up vote 1 down vote favorite

I'm starting on a new game that I intend to release via the web (HTML + Javascript). I would like to be able to make a reasonable decision about what screen resolution sizes to support, and what percentage of players can comfortably play my game at increasing resolutions.

Any answer is temporal, so I'm looking for a solution that's up-to-date. For example, I looked at the Steam hardware/software survey -- which is what I want, but data is skewed heavily towards desktop gamers (eg. some of the most common resolutions look like they span two screens).

Where can I find constantly updated data about screen resolutions for my in-browser game?

share|improve this question

put on hold as too broad by jgallant, Almo, Alexandre Vaillancourt, Josh Petrie♦ Mar 30 at 16:01

Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question.If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
    
Can I assume you only need landscape? With this, I mean that smartphones will be forced to rotate screen. – Hatoru Hansou Mar 28 at 18:32
    
@HatoruHansou yes, that's a pretty safe assumption. If I ever make a portrait-orientation game (which I have done on occasion), I can just flip the width/height dimensions. – ashes999 Mar 28 at 18:48
    
Are you sure you looked at the right line? Here, take a look at Primary Display Resolution. – Alexandre Vaillancourt Mar 28 at 19:03
    
@AlexandreVaillancourt I'm pretty sure I looked at the right line. I can't access the Steam website right now, but from memory, it was 3840 x <something>, which I interpreted (perhaps wrongly) as two 1080p monitors. Regardless, I still think Steam's survey is heavily biased towards PC gaming. – ashes999 Mar 28 at 19:20
1  
I haven't voted to close this question, so I can only speculate - debating with me won't undo those votes. ;) I imagine these users may consider "find the data I want for me" to be a question for a search engine - any answer we give will tend to age poorly as hardware & use habits change and links rot. Plus, as you note, Steam data skews to hardcore PC players, and other sources have similar biases. So even "which data sets should I consult" could be argued to be a matter of opinion. Narrowing the question to avoid these interpretations could help address these concerns. – DMGregory Mar 29 at 0:30
up vote 2 down vote

With the web you really can't assume anything about the user's resolution.

People browse the web with all kinds of devices. PCs, tablets, smartphones, even smart TVs. Even if you decide to only target PCs, you can not assume that the user maximized their browser window. So it might have any size whatsoever.

To deal with this problem, try to design your game in a way that it can zoom smoothly and its UI so that it adapts well to different resolutions. If you simply can't manage with a variable aspect ratio, your last resort is letterboxing/pillarboxing (keep the game in the aspect ratio, make it as large as possible and add black bars on the side or on top).

share|improve this answer
    
I've actually never played a web game that zoomed (and I've accumulated a number of badges on Kongregate). Just to be clear, are you suggesting zooming in-game, or telling users to use their browser zoom? – ashes999 Mar 29 at 3:25

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.