Picking a suitable resolution for a modern low-res game?

Posted by MrKatSwordfish on Game Development See other posts from Game Development or by MrKatSwordfish
Published on 2012-12-16T09:11:11Z Indexed on 2012/12/16 11:27 UTC
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I'm working on a 2D game project right now (using SFML+OpenGL and C++) and I'm trying to figure out how to go about choosing a resolution. I want my game to have a pixel resolution that is around that of classic '16bit' era consoles like the Super Nintendo or Neo Geo. However, I'd also like to have my game fit the 16:9 aspect ratio that most modern PC monitors use. Finally I'd like to be able to include an option for running full screen.

I know that I could create my own low-res 16:9 resolution that is more-or-less around the size of SNES or NeoGeo games. However, the problem seems to be that doing so would leave me with a non-standard resolution that my monitor would not be able to support in fullscreen mode.

For example, if i divide the common 16:9 resolution 1920x1080 by 4, I would get a 16:9 resolution that is relatively close to the resolution used by 16bit era games; 480x270. That would be fine in a windowed mode, but I don't think that it would be supported in fullscreen mode.

How can I choose a resolution that suits my needs? Can I use something like 480x270? If so, how would I go about getting fullscreen mode to work with such a non-standard resolution? (I'm guessing OpenGL/SFML might have a way of up-scaling...but..)

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