17 replies to this topic

[SweetJackal]

For those of you that missed the Townhall a very important feature got talked about: Color blind mode. Tina got tasked with figuring out what is the problem so I'm hoping this lesson on the science behind color will help with figuring out just what is going on. Note: I am not colorblind.

A common form of colorblindness is Red-Green colorblindness. Please consult the light diagram below.



As the name implies this form of color blindness removes the ability to see the Red-Green axis, which takes yellow out as a causality as well. Illumination is still seen, just that the colors are washed out and without a difference between them. See the the diagram below:




So the problem exists within the UI of Inner Sphere mechs. The entirety of the HUD is displayed within the Red-Green color axis. Example below:




This design sets the entirety of the HUD to be washed out and lacking the vital information provided by color and lacking contrast between elements. The HUD becomes hard to see, the information it provides hard to notice and it can be white noise to the rest of the visuals for the game. Imagine the entire HUD displayed being different shades of grey.

So how do you fix this? You add more blue elements and contrasts between UI elements. Even better, this style is already in the game, example below:



Clan Mechs shifted their HUD colors from the Red-Green axis to the Red-Blue axis while using white as a contrast color instead of differing shades of yellow. Though Red elements of the HUD would be washed out in grey they have significantly less presence and don't have any overlap with other elements of the HUD. This could be improved further, mind you, such as replacing the Red-Black contrast of the weapon cooldown timer and heat indicator with Red-Blue.

I do hope this is of assistance to players and designers alike. Comments and insights are welcome.

[Karl Streiger]

FIRST:
CLICK SEARCH TEXT FIELD - ABOVE RIGHT
ENTER: COLORBLIND
HIT: ENTER
VOILA dozens of topics about it - some did start in !!!!November 2012!!!
Its not new I'm really pissed off about this ignorance - sry.

---

OK back to a more constructive approach:

Its not only the contrast of the HUD - but its the combination of HUD colors and maps.

Red Triangles behind walls or hills on Forest Colony or Caustic - i don't see them fast enough - while on Terra Therma i don't have those problems.
Blue on Blue - Canyon network the blue triangles over friendly mechs have the same color as the sky - when the gauss round hit your back its accident is based on missing color information

the problem there is no "general" fix - a example WoT - always used color blind mode -but disabled it on snow maps - because again the blue on white was not visible.

Edited by Karl Streiger, 16 April 2015 - 11:04 PM.

[UwasaWaya]

It's not as complex as all that. Honestly, a key to toggle between IS green and Clan blue would solve most of the issue... going further, a contrasting border around HUD assets would help, as would changing the missile door light, the damage readout, range indicators, seismic readings and targeting boxes to a blue -> red/yellow gradient.

Or, ya know, just let us set the colors, though that might be too complex.

[FireDog]

I thought the bright green of the MW4 hud worked very well, just as the previous post noted. Just swap the IS amber hud to a IS green hud. Better yet, just give the players a choice of colors like some auto manufactures do today. Thanks...

[parman01]

How do you fix this? Make RGB sliders (or colorwheel if you're fancy) in the options menu to allow users pick their own HUD color. TADAAAA. Problem fixed. It's not exactly rocket science (IIRC oldie UT99 already had this feature) nor will it make mechs somehow OP.

[Shinikake]

If you want more information on colour blindness:

http://www.colormatt...color-blindness

Also here is a test (also referenced in the previous link):
http://www.colour-bl...ur-test-plates/

[BattleBunny]

I have trouble seeing how damaged I really am. I am very colorblind and basically can only see if there is armor. not how much. Once the armor is gone the component is "open" but I have very little idea how damaged it is at any time.

MW4 had an elegant solution to this:

Damage information was given by colors



or health bars



You could simply choose which one you preferred.

Please make this happen in MWO! I want to know how damaged I am! or how damaged my opponent is!

[Joseph Mallan]

Protanope looks like the MechWarrior main palette to me!

[Sarlic]

I got my hearing tag! Now it's up to other nice folks to get their idea's running!

[Spheroid]

The easiest solution to armor diagram problem would be to implement an optional HTAL bar graphic instead of a paper doll.

Edited by Spheroid, 18 April 2015 - 10:25 AM.

[Appogee]

Surely it would be simple enough to give the player a color slider to make HUD information whatever colour they liked?

Edited by Appogee, 18 April 2015 - 10:32 AM.

[stjobe]

Appogee, on 18 April 2015 - 10:31 AM, said:

Surely it would be simple enough to give the player a color slider to make HUD information whatever colour they liked?

It's not quite that simple. The HUD is made up of several colours, most of them on the red-green scale referenced above (including several different shades of red and yellow). There's also some blue (e.g. non-lance team mates) and cyan (lance team mates).

There would have to be several sliders, but I don't see that as a problem.

Do it, and implement HTAL bars for those who need them (the current colour-based one makes little sense as it is).

Edited by stjobe, 18 April 2015 - 12:52 PM.

[Appogee]

stjobe, on 18 April 2015 - 12:52 PM, said:

There would have to be several sliders, but I don't see that as a problem.

That's what I had in mind. Mix the color balance to whatever works for whichever version of color impairedness you have.

At the end of the day, the color of each HUD item is set by a single value in the code. If you make that value a variable, you can make the HUD item whatever color you want.

Sure, there is a little work involved in recoding what is probably a hard-coded value at the moment into a variable, and the UI would need to have another tab added.

Edited by Appogee, 18 April 2015 - 12:59 PM.

[Deathpactt]

I am colorblind and its realy realy hard for me to see visible targets triangle on their top. It would be realy cool to change it to dunna blue? yellow? anything but red or redish like purple.

[Xetelian]

I'm red/green color blind.

The paperdoll has shades and colors I can't interpret.

Edited by Xetelian, 18 April 2015 - 02:30 PM.

[LORD TSARKON]

There is a gene Therapy Cure for Color Blindness for years... unfortunately only monkeys get it right now...

Human trials are going to happen sometime this year supposedly...

The way and how long it takes PGI to fix things there will be cures for Color blindness before implementation of HUD colors in the game....

[Sarlic]

http://mwomercs.com/...lor-blind-mode/

[JohnnyWayne]

Xetelian, on 18 April 2015 - 02:29 PM, said:

I'm red/green color blind.

The paperdoll has shades and colors I can't interpret.

What about nightvision? Friend of mine can't use it because of the green....