Add support for 16:9/16:10 aspect ratio and I will buy the game

[TheIronKielbasa]

Quite like the game, I was huge in subspace back in the day (even that has widescreen support!!) so this game fits be like a glove.

Buut I won't pay for it till there is support for wide screen monitors, there is absolutely no reason not to have 16:9 and 16:10 aspect ratio support.

Please no nonsense about it being unfair for people without it, no one uses a 4:3 monitor anymore and the 2 people in the world that still do probably don't play your game.

[VAN1SH1NG]

Not going to happen. Personally I was real surprised and disappointed when I first started playing due to this. Still don't like it but I have gotten used to playing in stretched mode to fill the screen.

The developers considered making a change a few years ago, but decided against it. See this thread.. http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6562. Think the decision mostly came down to throwing off current game balance.

Can't imagine they are going to reconsider it now. That said, if you enjoyed subspace I highly recommend sticking around as its an awesome game. Many of us have been playing for several years.

[Slender]

4 years over here. Honestly, this was never a problem for me. I'm always doing many things at the same time on my computer and have always played on a 800x600 resolution because of this. During all the 2000+ hours I've played this game, I never had an issue with the resolution although it'd be a nice addition.

You joining us would be nice too.

[Aki1024]

40 inch HD user with black bars. Stretched feels so wrong.

[Hollywood]

I play with the stretched option enabled at a 1080p resolution, because it tricks my eyes/brain into thinking the danger is farther away and gives me more time to react. It also allows me to be more prepared when loopy rockets enter my screen, as that would be the only thing that would really effect the meta as of now, since both bomber and whales have learned how to snipe off screen. I think Brillo was the only loopy that actually uses Double Fire correctly.

The biggest learning curve for this game is probably playing without a radar, or a large field of view that most games have. Which was the concern when the idea was first brought up and what most of the veterans didn't want to change. But in the end who cares about those people. Funny part is none of them play or are on the verge of quitting. *cough* Kuja *cough*

I would honestly love to have a better aspect ratio and I said as such back then too. Even if the meta changed, I think that would be really fun. The people who are still here playing, would never leave because of something so stupid. When the idea was first brought up, a lot of the steam users mentioned that they would have bought the game if it was implemented back then.... lol

[Tekn0]

Hollywood, very interesting points about stretched mode.

I play on a small 14/13inch laptop screen so no matter what it's going to be ****ty for me. I've never tried altitude on a bigger screen so not really an issue, but I'm open to change in this regard. At least it'd be interesting to try how it turns out.

After the travesty called mouse, such aspect ratio changes seem trivial.

[Hollywood]

Originally Posted by Tekn0

Hollywood, very interesting points about stretched mode.

I play on a small 14/13inch laptop screen so no matter what it's going to be ****ty for me. I've never tried altitude on a bigger screen so not really an issue, but I'm open to change in this regard. At least it'd be interesting to try how it turns out.

After the travesty called mouse, such aspect ratio changes seem trivial.

I use pure keyboard. Back when it was first added most of the old ballers agreed that it was much easier than keyboard, and much more precise as stated by Syphun.

There was one benefit from having a wider aspect ratio though. Yes the meta would change, but it would allow for a more command style role within the teams. Yes that is possible now, but its very very difficult. Exo(SkyGirl on the forums) was one such person a few years back. It was always something I have missed, and I haven't seen another team do it.

[VAN1SH1NG]

Originally Posted by Hollywood

When the idea was first brought up, a lot of the steam users mentioned that they would have bought the game if it was implemented back then.... lol

If it weren't for me really enjoying these types of games (played Sony's Infantry for years) and the fact there aren't really any alternatives that I am aware of, I might easily have quit soon after I downloaded the games. Not so much the black bars, but the fact you can only see a ridiculously tiny area around me really frustrated me. Probably not game breaking for some modes, but it really restricts the ability to play as a team in ball. Have to throw the ball blindly all the time to where you hope your team has a better chance of getting it rather than being able to see them and pass where you know they are. Really dumbs down the gameplay compared to other games that are like Altitudes ball mode.

We definitely lost a lot of potential players because of this, but devs were more interested in the opinion of a few outspoken veteran players.

[TheIronKielbasa]

It's hard to say which I hate more, black bars or stretched, I can't stand stretched mode as everything looks wrong - it's like when people watch 4:3 tv channels and make it stretched to their widescreen tv and everyone looks short and fat, it just doesn't work for me.

I think they are really hurting themselves by not updating the game to modern standards, this isn't 1995 and the game should be brought up to snuff if they intend to charge money for it, till then I won't pay.

I hear you guys about there being no alternatives though, I was a diehard subspace player since 2000 (Absolute>Chaos<) but now SS is all but dead. I played Infantry quite a bit and it was a shame that got taken down as it was quite good, ARC wasn't bad either.

I have scoured the net in search for another game of this type, apart from Fat Princess on the PS3 there is nothing even close to this type of game.

Seems to me like there is a gap in the market that needs to be filled.

[VAN1SH1NG]

Personally stretched look doesn't bother me, but a lot of players do hate it and play with black bars. Still as I said I recommend giving Altitude a shot anyway as its a really enjoyable game. This is basically the only game I have played since Infantry servers were shut down. Lack of widescreen and the limited view does not bug me much anymore.

My background is mostly playing sports / ball modes in games which is why I love Ball in Altitude. If you were not into those types of zones or whatever subspace calls them (haven't played that for many years), it might not be as good of a replacement. Non ball modes lack some of the depth found in something like Infantry.

You can play for free forever with the demo, just restricts the perks you can use. Altitude also drops down to $2.50 every steam sale. The developers have moved on to work on other games and Altitude isn't really updated anymore. So don't expect any changes to be made.

[TheIronKielbasa]

It's a decent game, it's no subspace but it has some fun to offer. I do find the maps a bit cramped though especially since you take damage from impacts, makes them a bit uncomfortable.

Another thing that is really hurting this game, the community is already so small but yet they allow locked servers and level limited servers, and the 2 active unlocked servers are almost always full so it doesn't leave anywhere for new players to go.

The game to me looks like Subspace and Worms had an offspring, it's done well but could use some tweaking.

ANyways, till they take the whopping 20 minutes it would take to add 16:9/16:10 they won't even see $2.50 from me.

To be honest I probably wont stick around too long, demo restrictions + feeling like I'm playing a game made in 1995 just doesn't make for a lasting experience.

[VAN1SH1NG]

The locked servers (which are mine) do far more to keep the game alive than hurt anything. These are more competitive ranked servers. Most of us do not enjoy playing in the pub servers and would not be playing at all otherwise. You are more than welcome to join them and watch. The server does not allow under level 60 to unspec, but I will grant an exception for you if you message me, VAN1SH1NG, in game. I am online many hours per day so shouldn't be hard to find me.

Rules and password can be found at http://altituderank.com. I could be wrong but I think the only level restricted pub server is Ball Dojo which does happen to be the most popular ball pub server. Personally wish the level restriction was dropped there to give newer players an active ball server to play in.

Should be able to TBD most of the time as well as Football (although most of us have no idea why that is a fairly popular mode, really repetitive and boring).

And again the devs felt the community was against the change to widescreen. Although they really don't update the game anymore, when it came up a few years ago it was not due to lack of willingness to update the code.

[Tekn0]

I wouldn't blame Karlam (the devs) on this one. What are they supposed to do when people vehemently opposed the aspect ratio changes? They risked losing a significant part of the community. It's easy to say things in retrospect. They listened to the feedback of the community and from the feedback back then it was decided not to change.

Also calling it a "20 minute" exercise is incorrect because making changes to the visible area would also end up requiring balancing changes and those can be very, very tricky.

[Hartz]

Hey guys!

Some of you play this game with stretched screen? WTH :O I can understand the black bars, but stretching just ruins it (planes, map graphics etc).

What about windowed mode, guys? This way it doesn't matter, what's your monitor resolution, no black bars, no stretching, plus you can chat with your buddies, surf the internet, hell, you can even play some other game, while waiting to re-spawn . At least that's the way I have been doing it.

To be honest I probably wont stick around too long, demo restrictions + feeling like I'm playing a game made in 1995 just doesn't make for a lasting experience.

The fact that this game feels simple and old school, is the main reason I have given ~1300 hrs for it (and of course the players/community as well :P). And now, after a 1.5 year break, I think I'm gonna start playing it again. Once you get the hang of it and start enjoying the gameplay, I'm sure you won't mind the low resolution anymore.

TheIronKielbasa, if it means one more active player in Altitude, I'm willing to buy the game for you.

Hartz.

[Slender]

Originally Posted by Hartz

TheIronKielbasa, if it means one more active player in Altitude, I'm willing to buy the game for you.

I wouldn't hustle on wasting money for someone who's not going to use what I'm buying him/her. TheIron seems unwavering on what he has said so far so I'd think this twice.

[TheIronKielbasa]

I'm about as big of a verteran of this type of game as you're gonna find and I dare say making the aspect ration change wouldn't affect anything in game, an extra couple inches on either side isn't going to make much of a difference as you will actually only see a bit more of the map on one side (the other side is your end of the map so it doesn't matter if you see it). I think the whole issue was grossly blown out of proportion and all the nay sayers would actually really like it once they experienced it.

Besides that, it's really hurting the game, most people will just instantly turn the game off because black bars suck and stretched sucks even more. So while these dedicated few may be keeping the game afloat they are also the reason why it will die. I hardly doubt any of them would have quit because of the aspect ratio change anyways.

At the very least they could have done a test run, it would have required no alterations to maps (though I feel they could have a bit more room to breathe in general).

It's a shame that they've chosen to basically doom the game because of a pig headed few afraid of change.

@Hartz - I really appreciate the offer, it's mighty kind of you but I wouldn't feel right taking someone elses money.

[TheIronKielbasa]

and why are my posts being suddenly moderated?? Except this one apperntly, strange.

[lamster]

Your post was moderated by an automated spam filter. Pretty weird that it picked up that post though, considering the lack of any links.

[Mr Nice]

hi lamster

[lamster]

Originally Posted by TheIronKielbasa

At the very least they could have done a test run, it would have required no alterations to maps (though I feel they could have a bit more room to breathe in general).

We've performed several test runs, internally and publicly. For results of the last public test please check this thread: http://altitudegame.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6562

If we started over from scratch we'd certainly develop for widescreen, but after testing and collecting public feedback (and a bunch of private feedback that doesn't show up in that thread) we decided that retrofitting was too dangerous -- both on balance and pace of play preference grounds.

[Clam]

It's only $2.50...........

Fwiw:
I've played in 1024x768 windowed sorta like slender since i started and i like being able to click on my email directly out of the game or even see gchat or fb messages while i'm speccing a game that's about to end. I didn't know people felt so strongly about black bars. It's a bit racist in my opinion, i mean, it's not their fault they are the way they are.

Giving a couple inches on each side would actually make my life as a whale far easier. I'd be able to spam a lot more area accurately instead of relying on offscreen intuition (which i have very little of). I'd imagine that a good whale could easily benefit from the extra screen inches, maybe even to the point of requiring a new balance or reworked maps. I wouldn't be against it, but it might end up being more trouble than it's worth. And I honestly don't see why black bars/stretched is such an issue in the first place.

[CmdrNoval]

I have played stretched to 1366x768 (32" 16:9) for years. It does produce some minor graphical 'smears' from time to time, but it perfectly playable. I guess I have gotten used to it...

The previously posted thread, which I had never seen before today, contains comments for some of Alti's most decorated players... Pretty much all of them agree that this type of change would require major re-balancing. (Seriously, who wants to play vs Mikesol with his TA in "godmode"...lol...)

The re-balancing necessary to accommodate the aspect ratio change would probably entail a year's worth of patches, Karl & Lamster's direct intervention, & all the efforts of the community's top coders. Not to mention a half dozen threads of comments, suggestions, and just plain rants that have to be sifted thru for gems of insight.

I believe it to be to big a task for what I would consider minimal gain.

And there is this too... Has anyone gone back to the late & greats, like Wing Commander, and revised them for 16:9? Nope. Why, you ask? 'Cause it just isn't worth tearing up a classic or investing the effort to transform the game from it's original form to satisfy a few people.

I would consider Alti a classic. It is not broken. Why fix what isn't broken?

[phong]

Originally Posted by TheIronKielbasa

Quite like the game, I was huge in subspace back in the day (even that has widescreen support!!) so this game fits be like a glove.

Buut I won't pay for it till there is support for wide screen monitors, there is absolutely no reason not to have 16:9 and 16:10 aspect ratio support.

Please no nonsense about it being unfair for people without it, no one uses a 4:3 monitor anymore and the 2 people in the world that still do probably don't play your game.

Who/where did you play subspace?