUD, etc.) as needed. Here is a screenshot of what I'm trying to accomplish on the Xbox 360:

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    Thanks a lot for any help you can offer!

    Jess

    Artist for ZDay20 and Dungeon Dash. Please login to see this link. | Creator of Captain Plokey (to be released eventually): Please login to see this link.

    build for 1280x720. Most displays support this (also the 1080p). Altough FullHD is more common these days (1920x1080), alternatively you could build it for 1920x1080/2 = 960x540, then upscale by a factor 2.0, and your back on 1920x1080. Because its a magnification of exactly 200% it just duplicates the pixels, and this way you will never have glitches or issues with math ánd blurry images.

    Additionaly it will run on lower screens such as 1024x768 and run in any common browser. Even iPad up to v4. You can even go as far as rescaling 960x540/2 which gets you 480x270. This will allow you to run it on any average mobile deveice that these days all come roughly with a 480x320 screen size.

    -edit-
    i was just processing 4000+ mobile deveice specs earlier today. If its done perhaps i can share the top 5 or top 10 common screensizes.

    Patrick, thanks for the quick response! I'm taking the kids to lunch, but I'll try your recommendations later today and report back.

    Artist for ZDay20 and Dungeon Dash. Please login to see this link. | Creator of Captain Plokey (to be released eventually): Please login to see this link.

    I'm still testing the resolution but am having some issues with sprite behavior on the Xbox 360. Some of the objects (specifically the Platform Movement Object) don't appear to function exactly the same way on the Xbox 360 as they do on the PC. Since this is a separate issue, I'll create a new thread and then come back to this one with more on the resolution problem.

    Artist for ZDay20 and Dungeon Dash. Please login to see this link. | Creator of Captain Plokey (to be released eventually): Please login to see this link.

    Maybe not the easiest of solutions but there is always the possibility to make the movement yourself. In the end it all boils down to X&Y coords or +Z if in 3D and some "forces" that pull on the numbers, along with some "constant or variable values" to ballance things.

    I learned almost all movements can be made with relatively simple formules employing just +,-,* and / as well as Sqrt, Pow, Mod, and Sin/Cos. This gets you exponential, parabol, liniar, wave shapes, etc..
    Collision detection is no more than using the build-in collision system from MMF, or you could check for each pixel to overlap (or boundingbox) dependig on your requirements.

    You can try starting of with a simple falling test e.g. a crate, or a jump test with the player using a custom movement. If that fixed it, chances are the error is with the Advanced Movement Object.

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