[Frigidman]

Learn how to hook to monitor resolution changing in a manner that does not conflict with every single window or other application.

You know how sickening it is to launch a game, play a lil bit, then quit, only to find everything you had open is now shoved, resized, and crammed into a small upper left corner of your monitor? What is the point of "hopping into a casual game for a bit", only to have to spend the following half hour fixing all your windows and app palettes?

It's disgusting and appalling. Many games out there handle resolution changes respectfully, so this post is not aimed at those obviously. They properly change, so when you quit and return to desktop, nothing else has been screwed with and you can get back to what you were doing (also helps if you had to quit the game real quick cause the boss showed up!).

So, I say to many of the casual game developers out there... learn how to do it right please! You are making a casual game that people want to just hop into at a whim and play. Usually this means many other things could be running/open at the time, and no one is going to be in the mood to quit everything down and close every window so they don't have to fuss with it all after they quit the game.

This problem has been the #1 reason why I do not buy a particular game. I don't care how fun the game was, if I can't just hop into it during lunch break or something, then screw it. I'm not wasting my money.

[PeopleLikeFrank]

"Appalling", that's a great word! I might have saved it for racism, or The Holocaust, but hey!

[Frigidman]

nobody, on April 14th 2009, 09:11 AM, said:

"Appalling", that's a great word! I might have saved it for racism, or The Holocaust, but hey!

Considering my reaction to poorly programmed games by 'those people' could be comparable to being racist... it fits.
Take your grammar policing elsewhere, it fails with me

[Malt-Pipefishes]

nobody, on April 14th 2009, 11:11 AM, said:

or The Holocaust[/url]

Godwin's law states that the longer a thread grows, the higher the probability of someone making a comparison to Nazis. One usually doesn't expect this theory to manifest itself on the first post.

[Rev-O]

Frigidman, on April 14th 2009, 09:01 AM, said:

Learn how to hook to monitor resolution changing in a manner that does not conflict with every single window or other application.

You know how sickening it is to launch a game, play a lil bit, then quit, only to find everything you had open is now shoved, resized, and crammed into a small upper left corner of your monitor? What is the point of "hopping into a casual game for a bit", only to have to spend the following half hour fixing all your windows and app palettes?

It's disgusting and appalling. Many games out there handle resolution changes respectfully, so this post is not aimed at those obviously. They properly change, so when you quit and return to desktop, nothing else has been screwed with and you can get back to what you were doing (also helps if you had to quit the game real quick cause the boss showed up!).

So, I say to many of the casual game developers out there... learn how to do it right please! You are making a casual game that people want to just hop into at a whim and play. Usually this means many other things could be running/open at the time, and no one is going to be in the mood to quit everything down and close every window so they don't have to fuss with it all after they quit the game.

This problem has been the #1 reason why I do not buy a particular game. I don't care how fun the game was, if I can't just hop into it during lunch break or something, then screw it. I'm not wasting my money.

Here here!
...and I approve of appalling!

[Tuncer (IMG)]

Oh Frigidman, stop yer yapping

[the Battle Cat]

Now wait a second, I yap, Frigidman barks.

[Malt-Pipefishes]

the Battle Cat, on April 14th 2009, 08:03 PM, said:

Now wait a second, I yap, Frigidman barks.

Logically, shouldn't you screech or hiss?

[The Liberator]

…Well, should he not just talk, as he is not a bird, or a snake or any sort of other animal (unless you call a frigidman a different animal to a human).

Liberator.

[the Battle Cat]

Malt-Pipefishes, on April 14th 2009, 09:36 PM, said:

Logically, shouldn't you screech or hiss?

What? You've never learned a second language?

[Frigidman]

Tuncer (IMG), on April 14th 2009, 05:16 PM, said:

Oh Frigidman, stop yer yapping

Hehehe.

... always askin me to load up some casual game while I'm buried in windows and apps ...

[bobbob]

Frigidman, on April 14th 2009, 08:01 AM, said:

Learn how to hook to monitor resolution changing in a manner that does not conflict with every single window or other application.

I thought that was why every game was calling that one QuickTime call years back, whether they wanted anything to do with QuickTime or not. It seems odd to me that this one or two lines would suddenly become an epic struggle for certain devs. Maybe they just need a cluebat delivered personally.

[Malt-Pipefishes]

the Battle Cat, on April 15th 2009, 10:15 AM, said:

What? You've never learned a second language?

I'm not sure what you mean, I was just joking that you're the Battle Cat. Cats like to hiss.

[the Battle Cat]

Yes, I like to hiss and meow and purr and screech and burble. But like most refined felines my age, I have learned a second language in an effort to assuage my relationships with dogs and their ilk. Besides, the joke was that I was the little dog, and Frigidman was the big dog. Don't be steppin' on my jokes!

[Eric5h5]

It's very sad when people have to explain their jokes to each other.

--Eric

[Brad Oliver]

bobbob, on April 15th 2009, 10:51 AM, said:

I thought that was why every game was calling that one QuickTime call years back, whether they wanted anything to do with QuickTime or not. It seems odd to me that this one or two lines would suddenly become an epic struggle for certain devs. Maybe they just need a cluebat delivered personally.

I believe the issue is actually that the QuickTime calls do not do everything you need. There are 2 CoreGraphics calls to capture and release the desktop that always do the right thing: CGCaptureAllDisplays (or CGDisplayCapture if you only want to capture one) and then CGReleaseAllDisplays when you're done.

The flow is: capture, switch resolution to game, play game, switch resolution back, uncapture. You'd think it was rocket science the way so many games get it wrong.

That said, I did just file a bug with Apple for a specific case that the OS bungles - it screws up in some cases if you force-quit. I could see some people force-quitting particularly dire games and winding up with a whacked desktop to add insult to injury.

[the Battle Cat]

Brad Oliver, on May 14th 2009, 11:15 AM, said:

I believe th...

THERE HE IS!! GET 'EM BOYS!!