Do not add new colors - discussion

Who event wants 3, god forbid 4 blues? Why?

Does choosing the bright but saturated red color make you a connoisseur of the exquisite art of expressing yourself by choosing the color that represents your inner spirit animal or what? Does sending your professional 4th shade of green into the enemies slightly desaturated (but not quite brown) orange base make you a collaborative map-painter, such that your are creating an interactive piece of modern art by mixing units such that the resulting composition makes you think deeply about the world of shapes and abstractions? Does anybody suffer torment from the idea of having to paint themselves and their units with the brush of a color that has been excluded from the cool color space club that is currently en-vogue in the most accomplished circles of the Illuminati?

Colors are in this game to easily distinguish and call players out. And as long as the available colors do no induce eye cancer, that is what they should be selected for.

@blackyps The reason I suggested an automated message rather than automated restrictions is that as this now massive thread demonstrates the choice of colours is very contentious - some people want more variety (e.g. to be able to choose from lots of similar shades of the same colour), some people would favour less variety in order to increase contrast between colours, and some people want things to stay the same (which is now looking by far the most likely outcome given the lack of consensus).

Personally I'd prefer an automatic restriction like you mentioned where if a colour is chosen you can't choose another similar colour, but that clearly disadvantages people who feel strongly about being a particular colour no matter how similar to another player. Since there's no overwhelming majority in favour of a 'reduce colours to improve contrast' approach, I thought a prompt could be something that doesnt disadvantage anyone (with the exception of dev time required to code it in, and I have no idea how much or little that would be), and so might be an agreeable compromise that is an overall improvement if it was a low effort enhancement.

It's effectively applying a nudge theory/principle - you prompt people to change the colour, without forcing it. Those who feel strongly about being the colour they want dont have to comply. Those who don't mind are likely to change if requested by someone who does mind. Those who prefer no similar colours but don't think to check (myself included) would similarly change to avoid a clash.

Can we put all this forum discussion effort into a nice drama topic instead of this? Would be a lot more fun

Can't all you sheeple see the devs are using this useless color discussion to distract you from the real features and issues with FAF?

Make a list of them, and include the rating issue when two commanders die at roughly the same time .

I find this discussion to be quite justified, given that all that FAF players do is to stare at screens full of colored shapes moving in erratic directions while furiously spinning the scroll wheel of their input device in an attempt to center the most stimulating section of the map's virtual canvas onto their screen. If any unlucky unfamiliar human being watches a recording of such an ongoing incident and does not vomit at the nauseating sight of the camera undertaking a joyride on an overachieving rollercoaster, they might ask themselves if there are actual graphics hidden somewhere beneath the funny shapes, in which case they are not yet ready to join into discussions that are as profound as seen in this thread.

@katharsas

Color selection is the only way to customize your aesthetic and give your units some unique identity. A lot of players have favorite colors they like to play as. If color was just only for identifying different players you should just get a randomly assigned color without being able to choose

You can personally alter the color shades if you want to do that, by creating an texturepack.nxt archive like so:

You just copy the file from your game files (lua.nx2) and then make the changes. This should be a good solution for everyone that absolutely needs his specific shade of a color available. You should just keep in mind to keep the colors similar to avoid confusion when someone calls out colors, as this change only affects you locally.

@blackyps said in Do not add new colors - discussion:

You can personally alter the color shades if you want to do that, by creating an texturepack.nxt archive like so:

You just copy the file from your game files (lua.nx2) and then make the changes. This should be a good solution for everyone that absolutely needs his specific shade of a color available. You should just keep in mind to keep the colors similar to avoid confusion when someone calls out colors, as this change only affects you locally.

I’m a vain person, I want everyone to know that I play pink.

Also, you better not touch my pink, idgaf about the rest of this bikeshedding.

just add civ beige back

Please dont change or add any more colours, i just played a game, must of been on faf develop with the other colours and i was some type of faded lilac and my mirror was some other no so faded lilac it was horrible. and the other players were some type of green every one looked the same.

I've taken a liking to all the new colors on faf dev, please keep them

I've reverted the color changes. It was difficult for people to use colors as a cue - which is key to game design in general.

I did keep the rainbow-like order for in the lobby.

Most of the feedback I saw for the 3 new colors kept in the color compromise PR was positive.
https://github.com/FAForever/fa/pull/3763
I think it would be better to add those 3 colors back in.

@jip So are we having any new color changes or the same old? B(

Original vs. Wild Berry

No discussion has happened on what colors we would or would not want - not that I have seen anyway. As the new colors have some issues with being used as a cue - I decided to revert them for now. The old colors have problems too, but at least we're used to those problems after a decade.

I'm open for new colors, but they need to help players play the game in whatever style they were playing before. And this particular color set did not achieve that.

Foreword I have no idea if any of this is possible: one solution might be for enemy units to have a different line colour on their map markers.

e.g it is a style where the differentiation is mainly on separation of enemies from allies in large scale conflict.

Icons with distinct team based outlines, but flat internal colours, e.g the light icons are team 1 vs the dark icons team 2. This would have the added advantage of being able to use black as a colour.

Alternatively, ALL enemy units are given the same line colour (e.g red or something chosen by a player), but have distinct inner colours. Having a different outline for an enemy can potentially help to distinguish an enemy dark green from a friendly teal.

Here is the current grey, but with a few red lines which would indicate grey enemies.

@bl_4u said in Do not add new colors - discussion:

e.g it is a style where the differentiation is mainly on separation of enemies from allies in large scale conflict.

There's already an option in game:

Your second option is interesting but doesn't imo address the real issue and could potentially be ̶u̶g̶l̶y̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶ hard on the eyes.

The second option is not possible in FA - I do not think two units of the same type can have different strategic icons. I also do not think it is desirable, it would make it difficult to recognize.