作者：Matthias Zarzecki

我突然有一个想法：游戏可以具有某种“颜色”吗？我说的不是指游戏包含颜色（万物都有颜色），而是某些游戏具有某种能代表它的颜色，让你联想到它的颜色，比如“这款游戏是红色的”。

我将做一个实验来解释我的观点。为了将本文中的图片和截图变成简单的色块，我将它们都进行模糊处理了。

我强调一下，主要有三类颜色。

1、具有某种颜色（或颜色组合）的游戏

一个典型的例子是《杀出重围：人类革命》，它是金色的。这一点不同于其他游戏，金色是这款游戏独有的色彩。

从游戏的菜单到建筑，都交织着金色与黑色。当然，并非所有关卡都是金色的，但金色总是以不同的方式出现。

这是游戏的一张截图，已经模糊处理。

blurry_human_revolution（from gamasutra)

blurry_human_revolution(from gamasutra)

注意颜色是如何表现的。

还有吗？当然有！

在《黑道圣徒3》中，与前面提到的《人类革命》一样，从菜单、建筑、服装到其他道具，一种颜色贯穿于整个游戏，即紫色。

blurry_saints_row(from gamasutra)

这是《镜之边缘》。它将白色与浅蓝色进行独特地组合使用。

blurry_mirrors_edge（from gamasutra)

《镜之边缘》的识别度很高。

颜色是一种基本的元素，你可以围绕它构造整个游戏。我们再来看最近的一款游戏《火线迈阿密》。

blurry_hotline_miami(from gamasutra)

看看图中的霓虹粉和霓虹青。这些颜色传达了什么信息？这种对比告诉我们，这款游戏的故事发生在夜晚（可能，非常可能）。我们可以推断这个夜晚并不像马里奥系列的平台游戏那样愉快。在儿童娱乐用品中极少使用这些霓虹色，因为它暗示了成人主题，可能让我们联想到夜店。这让我回想到1988-1993年，当时粉色和青色还很流行。从这些颜色可以看出，这款游戏的背景可能是那个时期，或暗指那个时期，总之不是2000年以后的风格。

从简单的颜色构成中我们就可以获得这些信息。这些颜色是独一无二的，它们属于这款游戏，就是这款游戏的美学。

好吧，不完全是独一无二的。这里有一部1987年的蹩脚电影的海报，我认为就是《火线迈阿密》的构思基础。

2、带有主题颜色的游戏图片

这是《Left 4 Dead》的游戏图片。

blurry_left_4_dead(from gamasutra)

没有其他图片使用这种颜色。虽然暗绿色并不是显著地贯穿于整个游戏，但它确实出现了，观看者会本能地将这种颜色与游戏联系起来。

另一种显著的“主题颜色”是Arkham City的白-黑色。

blurry_arkham_city(from gamasutra)

没有更好的图片了，用《Left 4 Dead 2》的图片补上。

blurry_left_4_dead_2(from gamasutra)

3、没有确立颜色的游戏

另一个实验。你看到什么？

blurry_collage（from gamasutra)

这些游戏的图片非常相似，缺少有意义或独特的识别颜色，也就是没有确立独特的颜色。它们确实有一些颜色，但基本上是金属灰和狗屎褐。

（顺时针方向：《使命召唤》、《使命召唤2》、《使命召唤4：现代战争》、《荣誉勋章2010》、《杀戮地带》、《战争机器3》）

如果你从远处看这些截图，你可能说不出来这些图片各是什么游戏。

结论

看看这些好例子，大概能看出颜色可以成为一款游戏的基础。我还在考虑一款以“黄色”为中心的游戏。我还没有什么想法，不过可能会有趣独特吧。

并非所有游戏都有颜色。并非所有游戏都有独特的颜色，有它专属的颜色。但成功是从方方面面看出来的。这是一个重要的优势，不应该被低估。

从现在起，我要开始给自己的游戏颜色了。我的意思是给游戏一些特别的颜色。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转载，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

The Color of Games

by Matthias Zarzecki

The following blog was, unless otherwise noted, independently written by a member of Gamasutra’s game development community. The thoughts and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Gamasutra or its parent company.

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A thought occurred to me: Can games have a certain “Color”? Not that they contain colors (everything does, after all), but that some games have a certain color that describes it, and between which you make a connection, as in “This game is red!”

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.

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 (source:gamasutra)