some interesting links

I was reading the who stole the colours one. Not all the points given are agreeable or seemingly strong from a general reader and casual market customer point of view. The real conflict is between drab and bright. Then, smackus uses screenshots of Super Mario 64 to show us what a colourful game could look like. As if that was the last example of bright palettes in gameplay. As if Super Mario Galaxy didn’t just come out.-Tim Maley


I'd say that Mario Galaxy was a weak point due to the fact that both titles are developed by Nintendo EAD - a stronger point would have put forward a title from a different developer to illustrate that colourful titles are being made across the industry in present times. But that might just be because I was reading it as an article and not a conversational.

Certainly he redeemed it by supplying a bunch of links to examples after, but after is a little late in the mind of a reader. Definitely when talking about the gaming industry where they often say that you have to hold your customers attention span (n) seconds (not minutes) and provide the next hit or it's bust. Plenty of gamers read reviews and even opinions these days as they want to know what hints are to the next big thing.

I'd also not consider the Metroid example as entirely valid. Just my personal opinion, as there was really only 4 or 5 identifiable significant colours and or values. The palette was quite limited looking, the world was I must observe rather bland, but the point of the use of colour in that game I do realise was to draw the players attention to what mattered. Though solely from the presented footage, not from actually ever playing it.

And sins of a solar empire, while it has colour, again is rather muted and washed out with highlights for that spark of interest here and there.

Gears of War and Jerico were pretty depressing in the colour department, but then again that actually suited the game. As boring as it looked, colour can be a spoken language and I'd wager that the happy go lucky I love everyone rainbows wouldn't fit in a serious it is do or die story. Then again, I love games with comedic appeal and humour so perhaps it wouldn't be all that bad to brighten a few things up - but developers tend to make their products solid to their design. There are design reasons I would guess that determine the 'lack of colour' we are witnessing and I am not entirely concerned about it. As not everyone I know lives in a gingerbread and candy house ever so sweet.

There are still games being made out there with cutesy colours and graphics, Domo, Dofus, Perfect World, RO and Maple Story are titles that draw the attention spans of some of the market with globally bright and sometimes varying colours (though I'd suspect if one looks hard enough, limitations in the palette could likely be found in almost any title). Heck lets throw in Geometry Wars evolved on xbox live arcade, cause I like it and it's bright though colour numbers are limited.

Ultimately I'd gather that the colour choices would rest with an echo of the core message of a game rather than the desire to sugar coat the experience. And the three areas regarding the palette, hue, saturation and value will be bent to convey the message.

So perhaps the solution isn't to consider the colour palette first, but to think if the message your game revolves around is the same as the next. Perhaps you need a new message, instead of following the other developers.

Still I'm just a customer like the next gamer, what would my opinion matter? Then again, would my wallet? ;)

Spore is reasonably colourful and I've already mentioned to you Souri, I'm flat out buying it.

I'm curious as to what your casual opinion on game look and feel might be.

I'll have to give these a read. Had a quick skim over the colour article. Just out of curiosity - since when did Quake use dynamic lights? http://www.fpsteam.it/img2006/quake_tenebrae/quake_tenebrae_08.jpg

It certainly didn't back in the day when I was playing it. Look! The Zombies are actually casting shadows!

EDIT: And bump mapping!

was released ages ago and coders have rummaged through the code and extended the engine with all the snazzy features. I think they even managed to get dynamic lights in before Doom3 came out?