Question: should the game start in fullscreen mode?

[sarahnorthway]

I just read a review that talked about how tiny the Rebuild 3 screen was and I realized OMG they didn't realize you can stretch, maximize, or fullscreen the game. Uh-oh.

Rebuild 3 doesn't have one of those pre-game popups where you can pick your resolution. But maybe the first time you play I should pop up a dialog on the main menu that asks if you want to go into fullscreen mode. Or I could start in fullscreen and pop up a dialog asking if you prefer to stay in windowed mode. Or just start in fullscreen, period. What do you think?

BTW if you haven't found it, you can toggle fullscreen from the config (gear / ESC) menu or by pressing CTRL+Enter, and once it's fullscreened the game will start in fullscreen the next time you play.

[Jimbly]

Ugh, well, hopefully all of that reviewer's readers have left some comments leaving egg on his face... ^_^

As long as it remembers the setting, I don't think anyone will really mind which is the default, and full-screen is definitely the expected behavior (may also make it feel a bit less like a "Flash game" ;).

Personally, on Windows, I hate actual full-screen, due to various side effects, however the mode people call "fullscreen windowed" I love (the one where you create a borderless window at 0,0 the exact size of the desktop and Windows magically changes behavior and makes it behave nicely/stay on top of the start menu/etc/etc), since it doesn't change my monitor resolution/desktop resolution/refresh rate, doesn't ever re-shuffle my desktop icons, allows instant alt-tabbing, etc, but gives the nice feeling of "full screen".

As for the full-screen toggle hot-key, I tried Alt-Enter (which has been used to toggle full screen since running console programs in Windows 3.1... ;), which didn't work, didn't realize Ctrl-Enter, or anything else, might be a hotkey for it =).

I would probably default to Full Screen in the release mode, and Windowed in the beta/test branch/mode, although that has the danger of not getting quite enough testing in case there's any crash which only happens in full-screen mode.

TL;DR Full screen is what people expect, just do it, despite us developers hating it =)

[Jubeithar]

I honestly don't mind the window mode since you can extend it and it is possible to enable fullscreen mode. Then again Jimbly does make a good point that people usually expect the other way arround: fullscreen mode by default and windowed mode an option.

[Xam Huad]

While true that one could expect fullscreen mode (because this is steam and not kongregate), I see many (small) games opening in window mode lately. Though most of them are former Early Access, have been made in Unity or are a Mobile port.

So, I'd say it is a common misconception among indie developers to release windowed. But not a big problem either as the settings can remedy that within a span of 10 seconds (depending on how quick you can find and press the appropriate buttons).

[sarahnorthway]

Alt+Enter should also work, at least it does for me on Win 8.1. The Rebuild 3 fullscreen is kind of like maximizing in that it doesn't affect your desktop resolution and is easy to alt+tab out of.

I'm going to give starting in fullscreen a try (will affect new players only) and let people find the toggle in the config menu on their own if they want to play windowed. I guess it's better to error on the side of feeling more like a PC game than a mobile port. Thanks everyone!

[Space Coward]

He probably thought it would be a Unity3D game... I mean, what else uses external launchers these days other than Elder Scrolls and Fallout?

But yes, I spotted that fullscreen button almost immediately. Even then, there's always, you know, that little "Maximise" square next to the X in the top corner...