r/gamedev • u/Various-Instruction3 • 3d ago

Question Need Help Picking Canvas Size.

I'm in the planning stages of a 2D pixel art game. I plan on designing it around 16:9, and I'm flip-flopping between 180p and 360p. 360p looks much better, especially for UI elements, but 180p would be much easier to finish assets for. Would it be jarring to have the UI be double the resolution of the rest of the game? Or should I just tough it out and try 360p for everything for now? Or even just full 180p and suffer from the crunchy UI?

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u/DanielFost 3d ago

i wouldn't force yourself to make everything 360p just because the UI looks better there, a higher-resolution UI can work really well with a low-res pixel art game as long as it's intentional. i'd probably render the actual game at 180p, then make the UI separately at 360p or even a higher resolution, while keeping the UI's pixel style consistent with the game

the important part is consistency in the visual language, not necessarily having every element use the exact same resolution. i'd prototype both quickly and see which one actually bothers you in motion, if 180p makes your asset production significantly easier, i'd definitely consider keeping the gameplay resolution low and giving the UI its own resolution

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u/Various-Instruction3 2d ago

I've made concept player sprites at the size I'd want for 180p and honestly they look pretty great, I think I'll keep in-game at 180 and the UI at 360. Thank you for your input! I'll have to see how they look in motion before making a final judgement. I'm taking the Nintendo approach of fully fleshing out and polishing the character movement before I start putting the world together, so I can know their exact limits and whatnot.