file sizes of games

[gypsysnail]

Hi guys!
Sorry if the question has been asked b4 by anyone else - yep I did a search only one thread but didnt really answer my question. So here goes... I am making a few short length games for people to download and I want to take in consideration their broadband speed and download limit allowance so I am concerned about game file size. I want to ask here if anyone knows a way to keep the file size low as possible to say... limit 15MB? Probably in my case most of my short length games should not be more than 8-9mb. I am aware that video and music/sound files do put up the file size quite a bit - I wont be using video, just graphics and sound yes.

I want to ask another question about sound - but I am going to start a new topic for that one as it does not relate to the main topic title of this thread.

Please let me know about game file size stuff above, thanks guys

[Gilbert]

Use MIDI instead of sampled music like MP3, OGG (or even WAV), that can save a lot of space.
Using 16bit graphics might save a bit compared with 32bit (I'd like to suggest 8bit but it would required in general more skill to put it to good use).
For sound effects and speeches (if any) use compressed formats like MP3 or OGG instead of uncompressed WAV.

Other people may have more ideas.

[Matti]

One thing of course are background pictures and sprites with few colors (256) and a low resolution (320x240)..

In my game I'm using 800x600 32-bit pictures and they really raise the filesize, but I need it.. or at least I want it..

[gypsysnail]

Hey thanks gilbot. As u may know I am totally deaf and have absolutely no clue of sound stuff which is a nuisance about being deaf - I posted a new thread about sound. Anyway thank you so much for the file types that suit best, we will proceed from there in sound thread im sure someone's bound to help. Also is there another way to keep the game file size down? Such as.... resolution size? I want to keep the game graphics in very good quality, sharp clear etc.

EDIT: Ah matti! U answered my question b4 I posted lol. Thanks so... it IS the resolution too, what would be the best resolution size that can keep the file below 9mb? (and bearing in mind specially that the games will be short length)

[Kaktus]

Maybe you could use midi for Sounds by using PlaySilentMidi(). If it's too silent you can turn the volume higher in a midi program.

[gypsysnail]

Looks like midi is it then! if anyones willing to help me with sound for even payment and a place in the credits then go over to my other thread about sound - it is in this category (beginners tech qns) . Thank you guys for solving this aspect for me.

[jetxl]

Don't forget AGS also supports mod and stm music format. The files are bigger than midi but way smaller than mp3.
The best way of getting somebody to do your music is to make a demo of the game and then ask people. This gets people more involved and motivated.

As for file size: I have an unfinished game with 25 background (that's a medium length game!) and loads of sprites and animations. Uncompressed, the game is 6 mb (compressed 2 mb), though the game is in 320x200 res.
You shouldn't worry about size unless you use 800x600 res, mp3 music, voice and/or videos. Look at Charlie Foxtrot; big game in 640x400 res but only 5 mb compressed.

[Radiant]

I want to ask here if anyone knows a way to keep the file size low as possible to say... limit 15MB?

This shouldn't be a problem; the vast majority of AGS games are under 15 MB.