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[Melaniipon]

I'm sure we all know that computers come in different sizes.

Our plan is create certain cutscenes  like these:











We want to do it all in pixel art, but how do we determine what size to begin at since we want players to be able to play in fullscreen - which will obviously be different for different players?

[Bad_Dude 2017]

any as long as you keep pixels square?

seriosly, in pixelart resolution does not matter, only aspect ratio. It also depends if you upscale sprites or run everything with actual pixel resolution.

[Melaniipon]

any as long as you keep pixels square?

seriosly, in pixelart resolution does not matter, only aspect ratio. It also depends if you upscale sprites or run everything with actual pixel resolution.

What do you mean with keeping pixels square? O_O Or do you mean like the shape of the screen? o.o

So basically, I should start with what I think would be a good size for now?

[Bad_Dude 2017]

every single pixle should be 1x1, no exceptions.

[Schoq]

Lots of machines have a pixel ratio that's not 1:1 (nes, snes are prominent examples but the list is endless), it just takes a bit of trickery to comfortably make art for such with standard tools.
What you really need to worry about is making sure the ratio of the display stays the same (e.g. to pillarbox instead of stretch to fit). Although some people seem prioritise a filled screen to a proper aspect ratio, so I don't think it hurts to keep that as an option

[Richard Kain]

It all depends on how scalable you want your art to be. Extremely low-resolution pixel art has to be re-touched in order to avoid certain scaling issues. High-resolution art needs to have a decent amount of detail, or at least a firmly established style that scales well. The higher-resolution example picture you provide would not scale very well, because the art style it uses is utilizing numerous thin lines. Very thin lines scale poorly, and will usually disappear at lower resolutions. A style with thicker lines and bold, solid color blocks would scale better.

One of my usual recommendations is to do all of your final inking on your illustrations in a vector program. Like Illustrator, or Inkscape. Vector art scales better than any other digital approach. It is defined mathematically, and can be re-sized and re-rendered at almost any theoretical resolution without losing any of the created detail. Some styles, usually ones that rely heavily on strokes and textures, won't fit as well with vector tracing. But comics, cartoons, and anime styles usually translate into vectors very well.

I suggest doing some trial sketches, trace them in a vector program, and try scaling them to some of the different resolutions you're hoping to support. See how you can alter the tracing style to make them scale better.

[Melaniipon]

@Schoq - As long as it scales by 2x or 3x and not like 2.5x etc, it SHOULD be okay. I think I found a workable resolution, but I shall see. o.o

@Richard Kain - (cool name!) While I admit I have to learn vector art, my game is strictly pixel art at the Boss' request. So I just have to make sure it doesn't ever become blurry. XD

[Schoq]

You can upscale to a completely arbitrary resolution and still have it look sharp if you're you just prepared to use your brain a little

I made a really good post about this a while back that I'll dig up when I can

[Richard Kain]

Adhering to integer scaling for the resizing is the correct method. The rest is just deciding on a standard to adhere to that will work well with the standard displays that you are going to be targeting. I would recommend putting together a list of the resolutions you want most to support, and extrapolating your target resolution from there. Find a value that will deal well with integer scaling for all of the desired resolutions, as closely as possible.

If you have a number of situations where the scaling doesn't quite line up, I recommend styled letterboxing. Some people don't like letterboxing. This distaste can be softened by having a static image that is displayed in the letterboxing area. A "frame" if you will.

[cynicalsandel]

192x108 (x10)
240x135 (x8)
320x180 (x6)
384x216 (x5)
480x270 (x4)

etc.

are all 16:9 resolutions for pixel art that scale to HD (1920x1080). Obviously not every screen is 16:9, but it's probably the most common if you aren't targeting mobile?. Like Richard said, probably use letterboxing to support other resolutions for pixel perfect results.

According to the Steam Hardware Survey 48.78% of users have a 1920x1080 display, and the only other resolution even close to that is 1366x768 at 21.53% (Laptop resolution I'm pretty sure). 1920x1080 also has the benefit of being a very popular TV resolution and even with UltraHD(4k) it still scales to to 3840x2160 nicely.

[Richard Kain]

The resolutions that should give you pause are not the TV and PC resolutions, they are the mobile resolutions. On TV and PC, you are usually set if you are supporting 1080p and 720p. But mobile devices have a much broader range of resolutions and aspect ratios, and are what will give you a real headache when dealing with pixel scaling.

This is why I recommend going with some manner of support for letterboxing on your game. With this approach it is possible to select a specific resolution and aspect ratio, and then use styled letterboxing to help address the fringe cases. With letterboxing, the letterboxing can be cropped as needed, without any concern for the content, while maintaining exact pixel scaling for the actual game display area.