Feedback 13:6 Aspect Ratio (iPhoneX) responsive design

[clee2005]

Hey gang,

I'm hoping someone out there has a suggestion on how to better manage the black bars at the top and bottom (of a portrait game) for iPhoneX (and other 19.5:9 or 13:6 aspect ratio devices). What I've done to "patch" our existing games is to display something on the top and bottom of the screens where the black bars are.... this has to be done on the GUI layer since we are using views, and I can't otherwise access that area. So this is a big fat hack, but can work in a lot of places except this scenario where you have vertical scrolling and the content then stops within the boundaries of the view. It then looks like the content is disappearing under the top and bottom edges (undesirable).

Our games were originally designed for the 3:4 devices like the iPad and then from that we zoom in to fill the screen for 16:9 devices which covers most mobile devices and we don't have black bars. Then with the newest aspect ratios (iPhoneX etc) we are kinda stuck at 16:9 since we cannot zoom any further as all the game layout is already based around 16:9. I feel like I've lost most people that have read this far. Basically, I'm trying to avoid completely redesigning our games and am looking to see if there is a better hack than the one I've got here. LOL

Thanks,
Chris

 

[Nocturne]

Unless you make the game dynamically adapt to any aspect ratio - something that really needs to be included right from the start and is difficult to change after production is ended - then you are stuck with either black bars or the solution you have right now (which I think looks okay and is exactly how I'd resolve the issue too). Ideally though what you want to do is detect the display size and then adapt all the game elements to fit dynamically so you never have to worry about these things.

 

[clee2005]

Thanks @Nocturne . It helps to have confirmation that it maybe one of the better ways to deal with it. The only other thing I might try is putting the boxes (in this example) on the GUI layer as well so they just scroll above both the view and the top (will leave the bottom stationary and above everything). It becomes dangerous then as anything else showing on this screen (like a popup) then must also be on the GUI layer on a depth even closer to the user! However, for this particular scenario of vertical scrolling, perhaps it's the best way.