Full-Screen Games
Posted December 17th, 2004 @ 12:09pm by Erik J. Barzeski
I don't mind full-screen games. Sometimes I even play them. But today when I launched the free Holiday Express (courtesy of .Mac), it immediately zapped into full-screen mode. I immediately looked for options and the ability to turn off full-screen mode. It was there and I did, so all seemed well. Until the game crashed a few seconds later, and I found that all of my windows had been scrunched into an 800 x 600 area in the top left corner of my screen.
I spent two minutes carefully rearranging the windows of my open applications. I relaunched Holiday Express and, lo and behold, the preferences don't save immediately. The game was full-screen again. Fortunately I also quit many of my other applications, fearing the worst from Holiday Express.
If you're going to have a full-screen game with the option to go "in a window," ask me the first time I launch the damn game.
Donate Life
Posted 17 Dec 2004 at 1:36pm #
full screen can really mess with dual monitors too. sometimes i have to (hard) reboot after i quit out because it won't return me to my desktop.
Posted 17 Dec 2004 at 10:32pm #
Crashing fullscreen games usually don't mess with my screen setup, Mac OS X can handle that...
My biggest gripe is that fullscreen games dim ALL monitors, which means that you can't watch TV or follow that chat conversation while running fullscreen.
Posted 17 Dec 2004 at 10:42pm #
This one doesn't have to crash to screw with the setup. It does so when it works normally too.
Posted 20 Dec 2004 at 12:01pm #
It isn't just bad manners, it's bad programming as well. There are ways to get the window server to politely go fullscreen ( with resolution change ) in a way that running apps won't be notified. E.g., when the game quits and the original screen config is restored, you don't get squishing -- this particularly nags me when it screws up my Photoshop and Flash palettes.
Anyway, it's just Bad Programming.