So I've made a lot of progress with my game, but ran into yet another unforeseen hurdle: my game sucks up Memory like nobody's business. Right now I'm looking at maybe 200 MB or so of RAM, by the time the game is done it'll probably be using up somewhere close to a gig.
I figured most computers nowadays have at least 2 gigs of RAM standard, and if it's for gaming even more, but there seems to be an overwhelming number of people that see the word 2D and assume it has to be small, cheap and short. I made the decision to half all the resources, cutting memory usage significantly, but after seeing the new neutered game in action… my heart dropped. I could see pixels!!! The original beast is a sleek, ultra sharp monster that looks even better under the scrutiny of an HD monitor or TV. I don't know. I guess I can make two versions, but realistically they'd come out years apart, or maybe not at all. So, to HD or not HD? That is the question. I risk alienating a lot of people by putting out such a demanding game, on the other hand, I made those sprites myself, I want them to look their best. Oh well, right now I'm leaning towards making the "weak" version.
MD
srsly not HD… you'll be srsly disappointed because HD 2D won't look properly.
but I'm just warning you, and if you can pull it off properly you're the new god of this worldGo for scalable vector graphics, that'll look good anywhere.
Continuing what Myth interrupted…
34D64D
Try reducing the graphics to 256 color adaptive palettes in an image editor.
Otherwise use something else that can handle larger images, you may have to move to a coding language.And don't ever say your game is 2d, you say 3d when its 3d and nothing otherwise. You could go HD64D2D.Yeah.
Too bad nothing supports vector graphics very well. Flash can't even render them properly. But then flash can't do anything right, so that's not surprising.
A lot of nice things can be done with vector graphics, like Another World...which has been remade...
Okay so that's polygons, but its close enough.Thanks for all the suggestions. Here's the solution I've come to after reading all the comments:
I'll optimize and manage the resources as best as I can. And I'll make two demos. Gameplay being the priority, then depending on which one is preferred, I'll move on with that one. I'll be looking into vector graphics for the next game though, sounds interesting, and another world is amazing.