Welcome back to another installment of my colorblind-awareness series. Since last time I covered the basics of the issue at hand, this time around will be all about showing off some of the games that bring colorblindness into the spotlight, for both better and worse. The examples that follow either found a suitable way to allow colorblind gamers to enjoy everything the game had to offer, or were downright unplayable because of their unthinkable ignorance from development through QA testing. I flipped a coin to determine which group I’d write about first, but I’m just going to go with the unplayable ones anyway.


Because just like Dent, I make my own luck
(Photo Courtesy: Warner Bros. Pictures)

For the games deserving of a wag of our fingers, I’m going to break this down into three categories to make it easier to digest: Stealth games, Puzzle games and everything else. (Don’t worry, the last section will be a brief list.) Doing things this way seems to make the most sense both because these genres tend to have the most difficulty in providing balanced, equal experiences for everyone; and because each section will then shed a uniquely specific light on a development issue from a colorblind perspective. Ready? And here. We. Go.

You thought there was going to be a Joker pic after that, didn’t you? Yeah, so did I. Oh well. Okay, back on track. Stealth games, a genre based on subtlety and subterfuge. These are worlds where color should matter little to those who hide amongst the shadows and strike with quiet precision. These games understandably rely on patience, visual cues, and often times, pattern memorization. This past year brought us Dishonored, a wonderful steampunk stealth-action fantasy that gave me all the tools I needed to complete a no-kill ghost playthrough. It is a wonderful example of how to provide distinguishable visual cues no matter what your color-deficiency is. You want to know a couple games that are wonderful examples of how NOT to provide visual cues? Splinter Cell: Double Agent and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Here’s why: Whereas the original Splinter Cell provided a meter on the screen to let you know how visible you were to enemies, DA decided a fun way to improve upon that would be a light that I’m told changes hue depending on how visible you are. Snake Eater cries “realism” as it’s excuse to drape everything in camouflage, including those one-hit-kill death traps littering the forest, but if that were actually true everyone who was red-green colorblind would think the game was a cakewalk. (See: My military sniping link from last week.) I say it’s just a miserable experience.


I assume they also decided to put a bicycle bell on his zip line and some chattering teeth in his backpack
(Photo Courtesy: Ubisoft)

Speaking of miserable experiences, I mentioned last week how every puzzle game should have to include a colorblind mode. I don’t see how a game that hinges on a singular gameplay element could exist without it. The fact that only some puzzle games include something like shapes or symbols to differentiate from whatever you're matching/stacking/shooting balls at is just ludicrous. While it’s true there have been efforts made and great strides taken, we still live in a world where some puzzle games are needlessly unplayable. I’m looking at you, Puzzle Fighter. If you’re going to use different shapes, why still include duplicate shapes of similar colors? Then there’s always PC game The Void, a game that uses color to represent everything from health and ammo to collectible resources. I don’t think I need to explain any further. Last, but certainly not least on the list of puzzle games deserving a good finger wagging, is the “classic” Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. They say time heals all wounds; well I’m here to tell you that’s a load, because not even eternity is long enough to forget this abomination.


Roboticizing cute, innocent woodland creatures, I’ll forgive. But for this, you rotund bastard, you’ll pay
(Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia Entry (originally from theghz.com))

Ugh, I hate that game. So now we’ve come to the proverbial rest of the crap. (Seanbaby is awesome if you’ve never read his stuff from either EGM or Cracked.) We’ll call this the rapid fire round, and how it works is I’m going to list a bunch of games and what they did wrong. Some of these grievances are specific to only one game mode (for instance, multiplayer) while others have flaws that render the game wholly unplayable to roughly 9% of the male population and .5% of all ladies. As a side note, I find this section becomes more enjoyable if you add the phrase, “Come on, Man!” to the end of every entry a la Monday Night Football.

1) Dirt Showdown 2: Uses red and green markers as waypoints during events. I’m also told the game goes on to taunt you using colorblind as an insult for poor performance. (Thanks to D’toid user Ian Hamilton for the heads up.)

2) Alpha Squad: The color of nametags and icons used to differentiate friendlies and hostiles in multiplayer is indistinguishable.

3) Shadow Complex: Color coordination is used to specify types of locked doors/breakable walls Metroid style. Red for missiles, green for grenades, blue for foam, etc. At least ammo isn’t too scarce.

4) Mirror’s Edge: Just follow the red line…

5) Red Dead Redemption/Grand Theft Auto: Choosing a point of interest shows a direct route to that location on the map, except it’s impossible to see from the mini-map. Trying to get anywhere becomes a classic road trip movie stereotype of having to “unfold” the full-screen map every few seconds.

6) Rockstar Games Present’s Table Tennis: The spin of the ball is displayed as colored streaks, so it is impossible to play with any sort of strategy or finesse.

7) The Fifa Series: Multiplayer differentiates players with small, colored triangles. Good luck keeping track of who is who when teaming up against other players.

8) X-Men Origins: Wolverine: “Feral senses” mode tells you how to progress. It does so by making everything a blurry glow of light and then marks points of interest with red and green.
Now these aren’t of course the only offenders, but this list offers a good range of possible issues colorblind gamers run into when playing a typical new release that doesn’t feature a colorblind mode of any kind.


Just follow the red line… Come on, Man!
(Photo Courtesy: ESPN)

Now that we’ve seen how NOT to make a video game, we can get on to the main event; praising those developers that not only “add in” a colorblind mode after the fact, but more often than not simply develop games from the ground up with colorblind folks in mind. Here are, according to my own experiences, the top three developers that are great at making colorblind-inclusive games: Valve, BioWare and PopCap games.

It should come as little surprise to see Valve in any list that praises the gaming industry, and why not? They’re an excellent, devoted team who knows exactly who their audience is, and how to best interact with them. They have developed games across multiple genres; from the beloved Half Life series, to the multiplayer chaos that is Team Fortress 2, and most recently a couple small games you may have heard about featuring a perfectly sane robot named GlaDOS. But you want to know what’s crazy? (Besides GlaDOS, I mean.) I’ve been able to enjoy every single game they’ve ever put out without ever feeling like being colorblind was a hindrance. Sure, there is a petition going around because people feel the “colorblind mode” in TF2 is insufficient, and that’s fine. I take the fact that people are asking that this game be playable by folks suffering from monochromatic colorblindness as a sign that they’re doing things right. Most developers can’t even make a game without relying on red and green, let alone using no colors at all. I tip my hat to you, Valve.


As if you needed another reason to love Valve
(Photo Courtesy: Valve)

BioWare is always very vocal about their stance on being all-inclusive. They come under a lot of fire for their Mass Effect and Dragon Age series’ openness to same-sex relationships/romance options, but that’s another issue. So, simply focusing on the playability aspect of BioWare developed games from a colorblind standpoint, they deliver. A shining example here is the original DA, Dragon Age: Origins. The options menu in Origins allows just about any type of configuration you can imagine; including everything a colorblind gamer needs to enjoy the entirety of the game. In fact, the game did such a great job, it won the AbleGamers Foundation’s 2009 Accessible Game of the Year. Hard to argue with that.

Both Valve and BioWare are pretty big dogs in the yard of PC/console gaming, but considering the popularity of the ever-growing casual market, it’s also necessary for developers of mobile-focused games to do their part. Now PopCap Games is by no means just some casual developer, but their games do manage to reach a wide audience regardless of “core” status within the gaming community. As such, it’s their responsibility to make their games as accessible as possible, and boy do they deliver. Just look at their list of games. From Plants vs. Zombies, to Feeding Frenzy and all the various incarnations of Bejeweled, PopCap can take any genre and develop a game that anyone can play. Perhaps the most obvious way to show what makes them great is a simple screenshot of the colorblind mode featured in Peggle. Mixing more vibrant colors with added symbols within shapes, this mode takes an otherwise unplayable game, and makes it totally accessible. Kudos, PopCap, you are certainly worthy of a tip of my hat.


An easy, effective way for puzzle games to add a colorblind mode
(Photo Courtesy: PopCap Games)

And with that, lads and lasses, we reach the end of another segment. Next week will feature the things developers can do to build a colorblind-inclusive game from the ground up. In the meantime, I encourage anyone looking to learn more about colorblind-gaming awareness, or those just curious to read more about the issue or connect with fellow gamers and share experiences, to join my new Google+ community: Colorblind Gamers Unite! The best way to encourage change is to simply get people talking, so let’s talk! Thanks for tuning in.

Hi, I’m Vince. Here’s a few things you might need to know, or maybe you just forgot… (Oh and yeah, NERD ALERT! You’ve been warned.)

Awesome opening intros aside, the purpose of this piece is to bring something to the attention of gamers and developers alike. One simple message I’d like the entire video game industry as a whole to hear. That message? I exist. I know it’s hard for you to hear and apparently impossible to accept, but I promise you, I exist. And I’m not alone.


If this road had some street lights, we wouldn’t need these torches
(Photo Courtesy: FOX)

Let me explain. This isn’t a rant about not being appreciated or being “taken seriously,” my problem is a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed; a problem that, if I’m lucky, may even be dealt with. You see, I’m left handed and, even worse than that, colorblind. Not monochromic (black-and-white color blind), mind you, although sometimes I think that would make things easier. I’m affected by what is called deuteranopia, the much more common red-green colorblindness. Now before you write me off as part of a minority that isn’t worth catering to, you should know that as many as 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some form of colorblindness.

Why does this matter? Well, any gamer worth their salt should be able to answer that, but since most developers themselves don’t seem to notice/care there’s a problem, bear with me while I answer that question with a few of my own. Have you ever seen a character’s health bar in, umm, any game ever? Do you have fun with hacking/side-puzzle mini-games? Have you ever played a cel-shaded game with an unimaginative color palette? Are you a fan of puzzle games? How about dungeon-crawlers? Do you enjoy picking up color-tiered loot off the floor? I think you get the point. This industry is dominated by three main colors: Red, blue, and green. I’ll give you just one guess (because you smarties won’t need a second) as to which EXACT three colors folks like me have a hard time distinguishing between… Did you guess red, blue, and green? Booyaka… erm, Cowabunga dudes and dudettes, you rock!


They’re making me say WHAT!?
(Photo Courtesy: Nickelodeon)

For those curious, allow me to provide a few specific examples that offer a brief glimpse inside the mind of someone who’s colorblind so that you can better understand my frustration. (Because let’s be honest, you’ve all forced someone else to play the “what color is this?” game at some point. Jerks.) A prime example is BioShock. I love BioShock. I love everything about it. When it came time for the sequel, I was just as excited as the rest of the world. And while some felt let down because the second game failed to match the storytelling of the original, I have a different problem with BioShock 2: I can’t partake in the hacking mini-game. For some reason, the developers (2K, not Irrational) not only decided to replace the previous puzzle system, they went ahead and focused the new hacking game on an entirely red/green/blue color system. A pretty big deal considering I prefer to play games on the hardest difficulty setting and hacking is a key strategic component of battle.


It’s like playing Reverse Russian Roulette. You know, with five in the chamber
(Photo Courtesy: 2K Games)

Another game that plays havoc with my eyes is Borderlands. I’ll start by saying Borderlands 2 did appear to take an active interest in addressing this issue by diversifying the terrain, but that’s more likely due to the fact that many reviewers harped on the first game’s muted color palette. As far as the original Borderlands is concerned, the best parallel I can draw is that the majority of the game is like staring at a stereogram. You know, like those Magic Eye illusions? It’s basically that.


Until an enemy gets this close, the only thing I see is “bland brownish texture”
(Photo Courtesy: 2K Games/Gearbox Software)

While it’s true that many games, at worst, force an inconvenience on me, there are some that prove positively unplayable. These games primarily belong to the Kart-racing and Puzzle genres. I won’t go into details because there are so many, but I will say this: All puzzle games should have a colorblind mode. Not many, not most, all of them. If you are designing a puzzle game, do so with colorblind folks in mind. As for kart-racers, I can understand and appreciate how colorful and whimsical they are. Specifically, I’m a huge fan of both the Mario Kart and Sonic All Stars series. But there’s at least one stage in every game that is downright joyless. (The Coconut Mall and Samba De Amigo stages come to mind.)

So, how can we fix this? A good start would be to change our color combinations. Instead of what we have now, it would make things much easier if we switched to a yellow-blue color system to represent things like health, points of interest, and gameplay dynamics. For those who don’t like yellow, even switching to a red-blue combination would be much easier in most cases. I know, I know, change is scary and it could spell doom for all of gaming. First it’s color changes, then there’s no such thing as RPG’s anymore because they’re too time consuming… But don’t panic, I promise it won’t be so bad. I’m not asking every game from now on to be a black-and-white Film Noir. What I am saying is we need to drop this notion that “green means good, red means bad.” I hear ya folks, “that’s just the way we’ve always done things,” and I get it. But tradition for the sake of tradition is both stupid and literally unreasonable, and when it becomes a problem, it’s time to make a change. Statistically, given that colorblindness is hereditary, it’s only going to affect more people as time goes on; and also given the fact that more people are become gamers, if even only casually at first, this will soon become a (more) serious issue.


Concept art for every game from now on… I’m kidding please don’t hit m-
(Photo Courtesy: DeviantART user Makkon)

At long last, we’ve reached the end of this little tale of mine. If you stayed with me, hats off to you, I hope you found yourself both entertained and informed. If not, at least you killed a few minutes before the next Death Battle gets released… (Apologies, I had to.) As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I’m also left handed; but whereas being colorblind is exclusively a disadvantage, (aside from being a military sniper/spotter) my left-handedness offers me a unique gaming perspective that’s actually changed who I am as a gamer, but I’ll save that for another blog. Tune in next time true believers- same Bat-time, same Bat-channel! Excelsior… or something.