As stated in the previous post, I selected the DB32 palette as the colour palette for my project. The DB32 palette is a palette which uses colours that are selected in such a way to be as multi-purpose as possible. This also means that you have to think about how certain elements work together as in contrast and coherence. One example is how the player character might conflict with the tiles underneath it… or how some shadows change the character design.

Analysis of the DB32 palette

The art style of a programmer

The first version of my game was very simple and had an art style you could place next to a painting from the minimalism movement. I selected a limitation of colours to force myself more into the direction of optimized design creation. This creates an opportunity as a programmer to define “how” my art needs to be created to make the whole project feel like one consistent game. When I finally got the hang of the DB32 palette I was able to define the art style for my project, which will also become the foundation for my future art.

How does this work with colour blindness?

Well… due to the limited palette; which also is limited by its own saturation “nodes”; and by selecting specific designs which are easily recognized we can create a more open way to communicate to the player. A player will easily distinguish a green button from a red/orange one because of the icon drawn on it.

Why directly take colour blindness into account? First of all, if you work it out from the start you don’t have to break your head over it trying to fix everything later on. Next to that, I myself am green/red colour blind and have had my fair share of losing games because I could not comprehend why 2 grey-ish looking blocks would not work together… eventually having a friend tell me those were two different coloured blocks.

A selection of tiles in the game

By making use of very simple shapes the player is able to play the game in black and white and still should be able to complete the level. This way I can ensure that the player is able to play the game without hindrance from colour blindness. This way of designing art is sometimes hard to prepare but once it is defined in the project, it will become a lot easier to create new assets without overlapping between icon designs.

If you have an interest in trying the project, you can send me an e-mail. Do note that I currently only can give alpha access to Android users. And if you don’t have an Android device, why not give me a like instead on Facebook for now?