Flash game stage dimensions

[pseudobot]

Hey fellow flashers!
I have a quick question: What is/are the ideal stage dimensions for a flash game? Basically, what do most flash games in portals use?

PS: I checked the knowledge base allready & did some searches, couldn't find what I was looking for though.

Thank you in advance,

[tidenburg]

Most portals draw the line at 700px width. To be honest, unless the layout of your game requires it, there's really no problem with the standard 550x400.

[bluemagica]

I prefer staying withing 600x600, and my favorite is 600x450! There are no particulars about what dimensions you should use, however the smallest screen resolution for pc is 800x600, leaving space for menu bars, titles bars e.t.c on the browser, 600x600 is the maximum I think I can get.

[billydeakin]

Use the size which is appropriate for the type of game you're designing!

Some games and genre will need more width or height than others but as already mentioned bear in mind that over 640px - 700px and many portals either won't show the game or will require it open in a popup!

I normally try to use 640 x 480 unless the game I'm working on specifically requires a higher res.

Billy

[pseudobot]

Thanks for your guys!
In this case, I'll keep width & height below 680.
Thanks again!

[tomsamson]

Some things to consider:
-Many game sites are still optimizing their page layouts for 800x600 resolutions even though site user tracking analysis on many big sites shows that most users meanwhile have 1024x768 or higher resolutions.
So when you want to release on those game sites your best bet is to go for 640x480 or lower dimensions so that there´s space for all the other things the game site puts around your game.
-Regarding display performance the game usually has better chances to run smooth on older systems the less screen real estate flash has to fill up/plot on graphic side,
-regarding gameplay it can vary from game to game of course whether a smaller game area makes more sense or its better to have a bigger game area.
-Another point worth considering is whether you want to consider fullscreen playback for your game, either by stretching it, resizing it or upscaling it.
In those cases its better you go for typical screen resolutions or multiples of those.
(This can become tricky as you have to decide then whether you go for classic proportions or widescreen ones)
-Another point worth deciding would be whether you consider to bring your game to other platforms, like iPhone or Wii maybe, then it may reduce your porting work on art side later on if your game matches the proportions of the target resolutions on those devices.

So to sum up: There´s really no hard rule to this, just consider how you want your game to be played back, on which platforms or websites and what makes sense for your particular game gameplay and performancewise and decide based on that.

[_Ric_]

Two words - Net Books.

Those tiny little things selling in the bucket load mostly have resolutions of 1024x600, so although the width of Flash games is restricted by the portal (700 is the safe upper limit for the major portals), you also need to think about the height now too. With toolbars, the available height on a net book is down to about 500 pixels.

So - 700x500 is the maximum size I work with now.

[ImprisonedPride]

In my opinion, anyone willing enough to shell out $200+ on half an operating system doesn't deserve to enjoy flash games.

[tonypa]

People buy netbooks to play free Flash games. They buy gaming PC to play those massive 3D games. So they expect Flash games to run well on their netbook.