Color Blindness and Gaming
Hello and welcome! Before I get to the gaming side of things with color blindness. I wanted to cover that I am, in fact, color blind. The information given below is entirely given through my personal perspective.
I was inspired to talk about this after hearing someone praise Spellslingers for being color blind friendly.
It excited me and also made me realize, that I never really saw that as a "benefit." I believed this was something that should be an "automatic inclusion." Unfortunately, however, it's not. Many tabletop games AND video games make it difficult for people struggling with color.
How Being Color Blind Affects Me
I don't see colors exactly the way most people do. Some people think I can only see in black and white, but that's absurd of course.
I can see color. I'd like to think I can see vibrant colors. But of course, maybe colors to me are more muted, which would explain why I like colors that are more saturated.
Honestly, it's weird for me to sit here and think about seeing life a bit differently from the majority.
Luckily, this doesn't affect me too much. This does however affect me with playing some games.
Castle Panic
Castle Panic from Fireside Games comes to mind. This game uses basic colors such as red, blue, and green on the map to determine what actions you should and can take. The game is also cooperative. Unfortunately, because of this, the other players could always react much faster than me.
I felt dumb, embarrassed and a fool. I struggled to tell the colors apart, straining my vision as best as I could to play up to the same pace of the rest.
I unfortunately couldn't and of course, that colored by impression of the game (pun intended).
I'm also an artist. Oh boy, the joys of coloring someone green by accident. It's kind of ridiculous actually. Luckily, I've learned to better decipher the colors.
Moving Forward
It's odd dealing with artwork being an artist and graphic designer. I have to commonly ask others for their opinions as a means of double checking myself.
Being an art director for Vindicated Entertainment, I'm now forced to not only question my interpretation of artwork, but also other people's interpretations of artwork as well.
When I create games, I inherently make them for color blind people. It's by default, because I'm color blind. I HATE struggling playing a game and feel like I have any disability in any way, when it can easily be avoided.
Spellslingers, a card game that heavily relies on color, helps get around this by not only having distinct color differences, but also large symbols to direct players. If by some random chance, you didn't get a copy of Spellslingers because you thought it wasn't sensitive to color blind people, then you can now rest easy! :)
Spellslingers is available at the link below:
http://www.vindicatedentertainment.com/shop
In Closing
I'm not saying any of this as a means to acquire sympathy. I completely own this and take full responsibility for it. I'm not ashamed of being color blind at all and am in a way, grateful for it. Because of this, I can better relate to others that deal with color blind issues and be sure to better serve them with the gaming experiences I provide.
Are you a vscriber yet? Qhat are you waiting for? Get behind the scenes, exclusives, and personal messages just from me to you at the link below!
Stay Awesome,
Vincent Baker!