Color in Path of Exile

Color in Path of Exile


Is that a shrub? Oh wait, that's me.

I have noticed while playing Path of Exile that it is fairly difficult to distinguish between the player, the enemies, and the environment. I believe this is due to the fact that most everything in the game shares similar hues and or tonal values. Before I go into this, please note that I do NOT want this game to be bright and cheery. It is a common misconception that one must leave the dark and dreary and go into bright and cartoony to make things stand out. Something can still be colorful without turning into World of Warcraft.

Grim dark with COLOR

One does not need to be a rocket scientist to look back and see that Blizzard did a lot right with Diablo and Diablo 2. On the art side, one thing they managed was to find the perfect balance with color between the sprites and the background environment. Just as a quick overview, here are two screenshots

http://gamesareevil.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/000911diabloII1.jpg

http://cdn.manapool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Path-of-Exile-4.jpg

The first screenshot is from Diablo 2. In this screen you can clearly see each enemy and player distinguishable from each other as well as from the background. The second screenshot is obviously from Path of Exile. In this screen, everything has a very similar color and tone. It is hard to tell what is going on here. The players are all blending in with the dead enemies on the ground as well as the environment around them.

So what makes the characters stand out from the background in the Diablo 2 screenshot and what is causing Path of Exiles characters to blend in? Diablo 2's sprites use much more vibrant hues as well as very different tonal values (much more saturated) relative to the background which is more washed (unsaturated) out and atmospheric. The sprites are also very high contrast. On the flipside, Path of Exile's player models, mob models, and background all share the same unsaturated look. This causes a lot of trouble differentiating between player and background.

Fixing the problem may be a bit of trouble as it would requiring reskinning many assets already in place. But here is a quick fix on photoshop to get a general idea of what the game would look like with more vibrant models while still in the dark and dreary world of Path of Exile

http://img808.imageshack.us/img808/1239/vibrant.jpg

Obviously the colors could use a bit of work but it's just a quick mockup.

EDIT: Just in case anyone else is having the same feeling towards this as David, here is my response and a bit more clarification. Take from it what you will

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David11 wrote:

I cannot possibly disagree more with the OP. I was very much impressed by the current color and art style of the game. Finally something that's not about running rainbows and retarded cartoon figures.


Diablo II looked so much worse then the original Diablo because it lost it's dark gloomy atmosphere. It was more popular because of new features like BattleNet and such, but Diablo I artistically was so much better in every way.


This game is not like either of the above mentioned Blizzard titles. It has it's own magic with this wild forsaken continent of horror. I hope the art style stays the same and we won't see pink and blue helmets everywhere.


Also how can you say you cannot distinguish your character from enemies? I honestly cannot believe anyone has this issue when the detail is so high on both characters and enemies.


It like saying in an Alien vs Predator game asking to make Aliens purple and pink because it's hard for you to see them in the dark.

First, you have to remember that not everyone is running on the exact same equipment as you. On many machines, the game looks so desaturated that you cannot distinguish many things from the background.

Second, if you actually read my post (maybe you did and just completely exaggerated), I did not suggest changing things anywhere near as drastically as changing the Aliens from an Alien game to purple and pink. All I did was raise the saturation of the original colors that the artists themselves have used. This creates a still realistic and grim color palette, while also making visibility for the game practical. As I also stated in my original post, the second screenshot is a very quick mockup and definitely needas tuning (for instance, that gold armor is way to yellow). While the style of the game as it is right now looks pretty good, the desaturation is actually doing a disservice to the artists that created all of the assets. They are losing most of the detail that they worked hard to create.

Just remember that setting a unique mood and style is great, but it is very important that it does not hinder the gameplay mechanics.

Lastly, I leave you with a painting by Caravaggio to see how you can keep a dark atmosphere and mood while having your subject pop from the background. He did not make his characters pink and purple to accomplish this task.
http://www.artunframed.com/images/1caravaggio/carava243.jpg
and another:
http://www.christusrex.org/www2/art/images/caravaggio25.jpg

EDIT:
I also just want to say that Diablo 2 was only used because I figured the most people on this forum could relate to it. Diablo 1 could have also been a perfect example. Fallout series as well. While they all have different styles and moods, they all work fairly well to distinguish your character from the background. Path of Exile should not change it's style at all, my post was more to just advise not to be afraid of color. Color does not mean neon green, pink, and purple with hot yellow aura around them. Color means not gray on gray.

Something like that wouldn't be bad at all if it's done right so I guess I have to support this idea.

I've brought this up under a different light-- (Well, colour) Being that it can be ludicrously hard for people with colour deficiencies to distinguish things.

http://pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1792

It's only a few minor points as it stands. But, I also support the more vibrantly-coloured. If only insofar that it's rather more approachable than brown-grey+bloom.

On a tangent, I'm taking part in the Rise of Immortals beta (MOBA-style game, DOTA/LOL etc) and it suffers the exact same problem, it's too... 'real' to distinguish what's terrain and what's a guy trying to stab you in the face.

Granted, this is a major design choice but... Colours! Colours, please!

This game is amazing but I have almost perfect vision according to the eye doctor but it is incredibly difficult to see the difference between player/environment and enemy it would be nice if it were closer to Titan Quest in that every enemy was obviously there, I really love the dark setting and I have to admit Titan Quest was a little "toony" but my eyes kind of hurt right now, if anything I think one of the problems is that there is so much detail within such a limited color pallet, I think a lot of these issues will be corrected in an update but ouch my eyes... I love it but my eyes are sore.

I'd support this idea - I think the photoshopped image improved the situation markedly without taking away from the grim feel of the game.

Check out how Grim Dawn is doing their color, I kind of wish PoE had a similar (if not toned down a bit) vibrancy.

http://www.grimdawn.com/media_screenshots.php

I think a touch of color never hurt anything.

Personally I have not experienced the problems being mentioned in this thread. But if a slight bump in color saturation clears the issue, I am all for it.

I throw in my support for this idea as well. Dark and dreary is the way to be, but being able to see what's around your character is important. Since our perspective is not what our character "sees" but of an overhead, there MUST be something to help us differentiate.

I have never had trouble about differentiating monsters and characters from the background.

Just we need a nice cursor and that's already in the list.

Some colors could be a bit more vibrant indeed.
While it all looks very realistic it does seem a bit like everything is covered in the same kind of mud in some areas like early act 1 items and ground texture and skeletons on grass background in act 2.