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Colorblindness. See OP for list. Realistic camouflage a little too realistic!

joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class TraitorSmoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
edited January 2011 in Games and Technology
colorblind1.jpg

Do you see something in this picture? Because I don't see a god damn thing.

Okay, so I just bitched about this in the MGS thread, but I feel this issue deserves more exposure.

10% or more of the population of Earth have this disorder called colorblindness. I didn't make this thread to bitch about my genetic inability to see certain colors, but to bitch about the game companies that make red/green color schemes in their games with the knowledge that there are literally hundreds of millions of people with color deficiencies.

Now before I go any further, there are companies out there that are fucking awesome and specifically program modes into their games to help colorblind people. These people are kings among men. For instance:
peggleprecolorblind-550x.jpg

Peggle. Brilliant mindless fun, right? Well, if you can't see which pegs are red or green, then you're just spewing random balls hoping that the one you aimed for isn't going to boff up your strategy. But PopCap did something great:
pegglepostcolorblind-550x.jpg

Amazing. Not only are the colors more vibrant, you can easily tell at a glance which pegs are which because they have symbols on them.

Metal Gear Solid is what inspired this thread, so let's go there:
a_med_5.jpg

How many enemies/instant kill deathtraps are there in this picture? Hell if I know!


The above picture is more vivid than what appears on my television. Now I know MGS3 is an old game, but it's a perfect example of the kind of thing that really gets on my tits. There are instant death traps scattered throughout this game, and your progress is gone if you trigger one. They're sort of difficult to see if you aren't colorblind, since the whole point is that they blend into the woods around you. But as a colorblind person, you just get to stumble through the woods and hope you don't die randomly.

Add to this that the whole point of this game is to be camouflaged with the woods and you have a recipe for colorblind disaster. Something that should be a fun challenge becomes ridiculous. Solid Snake is now a brown colorblind mutant in a sea of brown trees, brown enemies and brown deathtraps. Now I'm not asking for a big fuchsia arrow pointing down with the word, "DEATHTRAP!" on it every time one appears, but maybe a shit-licking color other than green or brown would be nice every once in a while. How about a colorblind option in the menu for thin blue stripes across enemies? How about a black outline around the instant deathtraps? How about anything other than brown motherfucking blobs everywhere? If I crawl Solid Snake into the ass of another brown soldier I swear I'm gonna choke a turd.

Now, in an action/stealth game like Metal Gear Solid, they had a small excuse: realism. Puzzle games don't have jack shit. How many puzzle games have come out in the past decade with a colorblind help option that weren't put out by PopCap? Three? Four? There's no crap-eating excuse for this turd-burgling bullshit anymore. If another "award-winning", "editor's choice" puzzle game comes out without a colorblind option I'm going to hunt the lead designer through a jungle, sneak up behind him and donkeypunch him in the back of the head before stabbing him repeatedly. If I don't crawl into his ass or a deathtrap first.
215542652_yhG2g-L-2.jpg

List of games with colorblind relevance (made with the colorblind in mind!):

If you want me to add games to the OP, do the following:

!Cyan (game name)
!Yellow (game name)
!Red (game name)

Along with a description of why it belongs there in that category, if applicable.

I might still catch your post asking to put a game in the OP if you don't follow the above format, and if that happens I won't be a little bitch and make you repost it, but pleeeease try to use this so it will catch my eye. It will make things easier for me and for you.


Cyan = Even footing for everyone, whether that means a colorblind help mode or no colorblind mode necessary due to intentional game design

Yellow = Somewhat helpful, but possibly still troublesome in some way

Red = Avoid, this game is specifically or potentially difficult for colorblind people

Most PopCap games are easily playable by the colorblind, so I'm only going to list those that specifically have the colorblind mode.
THE LIST

Alpha Centauri
Astropop
Atomica
Audiosurf
Bad Company 2
Battlefield 2142
Bioshock 2 (hacking patch)
Borderlands
Bust A Move
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Call of Duty: World At War
Catan
Chuzzle
Civilization 3
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3
DEFCON
Dragon Age: Origins
Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine
Earth Defense Force 2017
The Fifa series
Flowerz
Final Fantasy X (Fuuuuuuuuuck the butterfly minigame)
Guitar Hero 3 (some fretboards)
Harvest: Massive Encounter
Heroes of Might and Magic DS
Hexic
Left 4 Dead (PC only)
The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis
Lost Cities
Madworld
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Meteos
Monster Hunter Tri
Overlord 1
Peggle
Peggle Nights
Perfect Dark
Perfect Dark Zero -- (but don't play this game regardless)
Puzzle Fighter HD
Puzzle Pirates
Puzzle Quest
Rise of Legends
Shadow Complex
Table Tennis
Team Fortress 2 (PC only)
Tropico 3
The Void
Trism
Ticket to Ride
Touhou 12 (fan-made patch)
World of Warcraft
Zuma's Revenge

joshofalltrades on
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Posts

  • Big ClassyBig Classy Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    That is weird and both scary. MGS3 was completely unplayable for me because I couldn't see the freaking crocodiles. At all. I don't know if it's because my t.v was shit (probably) or if I'm actually colorblind (probably not). I mean, I can see the number 2 clearly in the big icon up there and have no trouble with any other game. I put it down to MGS3 simply being completely shite in that regard. For the record, I was using a sdtv.

    Big Classy on
  • rayofashrayofash Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    My monitor can't display red. I can't see a thing either :( .

    I feel your pain!

    rayofash on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Big Isy wrote: »
    That is weird and both scary. MGS3 was completely unplayable for me because I couldn't see the freaking crocodiles. At all. I don't know if it's because my t.v was shit (probably) or if I'm actually colorblind (probably not). I mean, I can see the number 2 clearly in the big icon up there and have no trouble with any other game. I put it down to MGS3 simply being completely shite in that regard. For the record, I was using a sdtv.

    I can't see anything no matter how I adjust things on my HDTV. I can't see the crocs either, but mercifully they only show up in a few screens and once you know they are there, they generally stay in the same place. Not so with the brown blob guards who always see me coming before I even know they exist.

    joshofalltrades on
  • RemingtonRemington Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Got I hate being a colorblind gamer. I can't see a single motherfucker in Modern Warfare 2. Bad Company 2, on the other hand is a-ok.

    Remington on
  • StokedUpStokedUp Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I am color blind but ive never had issues with video games though. Or i guess i dont know if ive had issues since im colorblind! DAMNIT! DAAAAAMN ITTTTT!

    StokedUp on
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  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I don't know how accurate this is, but the right side is supposed to be how a colorblind person sees Puzzle Fighter.

    ars_puzzlefighter_colorblind.jpg

    joshofalltrades on
  • RemingtonRemington Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    they look nearly exactly the same to me. Not perfect though.

    Remington on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Same here, that's why I couldn't tell you how accurate it is. It's meant to be seen by people who aren't colorblind.

    joshofalltrades on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    By the way gaming companies: purple is related to red. It's also one of the colors I have the most trouble with. Blue and purple next to each other with a similar brightness? They're the same damn thing to me. Figure this out already.

    joshofalltrades on
  • StokedUpStokedUp Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Ah me its mostly my reds and greens. But that puzzle fighter shot doesnt make sense. The left one is fine ( i can see the reds, greens and yellows fine) but the right one just seems blurryish.

    Were not blind people just have trouble with some colors.

    StokedUp on
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    Uploaded SC2 Replays
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Well, if you're nearsighted as well like I am, it would also be blurryish.

    Damn I am a mutant. My eyes are so bad.

    joshofalltrades on
  • FuriousJodoFuriousJodo Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I think quite a few SC2 commentators and such have had similar issues, and they just kind of guess what color the players are or something.

    FuriousJodo on
    FuriousJodo on Twitch/PSN/XBL/Whatever else
  • PaperLuigi44PaperLuigi44 My amazement is at maximum capacity. Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Wow, I never really gave this much thought, but stuff like that Peggle solution shows how simple it can be to solve the issue.

    Also, I imagine Mirror's Edge would be another game that would be difficult to play.

    PaperLuigi44 on
  • BarrakkethBarrakketh Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    This is an issue for Touhou 12. Colored UFOs are the main resource system, which made things difficult for colorblind people. There was a fan-made patch for this, though:

    cb-comparison.png

    IIRC ZUN added an option for this in one of the updates, but the results weren't as good for some people as the fan patch.

    Barrakketh on
    Rollers are red, chargers are blue....omae wa mou shindeiru
  • undeinPiratundeinPirat Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Mirror's Edge -- Just follow the red stuff!

    undeinPirat on
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] steam: undeinpirat
  • PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Apparently Valve cares about colorblind people. Both TF2 and L4D have a colorblind mode. I don't know if the one in L4D does anything other than change the colors of some things, but in TF2 the colorblind mode puts icons above players hit by jarate.

    Peewi on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Valve is awesome in so many ways. That just adds one thing to the list.

    joshofalltrades on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    ITT camouflage works on joshofalltrades.

    Henroid on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Henroid wrote: »
    ITT camouflage works on joshofalltrades.

    Who said that

    Show yourself

    joshofalltrades on
  • Lord_AsmodeusLord_Asmodeus goeticSobriquet: Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    StokedUp wrote: »
    Ah me its mostly my reds and greens. But that puzzle fighter shot doesnt make sense. The left one is fine ( i can see the reds, greens and yellows fine) but the right one just seems blurryish.

    Were not blind people just have trouble with some colors.

    The right one and the left one look exactly the same except for the different colors to me, it might be blurry if I wasn't wearing my glasses though...

    Lord_Asmodeus on
    Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
  • ScottyScotty Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Being colorblind myself, I feel your frustration.
    It also sucks as an artist, because I have to ask my wife if certain colours look right when I paint something.:?

    Scotty on
  • Kris_xKKris_xK Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Thats one of the things that impressed me in Dragon Age; there were a ton of modes and options to cater to different playing styles, including some colorblind options.

    And you get a dog!

    Kris_xK on
    calvinhobbessleddingsig2.gif
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Cooking meat is another area of difficulty for me. I need to invest in a meat thermometer for when the wife isn't around to tell me, "Hey, that's raw."

    I'm trying MGS3 again after throwing things at the dog while pretending he is Hideo Kojima. I haven't succumbed to any more traps yet but that's because I'm crawling every god damn where and checking every foot of forest floor like some obsessive compulsive retard. This is ridiculous. I just want to get done with it so I can move onto MGS4.

    joshofalltrades on
  • RentRent I'm always right Fuckin' deal with itRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I don't see a god damn thing
    the kind of thing that really gets on my tits.
    maybe a shit-licking color other than green or brown would be nice every once in a while
    How about anything other than brown motherfucking blobs everywhere?
    Puzzle games don't have jack shit.
    There's no crap-eating excuse for this turd-burgling bullshit anymore.
    I'm going to hunt the lead designer through a jungle, sneak up behind him and donkeypunch him in the back of the head before stabbing him repeatedly. If I don't crawl into his ass or a deathtrap first.

    Let's Play Metal Gear Solid 3

    Rent on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Henroid wrote: »
    ITT camouflage works on joshofalltrades.

    Who said that

    Show yourself

    bartzavcamo.png

    Henroid on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Henroid wrote: »
    Henroid wrote: »
    ITT camouflage works on joshofalltrades.

    Who said that

    Show yourself

    bartzavcamo.png

    Hahahaha

    I was in kind of a foul mood until this

    Well played

    joshofalltrades on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Happy to oblige! :3

    I remember some years ago, back when I still lived in California, one of my friends would randomly screw up when we played Bust-a-Move. One day he said, "I hate having to look at the symbols" or something to that effect, and when I asked him why he has to look at them he told me he's colorblind. But the game offered a means for colorblind folks to play by having symbols inside the spheres, which was great I thought.

    Henroid on
  • PolloDiabloPolloDiablo Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Valve is awesome, I like that they have colorblind modes.

    My favorite example of terrible color use comes from Splinter Cell: Double Agent. Granted, Ubisoft is obviously shit in general, but in the previous game your visibility was measured by a simple meter; the higher it goes, the easier you are to see. Double Agent replaced that lovely meter with a little light that would change hue as you got more visible. The end result was I never had any fucking clue if people would see me or not. Made that fucking game way harder than it should have been.

    The Void is really interesting, but completely unplayable. Oh well, wasted that money.

    Playing local multiplayer on the Fifa series, each player is marked by a small colored triangle. Who is which color? Fucked if I know. I don't know how many times I've been watching someone with the ball run in a really retarded direction, only to be told that that idiot is me.

    I hate Sword of the Stars, because so much shit in that depends on various meters which are light shades of red and green. Can't see dick.

    The infuriating thing with this shit is it would be so easy to fix if companies gave it a moment of thought. In Fifa, instead of colors, how about a number corresponding to which player it is? Player 1 gets a 1 over his head. Stop using red and green as the sole signifier of good and bad. The Void I guess wouldn't change easily, but for simple UI shit there is no excuse at all for fucking colorblind people in the ass.

    PolloDiablo on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    The first game I remember giving me trouble is Tetris on the PC way back in the day. I had to get used to adjusting the L pieces in my head when they appeared, and my mom said that she just looked at the color, and it was easy. She's the bitch who gave me the colorblind genes in the first place, though. The version we had, one was green and the other was red. I said something like, "They're different colors?" We went and got me tested soon after that.

    joshofalltrades on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    The Void is really interesting, but completely unplayable. Oh well, wasted that money.

    Oh so much lime

    joshofalltrades on
  • RentRent I'm always right Fuckin' deal with itRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    On a serious note I'm technically R/G colorblind but I'm able to see colors just fine, I just have difficulty with those "are you colorblind?" tests and have to differentiate between different shades of blue and green and stuff

    Also I'm technically blind in one eye

    Basically josh I can sympathize

    Rent on
  • HenroidHenroid Mexican kicked from Immigration Thread Centrism is Racism :3Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    The first game I remember giving me trouble is Tetris on the PC way back in the day. I had to get used to adjusting the L pieces in my head when they appeared, and my mom said that she just looked at the color, and it was easy. She's the bitch who gave me the colorblind genes in the first place, though. The version we had, one was green and the other was red. I said something like, "They're different colors?" We went and got me tested soon after that.

    I actually ignore the colors in Tetris. For some reason the shapes stand out to me way more. Especially 'cause the colors change stage to stage. Though I'm talking about the NES version, I don't think many other versions change colors as you progress. In fact, the GB and NES versions are the only two Tetris games I've played.

    Henroid on
  • Hahnsoo1Hahnsoo1 Make Ready. We Hunt.Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I'm not colorblind, so the closest experience I have to playing Metal Gear with indistinguishable colors is trying to play Metal Gear Peace Walker in direct sunlight on my PSP-1000. The 1000s have less vibrant colors and the screen isn't good at cutting out outside glare, so the net effect is that it's nearly impossible to see most of the details in the jungle scenes (including patrolling soldiers).

    My solution was equipping Night Vision Goggles at all times. It increased the contrast between critical items and the background items, as all of the critical items (soldiers, item boxes, claymores, etc.) glowed brightly and their silhouettes are easy to distinguish. While I prefer to play Peace Walker indoors, I also like to play it on my commute (which generally is sunny and bright in California). It's annoying to not have other items, but at least it's playable.

    After all that... I wonder if Night Vision Goggles would help you out in your situation? The first time you can receive them is in the cave system before The Pain, I think.

    Hahnsoo1 on
    CSPOhhO.png
  • jclastjclast Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I am also near-sighted and red-green deficient. I'm weird though. I can kinda-sorta see the 2 at the top, but I can clearly tell the red gems from the green gems in the Puzzle Fighter screen. I imagine mine aren't as vibrant as others folks, but I'm glad I can tell them apart.

    jclast on
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  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited July 2010
    God dammit

    The End is a master of camouflage!

    joshofalltrades on
  • gtrmpgtrmp Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    In DEFCON, there are six colors on the map, each one representing a different player: red, blue, turquoise, yellow, green, and orange. As far as I can see them during the actual game, the teams are colored as red, blue, light blue, and three slightly different shades of chartreuse.

    gtrmp on
  • HelloweenHelloween Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    I can see fine, however I have a friend who has this exact problem.

    He always said Dr Robotnicks mean bean machine was a right cunt to play with me.

    Nintendos old puzzle game was good about it though, the one with yoshi in. Tetris attack i think its called. They had shapes on the blocks as well as colours.

    edit: this thing

    tetrisattack.jpg

    Helloween on
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  • RemingtonRemington Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    The first game I remember giving me trouble is Tetris on the PC way back in the day. I had to get used to adjusting the L pieces in my head when they appeared, and my mom said that she just looked at the color, and it was easy. She's the bitch who gave me the colorblind genes in the first place, though. The version we had, one was green and the other was red. I said something like, "They're different colors?" We went and got me tested soon after that.

    Th...they're different colors?

    Remington on
  • MikeManMikeMan Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    Fun fact!

    Most mammals are dichromatic, meaning they can distinguish only two colors. This is owing to our ancient history, when we were mostly nocturnal 100 or so million years ago. To a nocturnal animal the ability to distinguish colors is not necessary. Those of us mammals (mostly the primates, including humans) who CAN see colors have since regained this ability by evolving trichromatic eyes in the last couple dozen or so million years. The ability to see color is incredibly useful in distinguishing various fruits and plants in the jungle, so it's easy to see why we would regain this ability.

    Lizards, on the other hand, are trichromatic and can distinguish colors. Which means, since we share a common ancestor with lizards, that we have alternately evolved, lost, and then evolved again the ability to see more than two colors.

    The more you know!

    So a small consolation to our colorblind gamers is that you are merely, owing to a mutation, joining the ranks of the vast majority of our mammalian brethren!

    Which probably doesn't make you feel better, but there it is.

    MikeMan on
  • undeinPiratundeinPirat Registered User regular
    edited July 2010
    this thread is making me feel so spoiled for being able to see colors correctly

    my friend is colorblind, but i just have to tell him when things are pink when he thinks they are red

    undeinPirat on
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