Too pixelated it's hurting my eyes!!!

[エース極端]

Seriously, the resolution is so low it's hurting my eyes. I don't know what are you devs trying to achieve, perhaps some kind of "retro" feel. But whatever it is, for this kind of vertical shooters which requires plenty of concentration, the pixelated artwork is causing strain on my eyes.

Would you consider to improve the resolution of this game? With today's modern monitors running 1920x1080, can you imagine how my 27" monitor running on that resolution would cause strain?

[kerframil]

I like low-res pixel artwork but I agree that modern LCD panels don't do it any justice. Old-school 240p style games look a lot better on CRT technology, what with the natural softening, bloom and the scanlines caused by double striking. It's annoying that Indie software houses are the last refuge of talented pixel artists but the developers don't include filtering modes that render the graphics in an authentic manner. I suspect that some of them are too young to have actually seen the real thing or don't really remember or understand how the technology worked. I have tried a number of Indie games that include 'retro' filters and they are all disgusting.

There are a several things that could be done to make it more agreeable. One would be to simulate scanlines by performing pixel-perfect line doubling, while darkening every odd line (ideally, with an option to set the intensity). This is the same method as employed by some emulators and dedicated hardware such as the XRGB Mini. It's simple enough to be performed by the CPU - no taxing shaders - and would help a lot. That could be combined with something like Blargg's NTSC filter [1] which, in its RGB mode, would soften the image in an nice, authentic way.

Another option would be to use a pixel shader to simulate a CRT. Indie developers should take a look at some of the shaders being used in emulators such as RetroArch to witness the amazing things that are possible. The crt-cgwg-fast shader would be a good place to start. I wish that Indie devs would just allow for these existing shaders to be loaded because they are vastly superior to the horrid filtering modes that some Indie games have built-in. One problem is that these shaders can yield amazing results but are too taxing for older GPUs and the majority of integrated Intel HD chips.

I have contacted the developers of PC games before, suggesting (in far fewer words) that they could improve their scaling/filtering in situations where they are aiming for a retro aesthetic. My experience is that they neither listen nor respond. Still, I'll try emailing the Jamestown team and see what happens.

[1] LGPL licensed