Determining background size for game development

[Dr.RubricArc]

I want to start developing a game in Unity, using Aseprite for all the artwork, such as sprites, backgrounds, etc. I don't know how big I make the background/canvas size when I start designing it in Aseprite.

Do I go off of my resolution? And if that's the case will I be able to scale it later so people on smaller resolutions and what not can also play?

Also with scaling can that work the same way with sprites and other assets as long as they're a consistent size?

[Trash Mammal]

You can really use whatever size you feel comfortable drawing in. With unity you give your sprites a ppu value, which determines how many pixels will fit in one unit in unity. I normally use a ppu of 16 for most of my pixel art. Larger ppu values will be less 'retro' looking with unitys default camera set up.

For more of a retro game, I use 16x16 or 32x32 for sprites, but when animating you might want to give yourself some more room, its not always bad to have blank space on the edges of the canvas. You can always look at older system resolutions to get an idea of how retro you want the game to look and mimic those resolutions in your artwork when making backgrounds.

Also something to keep in mind is a lot of 2d games use tiles, not everything is just one giant piece of artwork, but rather smaller pieces used over and over again as 'stamps'.
It is possible to make much larger pieces but it does require a lot of work.

Good luck in your game dev journey, sorry for a late reply, but I thought I would throw my 2 cents in just in case you're still lost.

[Dr.RubricArc]

Originally posted by Trash Mammal:

You can really use whatever size you feel comfortable drawing in. With unity you give your sprites a ppu value, which determines how many pixels will fit in one unit in unity. I normally use a ppu of 16 for most of my pixel art. Larger ppu values will be less 'retro' looking with unitys default camera set up.

For more of a retro game, I use 16x16 or 32x32 for sprites, but when animating you might want to give yourself some more room, its not always bad to have blank space on the edges of the canvas. You can always look at older system resolutions to get an idea of how retro you want the game to look and mimic those resolutions in your artwork when making backgrounds.

Also something to keep in mind is a lot of 2d games use tiles, not everything is just one giant piece of artwork, but rather smaller pieces used over and over again as 'stamps'.
It is possible to make much larger pieces but it does require a lot of work.

Good luck in your game dev journey, sorry for a late reply, but I thought I would throw my 2 cents in just in case you're still lost.

Hell yeah man helped a ton! Forgot I'd posted this but now that you've replied and said something I'm really glad I came back to it! Makes sense with the tiling system and what not, was more or less thinking about big backgrounds for parallaxing like scenery and what not, but nonetheless you helped a ton. Thanks again bud and have a happy 4th if you're in the US