It’s dev update time! Another dev byte comes your way and this time, we will discuss an issue that plagues most game developers. Yup, it’s Scaling and it’s not as bad as it sounds.
Scaling is a lesser-known hurdle in the world of game dev. You acknowledge that it exists but you feel hesitant to tackle it. Given the impressive, and exhaustive, range of displays on offer in the current hardware market, Scaling effectively boils down to the resolution a monitor/screen has to offer. Most screens currently offer a 16:9 ratio with 1920x1080 displays. However, with the growing popularity of 4K resolution and wide-screen/curved monitors, it is essential to ensure that a game looks good no matter the display it is running on.
For City Block Builder, the game world is easier to scale depending on the display it is using. The UI, on the other hand, is where the scalability really kicks in. The goal is to make the text in the UI crisp, clear and legible. As of now, CBB has been scaled to adjust perfectly with resolutions up to 1080p. The next target is to scale the game up to 4K resolution and to enhance the general feel of the game at such high resolutions.
Scaling the props and the UI is equally crucial, as seen here.
As for the aspect ratios, most displays follow the standard 16:9 ratio while the wider screens have adopted 21:9. These ratios will be the main focus for the CBB UI with retrospective scaling for other ratios like 4:3 (does anyone use this now?), 5:4, 1:1, 3:2 and 32:9 to name a few. The idea is to introduce letterboxing for incompatible aspect ratios while still maintaining the efficiency of the current UI.
We are super excited to showcase the glorious era of Los Angeles in stunning detail regardless of the resolution. The scaling process is a tedious one but forms a crucial part of the visual fidelity and aesthetic of City Block Builder. In the meantime, be sure to let us know here and on our social channels what display configuration you have that you intend to play CBB on!