I’ve updated my Old School Gaming Filters app to allow you to create your own filter. You simply select a reference image, a dithering algorithm, a number of colors, a resolution, and voila, a retro looking image:

If you follow this site closely, you may know that this is actually exactly how the Palette Swap app I made a decade ago works. And somewhat amusingly, the Old School Gaming Filters app is built on-top of that old app. It’s just using presets instead of letting you pick your own inputs.

So why wasn’t this feature in the original app? Well, according to my original write-up on the app, I felt it would be too complicated and that premade filters would be easier to understand. I mentioned the Palette Swap app in passing at the bottom of the post and then promptly forgot about it. And when I say forgot about it, I genuinely forgot it existed.

When I did the UI update to the Old School Game Filters app last year I simply renamed the old folder and uploaded a new one, one that didn’t include Palette Swap. To my surprise, a week after I did this I got an email from someone asking me to please restore the Palette Swap app. I was confused, and it wasn’t until I checked the old folder that I found it and realized what they were talking about. I hadn’t thought about that app since I’d posted the original blog entry.

I restored Palette Swap, but I made a note to myself that I wanted to add its features to the main app. If someone had bookmarked it a decade ago and was still using it, maybe there was something to this custom filter idea that I’d just causally discarded.

And then, because I have a really short attention span, I kept forgetting to do the update – until today! And I think the app with this feature is waaaay better. This is really how it should have been released. It’s much more fun to create your own filters from reference images and dithering algorithms than it is to use a preset.

The outputs don’t always make sense, but they have a wonderful retro charm to them.

Anyway, if you have a moment check out the app and let me know what you think!