105 replies to this topic

[Garth Erlam]

Hey guys,

Ever a crusader for the downtrodden, I am endeavoring to ensure that our lasers are colour-coded in a way that those who are red-green colour-blind can see them. I realise there are other colour-blind variants, but at the very least I want to tackle the most common variant.

So, what I need from any of you who are colour blind are (examples of) shades of red and green that you can tell the difference between.

Cheers!

[CoffiNail]

All I have to say to this is WOW what a team to consider the people who are colour-blind. Wonderful news! This truly will be a game for the ages.

[Stahlseele]

Blue and Yellow.
We want Star Wars Lasers!

[Felicitatem Parco]

Here are come links to various Ishihara plate tests for colorblindness. From these links, you should get some useful data, especially if you probe the images with a "color-sampler" paintbrush tool in photoshop.
http://intro.bio.umb...ect/colorblind/

http://www.toledo-be...nd/Ishihara.asp
http://waynesword.pa...du/colorbl1.htm

[DaZur]

While not color blind myself, my older brother was cursed with this affliction, which... honestly amounted to some extremely entertaining wardrobe selections... but I digress.

For my brother the shade of the reds and greens simply amounted to various shadings of brown/beige but the end result still was in the muted browns spectrum and he is unable to differentiate between the two essentially.

Hope that helps.

[Adolphus Kriegsturm]

Dark green and dark red start to look a lot alike to me. In my opinion, a neon green and a light red would be great. And thank you for taking us color-blind people into consideration.

[Dread Render]

Garth, I am guessing you want R.G.B. numbers?
for example (120,120,120) is gray, (0,0,0) is Black, (255,255,255) is White.
(0,0,255) is power Blue, (0,255,0) is power Green, (255,0,0) is power Red and so on.

[Garth Erlam]

Thanks for your input everyone - Mr. Kreigsturm - Can you see traffic lights correctly? My friend gave a suggestion similar to yours, so I'm wondering if those are good hues.

And yes RGB numbers would be hugely helpful.

[Zoberraz]

To increase accessibility, I suggest you try to have tooltips to help get over the hurdle of colorblindness. Colorblindness can vary; some people can see colors, but have difficulty identifying them. So, knowing which is firetruck red and grass lawn green ends up being really useful when it comes to customization.

I know that in League of Legends, I have some trouble identifying friend from foe,especially if the are identical... because a green and red dot/health bar isn't enough to cue me on whether they are friends or opponents. Something more obvious like different symbology, outlines and such could be of help.

Just, don't rely purely on colors to rely important information. If you can do this right, it could save colorblind people a lot of trouble and embarassment (like, sneaking up to do proper spotting on an Atlas, and then open up with a full weapons volley only to realize the Atlas was on your side!)

Edited by Zoberraz, 24 February 2012 - 11:00 AM.

[Garth Erlam]

While I agree - we can't exactly write 'this is a Large Laser shot' on the laser beam, so in this case, it does have to be colour specific. :/

[phelan ward]

I cannot tell the difference between pretty much any shade of red or green. I really don't know what else to tell you here...

[Kenyon Burguess]

i cant tell the difference between really light colors. example: light yellow, tan and white.
i cant tell the difference between really dark colors. example dark blue, purple and black
been that way since i was little and started getting migraines. so whatever colors you choose please keep them in the middle ground of the colors.

[18Rabbit]

As a suggestion, can you just give us an option to set our own colors for beam weapons? It would only affect my display and not what anyone else sees. I would love to have one color setting for each style of beam weapon that I could pick so that I can tell instantly what I'm up against on the field.

[Blackfang]

Well I am red and green colourblind but whilst I can visibly tell the difference quite happily between red and green I end up having difficulties distinquishing between dark reds and browns, and light greens and greys. Giving RGB definitions to these might be very difficult but then I'm guessing being able to distinquish between reds and greens is probably enough to play the game effectively maybe? When you do end up releasing screenshots and videos, whenever that might be, it might be worth putting up a comparison screenshot that shows the different laser shots side by side (if possible) just to see who might have issues and who won't with the current colour setup you are using.

[clutchgetspaid]

I have an issue similar to Mr. Kriegsturm's. But I can make out traffic signals with ease. Past iterations of MechWarrior games and their lasers haven't given me any trouble... that I've noticed anyway.

[Redclaw]

My father is red green colour blind. Traffic lights are a particular source of pain for him, particularly when they are lit up by the sun.

He has always stated that if additional cues were added to the lights, small white lights in the centre, for example, his ability to distinguish them would greatly increase. He would at least know which one was on.

Perhaps a similar approach can be taken with the lasers?A simple sequence of light pulses within the beam's 'core' which is unique from other laser sizes could do the trick? Otherwise, a distinct audio cue may be another solution. The lasers would look the same, but sound slightly different on the firing and receiving ends for each size.

[darkthought]

OMG, TAKE MY MONEY! TAKE ALL OF IT!!!

That was one of my biggest gripes in a couple of the Myst games... color puzzles. Well FU, Cyan.... I CAN'T EVEN SEE CYAN!!!!!

But yes. Reds and greens get a little muddled when they start getting close to each other on the colorwheel. I think a good example of how to deal with it correctly is to look at stop lights. I guess they engineer the red, yellow, green specifically for most forms of Red-Green colorblindness. Basically the red looks brownish, The yellow is starting to turn orange, and the green light looks mostly white to me.

Stick to a green that's starting to move into yellow, and a neon red, or alternately closer to a crimson and there shouldn't be much problem, for me at least.

Wikipedia has a some good articles on the subject actually.

[Stahlseele]

Garth Erlam, on 24 February 2012 - 11:04 AM, said:

While I agree - we can't exactly write 'this is a Large Laser shot' on the laser beam, so in this case, it does have to be colour specific. :/

Well . . why not? O.o
It's a texture, right? o.O
Granted, you'd have to be pretty close to be able to read it, but it would work ^^
Shades of Blue for IS Lasers, the brighter the smaller, the darker the bigger.
Shades of yellow for pulse or clan later on . .

[Suko]

I myself am not color blind, but I have a suggestion.

Why not let the player choose what color specific weapons appear like in the options menu? It would be a universal thing for them, so that all ER lasers could be toggled to appear as X color to them, while the default could apply to everyone else (unless they specified otherwise). I can't see how this would be unfair to anyone and it would give those with colorblindness (of all varieties) the greatest possible solution to their problem.
Edit: Herp Derp, this is exactly what 18Rabbit suggested.

Also, I think it would be helpful to have different laser types have different appearances. Example; Regular lasers could look like the ho-hum traditional laser. ER Lasers could have a wave-like appearance when they fire and Pulse lasers could strobe bright to dim rapidly. These differences, regardless of color, could help a player identify weapons fire more effectively.

Edited by shadowvfx, 24 February 2012 - 11:37 AM.

[Jaybird]

I cannot tell the difference as Red and Green becomes closer in shades. It just so happens that at my last job, being able to distinguish the two was of absolute importance. I figured out ways around it by looking for other associated clues, and in a period of 3 years, I ended up becoming one of the best in the country at what I did. Thank you for this level of customer service and design!