Attack the green one! ...Wait, which one is the green one?

When I was in first grade I was diagnosed with red/green colorblindness. There's nothing really severe about it, I just occasionally have a hard time differentiating between red and green. OK, so maybe I've been asked about what a certain color is more than I'd care to think about, but apart from that, it's never really affected my life.

The same holds true for video games. In the 20 or so years I've been a gamer, I never had a problem with a game's color pallet. However, that all changed when I played the HD remix version of Super Puzzle Fighter II. I was familiar with the game as it was a staple of arcades and pizza places during my childhood. But when I played this new version I was suddenly put at an extreme disadvantage against my opponents as I could not tell the difference between the red blocks and the green blocks. This problem was never present in previous versions of the game, so it must have been the HD up-scaling that turned an enjoyable game into an unplayable one. It was the first time I ever remember wishing there was a colorblind option in a game.

Well it seems like my wish is starting to come true. I've noticed that more and more games are offering an option to make the color pallet of the game more colorblind friendly. In particular three of the games on my computer come equipped with the option: Peggle, Left 4 Dead, and World of Warcraft.

While I appreciate having the choice in these games the only time I've ever actually needed to check the colorblind box was in Peggle. The color scheme in Peggle was almost impossible for me to comprehend. The green pegs blended in with the orange ones, and it took me forever to find the purple peg amidst all the blue ones. Let me show you what I mean:

Here is a picture from Peggle on normal settings. One who has the proper number of red and green cones in their eyes would probably have no trouble discriminating the differences between peg colors. But here's an approximation of how I see it:

It's the exact same picture run through an image filter designed to simulate a person with Deuteranopia red/green colorblindness, which I believe is the type I have. The filter should work right if you have trouble finding the green pegs among the orange ones. There's a small chance this is the wrong filter, but since both images look identical to me, I'll assume I picked the right one.

As you can see, it makes sense for Peggle to have a colorblind option. Like Puzzle Fighter I have a hard time discerning colors. Adding icons that show what each peg is makes the game exponentially more playable.

But what about the other two games I listed? To be honest, I don't find a colorblind mode in either L4D or WoW any more useful than when the mode is turned off. Left 4 Dead is simply too dark and has too much of a stone gray color scheme to pose any color threat. Here's the difference between normal and colorblind modes:

The only real change I can see is the tint of the health bar. Any other silhouettes or set pieces appear to be virtually unchanged. Even if this colorblind mode might be for a different type of colorblindness than what I have, the fact remains that I find this option in Left 4 Dead less necessary than a game like Peggle. The same can be said of World of Warcraft. Each color is vibrant enough, I easily recognize the reds and the greens. The plethora of addons that allow a player to customize their interface also helps in color discriminating.

So why is colorblind mode more important in games like Peggle and Puzzle Figher and less important in L4D and WoW? One idea might be the fact that more emphasis is placed on color in some games than in others. In Peggle, you're supposed to hit every orange peg in order to win, while in Puzzle Fighter, matching colors is vital to defeating your opponent. In L4D, you're not supposed to hit only the green zombies. You're supposed to hit anything that's moving towards you in a menacing manner regardless of color. There is always the possibility that these colorblind modes are not for red/green colorblindness, but I doubt the results will be any different.

Of course, these are only four games I've mentioned so far. There may be a game out there that's not a color-matching casual game that would benefit greatly from a colorblind mode. If you know of one, leave a comment. I think it's great games are now starting to offer these kinds of options. I'd just like to see them implemented in more useful ways.

In other news, my research on cinematics in video games is going quite nicely! In fact, I may even be co-author of a poster exhibiting my research at this year's SIGGRAPH conference! More on this story as it develops.