When using a pixel font maker, the expectation from the user is that setting the font size to "8" (no units are displayed in the Pixel-Forge settings, you have to read the warning on export carefully to notice the discrepancy) would mean it renders accurately when set to 8px in a given pixel-perfect software. If you're using a software with the pt scale instead, the font would be scaled anyway so there wouldn't be any loss of function. Since the creator here has set the font settings to use pt rather than px, however, fonts exported with this tool can't be used in pixel-perfect software settings, contrary to other pixel font softwares.
This is a mismatch between what these tools are commonly used for and the way this particular tool is designed. I'd suggest to the creator that switching the scale from pt to px would significantly improve usability. I was a bit disappointed as this seems a very well designed tool, otherwise, and is one of the only ones I've seen with support for such a large set of glyphs.
So the issue then is that they will not display properly when used in software next to other fonts. Any font that supports specifying sizes in pts instead of px will take care of the unit conversion behind the scenes. But if the creator changed the scale, it would display too large everywhere except where the users weren’t incorrectly specifying their desired size units.
IMO the two best options (either or maybe both could be done):
- Add the px sizes in the export dialog and make them ABOVE the pts values
- Add a “Use pixel-centric export scaling (may display incorrectly in some places)” toggle option to the font file which will export the TTF with the scale factor my Python script converts to