HOW do you play shoot'em up?

[repoman]

I play mostly on the PS5 but I think I'm putting myself at a disadvantage as I've got a 65 inch screen and maybe that's a bit too big for my eyes to read everything that's going on.

I wonder actually if there's a general consensus of opinion on where to look. Like do people try to scan the whole screen or do you mostly just focus on the area around your hitbox?

[Lemnear]

Like do people try to scan the whole screen or do you mostly just focus on the area around your hitbox?

For me, for games with slow bullets pattern to dodge, i look more at my ship, for older games with slower ship and faster enemy bullets, i look at the edge of the screen/enemies more i think.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I wonder actually if there's a general consensus of opinion on where to look. Like do people try to scan the whole screen or do you mostly just focus on the area around your hitbox?

Looking directly at your hitbox is generally bad. You should be looking in the area in front of your ship, about 3-4 ship lengths ahead, and only look at your hitbox for slow, super dense types of attacks. Your peripheral vision will still be able to see your ship's position, and looking ahead of your ship allows you to see the gaps in the bullets you want to navigate.

[Lander]

I find that focusing on the background, or trying to defocus and not fixate on any specific thing (sort of like those magic eye puzzles but without the eye crossing), causes my peripherals to pick up threats that would otherwise have slipped through unnoticed.

[BIL]

Matroska doll of ancient threads for an evergreen question:

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