Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Aspect Ratio
The aspect ratio is the ratio between the width and height of the view into the
world. For a game that runs in full screen, this will typically be the ratio between
the width and height of the resolution at which the display device is running. One
exception to this is a game that has a split-screen multiplayer mode; in this scen-
ario, there are going to be multiple views into the world (or viewports ), and in this
instance the aspect ratio of the viewport may be different from the aspect ratio of
the screen. Irrespective of this, however, the three most prevalent aspect ratios for
games are 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10.
The classic 1024×768 resolution (which means it's 1024 pixels across by 768
pixels down) is a 4:3 aspect ratio. But the number of display devices that use a 4:3
aspect ratio has decreased over time; today, almost all new displays sold are not
4:3, but rather 16:9. The standard HD resolution of 720p (which is 1280×720) is
anexampleofa16:9aspectratio,andHDTViswhy16:9isbyfarthemostpreval-
ent aspect ratio in use today. 16:10 is an aspect ratio that only sees use for certain
computer monitor displays, but the number of computer monitors supporting this
aspect ratio is decreasing over time.
An issue that comes up when you need to support both 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios
is determining which aspect ratio is able to see more of the game world. The pre-
ferred (and most common) solution is to have a wider horizontal field of view in
16:9 mode, which means more of the world will be visible than in 4:3. But some
games, most notably BioShock at initial release, go with the opposite approach,
where the 16:9 mode actually has a narrower vertical field of view than the 4:3
mode. Both approaches are shown in Figure 8.6 .
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