The effects of colour on player navigation

whitelyt · Oct 2011

Hi everyone,

this is my first post so if I have put it in the wrong area then I am sorry. I wanted ask for some assistance in my dissertation topic; I am writing about "the effects of colour on player choice in game navigation", and I wanted to know if anyone knew of any sources, journals, articles, blogs etc. on this topic as I am having a hard time sourcing them myself.

It would be appreciated that if anyone had experience in this areathey could reply to me about their experiences.

Thanks guys

R3D · Oct 2011

Perhaps...

http://www.polycount.com/2010/07/21/alien-swarm/

The lighting plays an important role in Alien Swarm as this creates the mood and atmosphere of the game. It is used to attract the eye of the viewer to lead them through the level, and importantly to obscure incoming enemies until its too late and they have fallen upon you.

Although I guess that is more light than colour. Portal 2 also makes a good example of lights guiding the player.

Also to a lesser extent...
http://www.polycount.com/2011/01/04/greenor-red-barrels/

blankslatejoe · Oct 2011

Mirror's edge is probably the strongest example of color-for-navigation I can think of. Perhaps Look for some of the GDC write ups on the game's design?

Ace-Angel · Oct 2011

It might now amount to much, but color is only the beginning.

Look up "Flow maps" from Valve or Naughty Dog in their respective games. Color is only an indicator, it still won't guide the player fully.

whitelyt · Nov 2011

Thank you all for replying and giving some feedback I appreciate it.

At Ryswick: thanks for the Portal idea, I had completely over looked that. I am on the red barrels like rash! ha

At Blankslatejoe: thanks, I am referencing it as I type.

At Ace-Angel: I understand colour is only a small portion 'aesthetic navigation' and in the beginning I wanted to cover a great deal more than just colour but unfortunately my tutor asked me to focus on one aspect of my broad choice. Thank you for your feedback.

Please keep the comments coming, everyone on Polycount seems to have a wealth of experience and I would like to learn as much as I can from you guys.

Btw, if you have any game-related references to colour blind players that would also be appreciated. Thank you again

sprunghunt · Nov 2011

the most blatant example of colour guiding a player is mirrors edge. With the red highlight colour indicating where you can go.

Envart · Nov 2011

The track edges in racing games are often striped bands that are clearly visable.

Asherr · Nov 2011

Btw, if you have any game-related references to colour blind players that would also be appreciated.

like this?
http://wow.joystiq.com/2011/09/29/patch-4-3-new-color-blind-accessibility-mode/

PixelMasher · Nov 2011

I know the last couple of call of duty games have had a color blind assist option you could toggle on (dunno what it does). I am slightly color blind when it comes to reds sometimes, not really red and green but more so just shades/hues of red.

The effects of colour on player navigation

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