A list of things every PC game needs
Since I firmly believe PC game developers don’t get it, here’s a list of things every single PC game needs to have as a requirement. I hope to put this in some kind of formal document every PC game needs as a set of guidelines to follow or as a gate-keeping service a company uses to determine if a game is ready to be sold or not. I’m sure most corporate execs and business owners would be primed if I told them there’s a larger market their games could be sold to–Intel graphics chips–but their developers didn’t seem to put this in for whatever reason. It could’ve been the other way around that a publisher said the game had to be released on PC after its console debut leaving much of the customization out of the picture. There’s no real reason to release a game on PC lacking any of these features especially one made in the last couple years.
Windowed Mode
Something lacking from just about every game out there is the ability to start the game in a window instead of at 640×480 in full screen or any other low-resolution which doesn’t at all match the resolution of my desktop or what I’d be aiming to use for that particular game. It’s even worse when the game actually includes a windowed mode but somehow excludes its usage on the first start for whatever reason. If game developers were actually using the games they played, they’d probably realize immediately it’s annoying to be doing things on your computer and want to open up a game on the side to test it out and then have it open up full screen at a low resolution no one wants to play at hardware pending. I remember many times this happening in Windows XP, and I’d have to go ahead and put my icons back in place. Because of Fences and Windows Vista, I’ve not had to experience this problem any longer, but I can’t imagine it’s gotten any better.
I can’t imagine being forced into full screen with every game. I have methods I use to help out when a game won’t go into windowed mode. It’s pretty easy to assume all gamers are extremely lonely and have nothing better to do than to game, but some people, maybe most of them, would enjoy being able to chat, talk, and use their computer while playing their game. The pause feature is there, why not give it more use? There are some games I’ll be waiting on something to happen and while I’m waiting I could just go ahead and chat back to someone online. This happens so many times that I lose tons of productivity and become so enclosed without it. There’s enough 5 second waits that chatting actually becomes conversational even whilst playing. If anyone doubts me, a few good examples are Steam, Impluse, Xbox Live, and PSN all supporting in-game chat. Whether it be with ALT+ENTER or a setting in-game, Windowed mode is a must since I’m pretty sure not everyone has their mom or a good some of their friends on Steam.
Variable Resolutions and Aspect Ratios
Do not hardcode resolutions in game. Allow people to edit some config file and fake the game at whatever resolution and aspect ratio they choose. Say your monitor is not fixing the aspect ratio so all pixels are anamorphic. They’re going to have to change the aspect ratio of the resolution they’re using to match that of their display’s aspect ratio to correct this issue, but just about every game out there is lacking this feature or, if it includes it, it does not allow variability out of a set few which may or may not correct the problem. The resolution controls seem so limited now in comparison to the old 2D days where you’d even see the ability to windowbox or letterbox a game because your computer probably can’t handle it or because you’re going for a certain effect.
Games these days also don’t seem to add enough resolutions. I’ve played a few which even had 320×200 for 16:10 displays, and I was more than happy to use those resolutions on computers that required them. It’s best if the resolutions had the ability to scale where you’re playing 320×200, but the game is actually scaled to 1024×576 or something similar (by user choice) so the the 2D graphics for menus and such would be readable. My biggest problem with lower resolutions is the inability to read text and the lack of low-res fonts. Should I need the lower resolution, fonts are usually the last of my needs whereas getting the game to play is of top priority.
Where’s my ability to just type in resolutions of my choosing? Maybe I want to run the game at 1024×320 and have good reason to. Maybe I want to have fun and experiment or that I have some kind of unique virtual display which, because of my technology limits, would require I run the game at 1024×320. or 1050×3360 even. I’ve done this with a few games, but not all because it’s not even something you’re able to do. Sure, it’s good to tide the masses, but the masses probably don’t have fixed-aspect ratio enabled for their display or in their drivers so the game is going to be stretched regardless.
Aspect ratios seem to be limited to. Other than the fact that most games only supports a very very limited set of resolutions, almost no games support changing the aspect ratio. I could play a game designed for 4:3 in widescreen, but since the game doesn’t support 16:9 or 16:10, the 3D looks fine and the 2D is stretched. It has the terrible side effect of making the menus also unusable because of the difference in vertical and horizontal pixel sizes. On my old CRT, I used to play a certain game in an 8:3 resolution windowed because it allowed me to play the game and talk to others at the same time whilst also seeing the game in a more human-eye way. 8:3 on a 4:3 display is exactly half of the screen leaving me with the other half completely usable to do whatever I wanted to do like look at the time. In the case of my 16:9 display, I would then want 32:9 or 24:9 so I can view the game in a more cinematic aspect ratio. Whether it’s full-screen or windowed, it should be included at least.
I’ve only seen only two developers add a feature to allow custom windowed resolutions of any size, but only one of those developers has that variable resolution keep 1:1 pixels; both have their benefits. This is done by putting the game in a window and clicking and dragging on and edge or corner in the same way you’d resize any window which also allows the window to appear in other monitors and add to the gaming experience regardless of the resolution of that secondary or tertiary display. While the game is lacking the ability to save this resolution, meaning you have to set it each time you start it, the fact that it’s included at all leaves much to be desired in other games.
Real-World Time
Include a way to view the current time of day. I don’t know how many times I’ve not looked at the clock and let my day go because my own sense of time was quite a few hours off from the time of the world around me. It doesn’t help when you have the light on in the room so when the light outside goes away, you don’t quite notice. It’s simple to just call on the Windows API and say “what’s the time right now?” Have the ~ key or some other extremely useless key just show the time on screen even for a second. This is definitely one of those features just any game needs to keep people on schedule.
There’s a lot of times people say “I played this game for so long, I didn’t even notice what time it was.” This happens less with TV because shows are in increments of 7.5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes long and there’s a timer on most cable or satellite boxes. HDTVs these days also take over showing the current time as well. The days of the 12:00 blinking VCRs are gone, yet PC games force you into full screen and then lack a way to view the current time unless you have check your phone often or have a physical product you purchased and put somewhere nearby you can look at which shows you the current time of day. Games that have dynamic weather and lighting conditions based on the actual time of day supersede this notion because of the fact that there’s more going on which actually alerts the player to the current time of day and that time actually means. It’s also the case that those games even display the time of day somewhere because it’s required information for the player.
Support Intel Graphics
Is it that hard to ask to put a mode in which turns off advanced lighting, makes all the textures single-color ones if even done procedurally, and lowers the pixel shader requirement? It’s bad enough the majority of PC users have Intel Integrated solutions and worse that Intel is the market lead in the PC graphics card industry while having the worst solutions, yet game makers don’t seem to see the profit in tapping that market. It’s like tapping the reserves of the human population in both China and India. If only 0.001% of the population purchases your product in America and that same percentage holds elsewhere, it means that you’ll sell more in China and India. Why not yet tap that extremely large market of laptops and desktops with Intel Integrated graphics? I don’t know how many times I’ve wanted to play or recommend games for people but since they don’t live with me and don’t have a machine graphically capable of running the game, they just don’t which also means I won’t since I’m definitely not going to play that game by myself.
It’s really simple, make the game look crappy, people can play it on just about everything. Include a wireframe mode if you have to be so cheap. If those people like the game, they might by more and maybe might start looking for more gamer-friendly solutions to play games on in the future so their graphics problems would be less of an issue. That doesn’t mean that the person’s laptop with a super fast processor tons of RAM but crappy Intel Integrated will just disappear, it’ll mean that the investment is actually worth something. Don’t assume your market is gamers, assume your market is a bunch of people with Intel Integrated wishing they had something better.
I can remember getting my first graphic card all those years ago and finally could play my games in eye-candy mode, but in those old days, you could run your games entirely in software mode or in software TnL mode to at least be able to play them and later make them look better. If anyone’s a game developer, heed these words; the most beneficial thing of PC games over any console game is the fact that PC games will always being to look better and better over time whereas this is most-impossible for consoles unless the next generation console includes backwards compatibility, enhanced graphics rendering, and upscaling. PC games will always look better over time. Newer technologies and the ability to upgrade or more the game to newer hardware are only a few reasons for this. Others include the ability to do surround widescreen gaming and newer display technologies innately supported by the graphics hardware. This is almost to say PC games are forever improving long after release. While not always the case, think of it as a good indication of a well-made game if it ages young rather than aging older.
Acknowledge 1280×960 != 1280×1024
I know for a fact most people don’t realize the standardized 5:4 aspect ratio most all of the non-widescreen LCDs out there are using is limited to one resolution standard: 1280×1024. In fact, I’ve seen many games support this resolution, but I hardly see any supporting the 5:4 aspect ratio so at 1280×1024, things are stretched. Worse yet, 1280×960 is almost always non-existent. How is this possible? If you do your match correctly: 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1152×864, 1280×960, 1360×1020, 1366×1024, 1440×1050, 1536×1152, 1600×1200, it’s pretty obvious 1280×1024 shouldn’t have even been standardized. I’m still unaware how this resolution ever made it as a standard, but I do know that, if a game doesn’t support 5:4, it should at least letterbox 1280×1024 to match what actually should be 1280×960.
When I was a kid, I did not know this differenciation and always wondered why my isometric 2D games were so strange looking and why icons did not seem to look right on my display. It shouldn’t be the job of a 12 year old to try and disipher aspect ratios and associated resolutions so there really should be an auto mode included that does this calculation for the user since it’s as simple as float x divided by float y = aspect ratio. And I’m pretty sure most game engines don’t know the difference between the aspect ratio 4/3 and aspect ratio 640/480 since they both end up being 1.33.
I can’t imagine how many people played first person shooters at 1280×1024 in a 4:3 aspect ratio and probably didn’t do so well since they’re going to believe the pixels are 1:1 when they are not and will have to cope with different vertical and horizontal scrolling speeds unconsciously. Maybe those people got used to the change, maybe not. I remember having issues with this change and always felt like I was not a good enough for the game or that I was just a poor player or those style games in general until I figured out the fix and no longer had problems like that. I’d hate to be the game developer that said “no one cares about a few pixels of stretching” and had some 100-200 people deterred from the game because the anamorphic pixel scrolling caused the game to be unplayable.
Multi-display Capabilities
UNDER CONSTRUCTION FROM HERE
If there’s any sort multi-display capability, make it useful to everyone with multiple displays. Unless I’m in a school or corporate environment, I have never seen a consumer using multi-display with same model or brand of displays because this consumer only purchases monitors with a computer or only every-so-often and gets what’s cheapest or what is favored by the technology of the time. I definitely wouldn’t want to purchase another one of my displays if, for the same price, I could get something better. Multi-display usage is something I’ve been doing since 2000 and have been continuing to use since.
- Ability to display the game on multiple displays while in a window
- If support for multi-monitor, then multi-monitor controls