Hello All,
I am new to this forum and look forward to being part of the community 
I hope as I get gain more XP & knowledge, I can then help out future noobs like myself now 
I have a question in regards to Scaling an iOS game, from iPhone -> iPad (or vice versa)
Q: What is the best method to have a 2D game scale well on both iPhone & iPad platforms?
* Should I create a game on the iPad first, then scale to iPhone?
* Or should i create an iPhone game then add borders etc to scale it to iPads.
Tips/Advice esp from a programmers &/OR graphic designers perspective would be deeply appreciated 
iOS game SCALING: iPhone -> iPad
Author
Well, I think either way you go, you will have to implement two sets of assets, especially for background stuff or things that stretch over the screen. I don't think it is a matter of "on which device I start", more of "on which resolution I start". In order to have pixel perfect graphics you might want to create several asset packs for each resolution. If pixel perfect is not that important, than I think you should start with the highest resolution available and then use that to scale down things to lower resolutions.
The best approach would be to make a game that works equally well on both the iPhone and the iPad.
Rather than scaling the game you should allow the game to show more of the game on larger screens.
The difference between iPhone 5 and iPad is fairly small. It's more an issue with aspect ratio than anything.
Regardless which platform you choose to be your "main" platform during development there will be always be, let's call them "fun challenges" when moving the game to a smaller, or larger screen.
You have a lot more screen real estate on a pad then you have a phone, and just scaling up (or down) the whole UI will neither look good, nor handle very well for the user.
The best is to plan for this from the beginning, make sure your 2D game supports showing different amounts of the world, and make it easy to swap out the UI layout (buttons, slides, popups, whatnot) for something different, and design both UIs in paralell.
Doesn't matter which one you start with.
You get the fun aspect ratios of 3:2, 4:3, and 71:40.
It is generally best for the artists to work on the highest resolution. It is easier to scale down and retouch. Attempting to scale up can require them to redraw practically everything.
Author
Thanks for all the advice so far guys
I'll run over these options with our graphics designer.
This topic is closed to new replies.
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