060521 Visual Updates and Retro Filter (Patreon)

I spent some time improving the retro filters in the game, as seen in the video above. I made improvements to the CRT Blur filter, allowing it to maintain that classic CRT look while also remaining playable (in the last build, areas became simply too dark and you couldn't see Lance.)

I also spent time improving the palette based retro filter. This one not only is playable now, but also has a new "Automatic" mode that shifts between palettes when you go between screens! Setting this up in the game is actually much easier than it seems, so I'll be able to do the whole game like this. These filters should make subsequence replays feel fresh and new.

I also brought back the perimeter blur as a standard feature in the game, but made it so that it only applies to screens in which I think it looks good. These changes, as well as the color blending that happens even when no filters are applied, should allow me to create a unique feel for each screen of the game and allow me to make each stage that much more memorable. I've attached a few pics of the perimeter blur below. This blur centers around Lance with a soft blur applied to parts of the screen that he's not on in addition to the perimeter, and I think it looks really nice.

To accommodate for this, I've changed the default visual preset to "High" as this is the mode it looks best in as well as is the most performant. People will lower end computers will of course just be able to set the graphics presets to Medium or Low.

I don't want to add too many visual features, but I feel like what I have will allow me to do tons to enhance the overall presentation of the game.