Default: Full screen or windowed?

Post by **Dave** » October 28th, 2004, 11:57 pm

At the moment, Wesnoth runs in full screen by default, for a new user.

I am re-thinking whether this is the best thing to do. The most direct reason for me re-thinking is this is that there seems to be some problems running in full screen mode on some versions of Windows with some hardware, however I think there are other good reasons for running in windowed mode by default:

- windowed mode is probably more likely to succeed in some form, over all platforms
- windowed mode is less intrusive to the user
- many people might not otherwise understand that windowed mode is an option

I think that the main advantage of full screen mode is that it 'captures' the user more, and provides a slightly better gaming experience, at the expense of users who want to do other things with their computer as well.

Essentially, I think windowed mode provides the most utility to the user, and thus may be the best mode to use by default. I think full screen mode is better if we were trying to sell the game, but we're not. Our aim should be to provide the most utility to the user, not try to get the user to play our game as much as possible.

Thoughts?

David

telex4 · Post by **telex4** » October 29th, 2004, 1:43 am

I would say windowed, so if the user has a problem with Wesnoth, it's easier to kill it.

But then it's really so much nicer full screen for the first few plays

What about having a sort of wizard the first time you launch it asking what res + windowed/fullscreen mode you want? Or launching it windowed straight into preferences? Or launching it windowed with preferences highlighted in the menu?

scott · Post by **scott** » October 29th, 2004, 3:48 am

I agree it's nice to have alt-tab and apple-Q*/ctrl-Q/alt-F4 available if it freaks out on you. Until you get everything running.

* in theory

Iron · Post by **Iron** » October 29th, 2004, 4:04 am

I would say windowed as well, however if you wanted you could add a dialog that pops up the first time you run it asking if you want Windowed or Full screen, then load up whichever the user selects.

eugenelim · Post by **eugenelim** » October 29th, 2004, 4:21 am

I think full screen makes the game look more professional. Windowed mode should only be in Options.

Or create two shortcuts in the program menu: BfW (Full-Screen) and BfW (Windowed)

ebo · Post by **ebo** » October 29th, 2004, 1:26 pm

I think BFW should start in windowing mode. Since I "upgraded" to windows XP SP 2 I have not been able to use full screen mode. If BFW had started the first time in full screen mode, I never would have realized how much I enjoy this game. I agree though that Full screen does provide a better gaming experience. I don't know if it is possible, but having Wesnoth remember the last window position would be very nice, but hard across so many platforms.

Post by **Viliam** » October 29th, 2004, 1:46 pm

eugenelim wrote:I think full screen makes the game look more professional.

In my experience fullscreen games are usually of higher quality than windowed games. The only situation when I want to run the game and some other application at the same time, is when I want to write some notes from the game to text file (or read a walkthrough); or if it is some difficult puzzle, and I want to look at the screenshot with my notes. Else, I give my full attention to game, so there is no reason not to give it full screen.

However, the reasons for windowed mode as default are serious...

I suggest moving the "Full Screen" checkbox to the title screen. So user can immediately notice that there is a possibility to run game fullscreen. However... there can be different resolutions... Perhaps the checkbox should only display the current settings, and clicking on it should open the display settings dialog.

Post by **Darth Fool** » October 29th, 2004, 4:55 pm

I prefer my default settings to be full screen, however, for a new player I think having the default setting be for windowed mode is a good idea as any crashes are less likely to be disastrous(not that there are any, but to be safe). Having an initial question when first playing would be the best solution in my opinion.

Elvish_Pillager · Post by **Elvish_Pillager** » October 29th, 2004, 6:38 pm

I run BfW in windowed mode for two reasons: It sometimes crashes on startup in windowed mode, and I like browsing the forums during other players' turns in MP. (not doing that at this moment, BTW)

I see no advantage in full-screen.

Gafgarion · Post by **Gafgarion** » October 29th, 2004, 8:12 pm

If Wesnoth would be windowed by default, then the bugs in OSX (don't know if they affect other systems) windowed mode should be addressed first.

It would be a bad impression for a first-time user if a chunk of the bottom of Wesnoth was cut off... Plus map scrolling is so difficult in windowed mode.

Post by **ott** » October 29th, 2004, 8:55 pm

My vote goes to window mode with a dialog box asking about fullscreen mode, including an option not to ask again. This used to be pretty standard on MacOS games (back in pre-OSX days) and worked well as a compromise between reducing the impact of showstopper glitches but still making available better eye candy.

Elvish_Pillager · Post by **Elvish_Pillager** » October 29th, 2004, 9:27 pm

Gafgarion wrote:If Wesnoth would be windowed by default, then the bugs in OSX (don't know if they affect other systems) windowed mode should be addressed first.

What? OSX has bugs in fullscreen mode; I at least don't know of any bugs in windowed mode though...

Post by **Dave** » October 29th, 2004, 9:39 pm

I don't like the idea of asking the user questions the first time the game starts. When a player installs a game, the first thing they want to do is play the game to see if they like it, not answer technical questions.

eugenelim wrote:I think full screen makes the game look more professional.

Yes it does. However it offers less utility to the user.

If we were selling the game, we would make it start in full screen, since it looks more professional. However our aim is for the best thing for the user, not the best thing for the game, and so imo windowed might be better.

---

However, perhaps we should leave things as they are, and binary packagers (like me!) can add options to start the game in windowed mode vs full screen themselves.

David

joshbosh321 · Post by **joshbosh321** » October 29th, 2004, 9:40 pm

Elvish Pillager wrote:
Gafgarion wrote:If Wesnoth would be windowed by default, then the bugs in OSX (don't know if they affect other systems) windowed mode should be addressed first.
What? OSX has bugs in fullscreen mode; I at least don't know of any bugs in windowed mode though...

I think he means the fact that apple-q and other non-wesnoth shortcuts don't work.

My vote also goes to a dialog box asking if you wan't full screen or windowed mode the first time you open Wesnoth. What I have in mind is similar to what's used in the Avernum and Exile series by SpiderWeb Software, if anyone is familiar with it.

Post by **Neoriceisgood** » October 29th, 2004, 9:43 pm

There is a windowed mode? how ?