I will try to attempt an experiment to convey my point. All the images and screenshots in this article have been blurred, in order to reduce them to a simple "blob" of colors.
I've noticed there are 3 broad
categories of colorfulness.
1. Games with a certain color (or color-scheme) woven through them
A good example is Deus Ex: Human
Revolution, which is gold. There are no other games who
do this, and Human Revolution practically owns it.
The combination of Gold and Black is
woven into the fabric of the game, from menus to architecture. Not
every level is gold, of course, but it persists and appears in a lot
of different ways.
Here is a packshot from
Human Revolution, which has been blurred.
And here is an in-game-scene.
Note how the color persists.
Are there more? Well of course!
In Saints Row: The Third, Like in the
aforementioned Human Revolution, one color is woven throughout the
entire game, seen in menus, architecture, clothing, and other
misceallanoues stuff. Unlike Deus Ex, it's not gold, but violet/purple.
Here's Mirror's Edge. It has a unique
combination of white and light-blue
This is always recognizable
as belonging to Mirror's Edge.
Color is such a basic element, you can
structure an entire game around it. Let's take a look at the recent
Hotline Miami.
Look at the neon-pink and neon-cyan. What do
these colors tell us? The contrast tells us this game is set at night
(probably, mostly). It being set a night we can infer it is probably
not a happy-go-lucky mario-esque-platformer. These neon colors are
rarely used in children's entertainment, underlying the adult themes,
perhaps also reminding us of nightclubs. I thought back to 1988-1993,
when pink and cyan were en vogue. This could mean the game is either
set in that period, or alludes to it, and will probably not feature
post-2000-technology.
All this information. Gained from a
single composition of colors. These colors are unique. They belong to
the game, and its aesthetic.
Well, not completely unique. There is
this crappy movie from 1987, whose poster I think was a deliberate basis
for Hotline Miami.
2. Packshots/Titles-Images of games with a unique color
Here's the packshot of Left 4 Dead.
No other packshot uses this color. And
while the dark green is not prominent throughout the actual game, it
does appear, and through the packshot/title a connection is instinctively establiched by the viewer.
Other memorable "Title-Colors" include the stark white-black of Arkham City
And, for a lack of better examples, Left 4 Dead 2
3. Games which fail to establish a color
Another experiment. What do you see?
Packshots of titles
which are highly similar and lack any meaningful or unique identifiers.
These games fail to establish a unique color. They do actually have
some color, but it's mostly Gun-Metal-Grey and Dog-Shit-Brown.
(Clockwise: Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warface, Medal of Honor 2010, Killzone, Gears of War 3)
If you look at these screenshots from afar, you couldn't tell which game they belong to.
(Clockwise: Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warface, Medal of Honor 2010, Killzone, Gears of War 3)
If you look at these screenshots from afar, you couldn't tell which game they belong to.
Conclusion
Looking at the good examples, it is quite
possible to see how a color can be the basis for a game. I keep thinking about centering a game around
"yellow". I have no idea what could come out of it, but it
probably would be interesting and unique.
Not every game has a color. Not every
one has a unique one, which is truly its own. But the successes are recognizable from everywhere. This is an important advantage, and should not be unterestimated.
I'm going to start giving my games colors from now on. I mean more so than usual :P
I'm going to start giving my games colors from now on. I mean more so than usual :P