Maximum Color

[sunsethorizons]

In The Matrix, the virtual world was tinted green to help the audience keep track of what world they were in.

Oh my god. I never noticed this before, but the minute I read it I instantly thought back to the movie and realized it was true. Mind is blown.

They did this in Gladiator too: all of the opening in Germania was all tinted blue to make it feel cold and uninviting, and all of Rome had a very yellow filter to give off the dusty, dry, desert feel. Most movies do, and for the most part, we don`t realize it. Which is what makes it so awesome.

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Damnit Shamus, now you made me want to play Jade Empire again. That was a truly beautiful game, remember the pirates' lair? Or the Imperial City? Or the Heaven level? Yeah, it had the graphical finesse of the last console generation, but it still had this weird charm about it. And colors, lots and lots of colors. And an end boss to whom you could surrender and get a corresponding "sacrifice" ending. Lovely game, I DEMAND A SEQUEL!

 

[draythefingerless]

Want me to blow your mind right now?.........

Bioshock, American McGee, Borderlands, and last but not least, Mirrors Edge, all use the Unreal Engine. There are pretty games out there. Its easy to overlook them to promote how bad some others look.

Yeah... those too... well...

Alraight, okay, those game do have more variety in their color schemes, I know, first hand, that they all look great (except Mirrors Edge wich I haven't played it yet and American McGee's wich, well, hasn't been released yet) and I may add Arkham Asylum to that list of yours. Maybe I overreacted saying UE3 in every sentence I wrote, but that wasn't the point, heck, I'm learning how to use the UE3.

I was just saying that we need more color in our gaming lives, not more shades of grey and brown. And for the record, I can't wait for Brink to get released and that game looks like it's going to have some impressive and colorful art assets.

Make no mistake, i dont like the U3 engine that much. Nothing against, just i find other engines prettier and better, as well as easier and much more interesting. This engine is old now. It needs to be replaced, and NOT by another fucking Unreal engine. Theyll just update it with better graphics. like from U2 to U3.

 

[Flyingmind]

You're kidding me right? Crysis 2 was the most bland colorless experience i've ever played.
If you want color in a Crysis game, play the first one.

 

[Lazyjim]

Brink looks to be positioning itself in the colourful shooter lineup. I really like the Hyperealistic exaggerated art-style they went with.

But yeah totally agree, more inventive use of colour in games please.

 

[raankh]

I agree that Crysis 2 is unusually good looking and colourful for a DX9 game.

But I'd preferred if they'd have spent that cash on actual gameplay instead. The entirety of Crysis 2 plays like the less-than-stellar parts of the first games, in my opinion.

Sure, colour it up, but pretty graphics does not make for a good game-- however creative the lighting or contrasts be. In my opinion as a gamer, most major studios are just doing it plain wrong. Once they have the gameplay and mechanics there, they should start thinking about artwork, not this cinema-style production that seems to be going on with most major releases today. Everything is conceputalized and story-boarded; gameplay is molded to fit visual styles rather than the other way around. Even the players actions are molded to visual styles through quick-time events and heavy-handed scripting. Crysis 2 is a great example of just that; Bulletstorm springs to mind as well. Everything is a gimmick, more or less-- I suppose that's what designers convince themselves "gameplay elements" are.

At least that's the feel I get from these games. Colour isn't going to help, at least not in my case. I'm going to pick up Brink when it releases, but I'm anticipating dissapointment by forcing myself through Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm while mumbling under my breath....

What I'm most sore about is that I bought those games, thus I'm involuntarily supporting these developers and might contribute to them thinking they've got it right. I constitute a "succesful sale" in their view, no doubt. OC, I'm unlikely to buy any more games from People Can Fly or CryTek, but see if they care....

 

[Xanadu84]

Excellent points, and I suspect that the only reason excellent use of color didn't lead to a shout out to Mirrors Edge is because that is an ENTIRE article unto itself.

The thing that depresses me is that, however much I love watching Yahtzees videos, odds are he is going to call it a, "Brown and Grey Shooter". After watching his criticism of Bulletstorm, I suspect that in a shooter, he won't call the game colorful unless its made out of care bears vomiting rainbows.

 

[repeating integers]

I'm more interested in the Crysis series now.

From what I'd heard, it just used its graphics to render the colour green over and over again, which I suppose is better than brown, but still. But from the posts on this thread and Shamus' article, it looks colourful and nice.

And I like colour in games.

Spoiler

Also: I know good graphics are just a bonus, but they are a damn nice bonus. Look at the Battlefield 3 trailers. Never before have I seen "realistic war" look so good.

 

[Nurb]

*I'm talking about George Lucas, the filmmaker who was active in the 70's and 80's,

At the time Lucas was surrounded by directors, writers and editors to channel his creative mind into good films. If he had total control like he did with the prequels, the original trilogy would have failed.

"I think one of the problems... is the fact that [Lucas] doesn't have more people around him who really challenge him"
- Gary Kurtz
This had been evident to most of us after TPM released, though I confirmed it when I found a website cataloging deleted scenes from the original trilogy. Irving Kirschner was responsible for rejecting a ? get this ? Wampa subplot in The Empire Strikes Back. Kirschner probably argued limited time and money couldn?t justify an elective and questionable sequence, and he won the argument. Incredible resources and total control fifteen years later, on the other hand, brought us something like the Gungan sea-monkey kingdom.

"Special effects are a tool. A means to tell the story. People have a tendancy to confuse them as the ends themselves. A special effect without a story is a pretty boring thing."
- George Lucas, early 80's (wait, HE said that?)

 

[HerbertTheHamster]

Crysis 2 hurts my eyes though.

SO MUCH BLOOM

 

[BloodSquirrel]

I agree, whats the point of spending millions on a new game engine that can render the most beautiful 16.7 million colours the human eye can perceive if all its going to render is grey and brown?

Actually, it is because of a limitation of those engines. Keeping the color range narrow and very washed-out hides a lot of flaws and limitations in your rendering. One big thing that could be gained from next-gen hardware would be enough graphical power to throw color around more easily.

 

[Tonimata]

I noticed the movie Sucker Punch did something similar, using dark, faded out colouring in "reality" and a much more vibrant, colour filled palette in the bourdel scenes, then going all out in the fantastic battles. It's so masterfully crafter that I was sorry I didn't bring a camera into the cinema to take still frame pictures and then hang them all over my room.

 

[Dastardly]

Experienced Points: Maximum Color

Shamus wants more games to use color like Crysis 2

Read Full Article

Color is one of those elements that cannot happen accidentally, and that's why it usually doesn't. If the people creating your characters and the people creating your environments aren't communicating specifically about color schemes and motifs, it's just not going to work out. Either everyone decides to make their pet projects "pop" with vibrant colors, making the game look like someone coated the world with Skittles and cocaine, or everyone plays it safe, and you end up with nine shades of brown.

I think the other issue is that artists are afraid that highly-saturated, contrasting colors will ruin the realism of a game environment. People don't go to war in marching band uniforms, right? The problem is that the game world lacks a lot of the other visual cues that helps us parse out all the information we receive into an coherent picture of reality. Bland worlds may "look" real, but they don't feel real, because we're not getting the same sense of visual comprehension the real world gives us.

Textures are important, don't get me wrong. We've come light years on making sure different surfaces "feel" different in games. But I agree that this has just caused us to ignore the more basic elements that are basic for a reason--they're the foundation, not an afterthought.

 

[wonkify]

I'm with you here, Shamus. I am at the point now that I cringe a little every time I read a "we're developing our own engine..." My vision isn't that great and the fidelity we have in graphics now gives me all I can use or really appreciate.

More development $$$ poured into incremental increases doesn't pay off for me. As long as I look forward at a screen, no peripheral vision cues, the graphics hit a ceiling for me to benefit from.

Color intensity, dynamics and artwork last longer in my awareness.

Plus once I'm on the ride in a game, my focus invariably narrows to my target or goal of the moment. The grays and browns all muddle to invisibility, no matter how photo realistic they might be.

Here's hoping that trend has peaked and LESS realistic looking and colorful environments are being recognized as more fun to look at and play within.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Actually, it is because of a limitation of those engines. Keeping the color range narrow and very washed-out hides a lot of flaws and limitations in your rendering. One big thing that could be gained from next-gen hardware would be enough graphical power to throw color around more easily.

Game engines are right now at the time and level to render colour as easily as brown and grey. The engine THQ uses for its upcoming Space Marine game, the game itself is dark and gritty, but compare the surrounding features to the stark blue of the Ultramarines armour.

If your using grey and brown to hide the flaws in your games, then I must wonder about the many games released over the last 7 or 8 years that used alot of brown and grey to hide all the game's problems.