What are the best practices for designing a level with a static screen, the camera does not move at all. I’d like it to look good on both the Iphone 4 and the Iphone 5 but the change in screen size is tripping me up.
My first thought is to design three sets of each level that caters to screensize of the Ipad, Iphone 4 and Iphone 5. I’ll check for the device and load the appropriate levels.
I am hoping there is a better way that I am not thinking of. Any thoughts regarding this?
You’ll often find for fixed camera games, designers keep the same main level playing area because designing a level per aspect ratio is something you’ll want to avoid if you can! But they get around the aspect issue by adding padding to the edges of the arena / level to compensate for the change in aspect ratio.
I just grabbed some screenshots from the app store, which shows you what i mean. ( ignore the banner they’ve clearly added after in photoshop )
The iPad version is the most tightly cropped as you can see.
On the iPhone, the main area the player interacts with is the same as the iPad except more of the background is revealed.
Also to note, by allowing you’re GUI to stick to the edges of the screen you soften the composition within the screen which stopes it from look weird and cramped. ( some games literally stick black bars down the edges on a wide device instead of adapting! )
This is excellent thank you!
