What An iOS Game Looks Like On The iPad 3’s Retina Display

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ipad-3-retina-display

We all can’t wait to get our hands on a Retina display-equipped iPad in the coming weeks, and many developers are starting to get their current iPad apps ready for the rumored 2048×1536 resolution.

One developer in particular decided to share and compare Retina display screenshots of his iPad game. The differences between the new and current resolution are pretty stunning.

A screenshot of Food Run.

Kevin Ng, developer of an upcoming iOS game called Food Run, designed his app’s graphics using vectors rather than bitmaps, allowing him to scale them to any resolution without pixelation. He decided to see what Food Run would like at 2048×1536 next to the current resolution. The level of detail that can be viewed when zoomed in at the higher resolution is astonishing:

Non-Retina
Retina

You can check out the full version of the 1024×768 screenshot and the 2048×1536 version. The files are too large to embed here.

Kevin explains the technical magnifications of a Retina display-equipped iPad from a design perspective:

Four times as many pixels means four times as much video memory, and much larger assets. Bearing in mind that the 20MB mobile network download size for apps is already claustrophobia inducing, supporting Retina on iPad 3 whilst respecting the limit would be very hard. So if we do see a Retina iPad 3, expect to see that 20MB limit raised, even if only for iPad / universal apps.

With four times the pixels, the graphics card powering the iPad will need four times the fill-rate. That is, it will need to draw four times as many pixels per second. However, jumps of this magnitude between generations are not uncommon these days. With the graphics card, it is the expensive fast graphics RAM required which may prove to be the limiting factor.

The Next Web has also raised the question of how Retina iPad apps will get past the 20MB limit carriers enforce for App Store downloads. Universal apps containing Retina iPhone and iPad versions would sit at an upwards of 35MB. Carrier restrictions could lead to many developers splitting their universal apps into iPhone-only and iPad-only versions.

Regardless of how Retina iPad apps affect the App Store, one thing is certain: they look great!

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