ocracoke, 18 may
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@tairothebard
ocracoke, 18 may

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I really enjoy how retro gaming purists being dogmatic about CRT filters has completely backfired and now retro game devs are just throwing any old shit on their visuals. Put a film grain filter on your Nintendo 64 retroclone. Put VHS tracking errors in your GBA pastiche. Fuck you, it's authentic.
give the c64 style platformer a squelchy lo-fi acid techno soundtrack (that was me)
retro isn't about faithfully recreating the past, it's a reaction against a linear view of technological advancement - a declaration that high fidelity is not what makes a game look or sound or feel good. retro is a different way of seeing the world.
also it's the indie development equivalent of a renaissance fair
YES! THIS! EXACTLY! I had this same thought a while ago, independent of the whole βCRT craze,β about breaking away from that βhigh fidelityβ mindset many artists and consumers blindly believe is default to art. That art must be expressed in as high of quality as possible for it to be βgood.β To which this unending pursuit of high fidelity greatly inhibits imperfection and experimentation. And its reinforcement by consumers also reinforces the industrial mediaβs power over indie creations. No indie artists could ever make GOW Ragnarok on their flipping own. But defining beauty as separate from fidelity means they donβt have to! And never did.
Itβs not some gimmick that we are doing, it is a legitimate aesthetic that we are trying to reach with its own upsides compared to modern high resolution display! Not that there shouldnβt be an option to turn it off for accessibility reasons, there should. But its existence, and the pursuit of it, isnβt a gimmick to many of us and it wonβt be going away just because you perceive it so.
A while ago I thought, after having watched the special editions of the Star Wars Original trilogy in all its HD glory, and specifically thinking of this scene:
I thought: βhow could movie studios get away with graphics like these at the time? If these graphics were used today, would people even watch these films?β Like, look at Vaderβs head, itβs just outright clipped! His helmet shaped like a thumb because of the heinous blue screen job!
Thinking also of behind the scenes stuff where they explain how Matte Lines were such an issue for the special effects crew when making The Battle of Hoth scene, because all of the ship composite effects would leave an obvious as hell black outline on the white snow planet. Making an obvious unwanted film artifact visible. And their solution was βoh just lower the opacity!β:
I mean could you imagine that today!?!?? Imagine watching some modern blockbuster movie, and for one of the special effects they couldnβt quite get it to look right, so they just lowered the opacity to make it look less objectionable. Or if they didnβt and just left that βuglyβ low fidelity black outline. Today? On these modern HD displays? CONSUMERS WOULD THROW A FIT! They threw a fit over βhover headβ when actors werenβt filmed with their CGI suits and instead just green screened their heads onto a separate CGI suit (although legitimate criticisms of this were moreso that this lack of care in the visual fidelity was a capitalist cost cutting measure rather than a necessity, and also that this lack of care showed in other areas such as the story).
And that was just the thing! They could get away with cutting out parts of Vaders head and lowering the opacity of ships because the options for displays back then werenβt as good as they are now. Now of course, the ability to make good clean special effects is also much better and easier now,,, for large corporations. But my indie ass? Yes filmmaking has become more available to me than it would be if I was in the 80βs or 90βs, but I donβt have a studio or a crew or tons of money to dump into such crisp and clean effects!
And so low resolution effects/techniques, what I call things like CRT effects being used today (though it can extend to other effects that have the result of lowering fidelity), to garner that same ability they had in the past; that ability to not have to make something absolutely perfect, to be able to work with imperfections and be able to say βit looks good enough,β is legitimately special, and goes unappreciated by modern consumers used to modern HD graphics, special effects, and displays.
Compare the Vader hologram effect to the later made prequels and their holograms:
I could only DREAM of making a movie with HALF as much fidelity across my entire creation as the Prequels do across thereβs. Although I would not want the capital inherent to be able to make such a creation. I love Star Wars, but it was made in the context of a billionaire institution, made George Lucas a billionaire, and it was funded by his billionaire ass, and is continually funded by billionaires. Fuck billionaires. We donβt need billionaires in society. No one should be able to have that much money. Fuck George Lucas.
Now I am a big proponent that these low resolution effects donβt have to just mean emulating the low resolution effects of the past. We can create new low resolution effects. Hell pixel art is itself one of these low resolution effects that makes it easier for indie game developers to make more with less. But CRT effects can add to that. I practiced this low resolution philosophy I had thought up with an experimental short film of mine:
(Possible seizure warning)
In this, I was very *literal* about the meaning of βlow resolution effectsβ and literally just made it, well, low resolution. As a way of trying to find low resolution effects without relying on the emulation of low resolution effects of the past, partly because I didnβt have the skill to make such an effect, whilst also catering to my history as a pixel artist.
However, it cannot be understated that emulation of past low resolution effects, like CRT effects, do look nice even with modern media made for HD:
π¬ 34Β Β π 2147Β Β β€οΈ 7147Β Β·Β played fnaf 3 on my crt and itβs the coolest and most horrifying thing imaginable
π¬ 7Β Β π 642Β Β β€οΈ 2322Β Β·Β CRT pixel art - download the filter hereΒ Β·Β support me | commission me | buy a print | buy a sticker
Letβs not turn our nose up at a style with legitimate purpose and reason for existing. Even if attempts at emulating past low fidelity effects arenβt as accurate as they are on those actual old devices. Even if it is made by people who havenβt had first hand experience with those original low fidelity devices. Even if itβs in something you didnβt think it was necessary to be in. Low resolution effects are a style similar to exaggerated color grating to garner a specific outcome. It is as necessary as the artist makes it.
Although I want to stress that while I feel this way about these things I described. I do think itβs important to not go down the puritanical road with the false idea that experiencing something in its βintendedβ form is the only way to experience anything. No it ainβt. Experience it however the hell you like. Do you stretch your old 4 by 3 video games to wide screen? Go for it! Do you mod your games to look a specific way that you like? Do it! Do you not care and will enjoy pixel art in its unblurred form? By all means, enjoy it! What matters most about art is that creation is in the hands of those who make the art, and those who receive it too.
Western passport holders will never understand. To go anywhere with a third worlder passport like a Filipino one, you need your tax returns, certificate of employment, bank statements, marriage certificates, sometimes a recommendation from a citizen of the country you want to travel to, everything possible to prove that you have a job and a family at home and you're not planning to be an illegal immigrant, JUST to get hit with a rejection because the embassy didn't believe you had enough proof.
Did you have travel plans? Already booked the plane tickets and hotels? Fuck you, better hope they issue refunds (they don't).
Americans and Western Europeans will never understand how insanely hard and bothersome it's to travel anywhere with a weak passport, let alone immigrate.
You want to study abroad? Show us proof that there is a quadrillion dollars in your bank account. Oh, an average monthly salary in your country is $400 and you plan to work when you arrive? You can't do that, silly, a student visa only allows you to work 2 hours every third Wednesday, and if we find out that you're working a second more we will deport you.
You want to work abroad? Better be a programmer, then of course you are welcome. Doctor, scientist, white-collar or, god forbid, blue-collar worker? You can fuck right off, your visa application goes straght into trash.
But if you marry one of our first-world citizens, then fine, you can come. Because we can't upset them, after all, they are a real person, unlike you.
EU Advice to people who have friends in places with weak passports- go to your department of foreigners and ask for something that called Formal Letter of Invitation or something similar. It usually is called something similar and costs a few euro/whatever currency you have. It will not be more than a fancy coffee at Starbucks or such place.
You will have to prove that you can afford a guest, have some income and also usually take responsibility for possible deportation cost.
But if you really are inviting a friend over, they will give you a formal document you can send to your friend. Then the friend applies for a visa while attaching the Very Official document with it. They will get the Schengen visa and most probably will get it expedited too.
It's some effort, but if it's for a friend it's worth it. And it's way less costly than the ridiculous loops the friend is being forced to go through and pay for multiple 3rd party services just to get a freaking visa for a month.
Rainy day in Kyoto

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moles + worms + shrew
alone, just like you'll be.
(by ibdansch)
Office, 2007

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Blue Flower Field, Japan by Daniel Korzhonov
Malcolm Smith (1912-1966)
The Knight Raymondin and the Fairy Melusine (1894)
Gigi Comolli, Casa tra il verde, 1935
Sunrise, Punjab India by Ishaan Sen

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Bill Brandt Stonehenge
Ghost in the Shell Arise: Border 2 - Ghost Whispers (2013)