Colors in Video Games (Last Part)

Hello everyone,

Previously, in my articles titled "Colors in Video Games (Part 1)" and "Colors in Video Games (Part 2)", I talked about the use of colors and showed examples of color usage.

As I mentioned at the end of our previous article, I will now explain how to choose colors, methods of creating color palettes, and the programs you can use, and with the final article in the series, we will conclude the topic of "Colors".

If you are ready, let's get started!

How to Choose Colors?

If you don't know how to choose colors for the game you are developing and don't know which color suits which environment, there are several different methods. These are:

• Look around you, which is the most basic and simple method;

You can make color predictions by looking around you and get inspiration from your surroundings while developing the game.

• Play games that have been developed with the color you want to choose;

Play games that belong to the genre or theme you want to develop. For example, if your theme is a science fiction game that offers depressing melodies, you can play "Dead Space".

• Learn about Color Harmony and Color Combinations;

You need to know the harmony between colors when choosing your colors. The "Color Wheel" we talked about in our first article is very important here.

What are Color Harmonies?

There are generally seven types of color harmonies identified. Of course, you can also create your own harmony with the colors you choose. However, if you are new to game development, it is better to stick to certain patterns in the beginning.

Color harmonies include:

*Analogous Color Harmony: Analogous colors are the colors that are located next to or opposite each other in the color wheel visual we provided above. Analogous colors are generally similar to each other. Using these colors in your game can create a calming atmosphere for your players.

*Complementary Color Harmony: Complementary colors are the colors that are opposite each other in the color wheel. They are known to have high color harmony. Using complementary colors in the same area can make them appear more vibrant.

*Split-Complementary Color Harmony: In this harmony, a complementary opposite color is chosen from the color wheel. The colors on each side of the complementary color are added to the chosen colors to create a color harmony. For example, 'Red' and 'Green' are complementary opposite colors. 'Yellow-Green' and 'Blue-Green' next to Green also form a split-complementary harmony when used with Red.

*Triadic Color Harmony: Three colors are chosen from the color wheel that are either diagonal or equally distant from each other. 'Red-Blue-Yellow' is an example of this type of selection.

*Tetradic Color Harmony: Four colors are selected to form a rectangle. Four different colors are chosen with a rectangle drawn on the color wheel. 'Orange-Yellow-Blue-Purple' is an example of this selection.

*Square Color Harmony: The logic behind square color harmony is similar to rectangle selection. By imagining a square with straight and equal sides drawn on the color wheel, the colors selected are determined as square color harmony. 'Red-Yellow/Orange-Green-Blue/Purple' is an example of this selection.

*Monochromatic Color Harmony: This refers to the work done using a dark and light shade of a color selected from the color wheel. If you choose the color red from the color wheel for your game and only use different shades of red, this means you are using a monochromatic color harmony.

Creating and Using Color Palettes

We have discussed the use of color, color options, and color harmonies. However, there is one more topic we need to focus on.

'Creating a Color Palette!'

You can learn to use colors, but wouldn't you like to create your own palette? I know there are thousands of palettes out there, but creating a palette that truly reflects the spirit of your game will be better for you.

First of all, you don't need a variety of complex programs to create a color palette. You can quickly complete your work with colors through a few simple websites. We can end our topic by giving a few examples.

Adobe Color

Adobe Color is a palette generation tool that will be very useful for your work. With Adobe Color, you can easily adjust the harmonies we mentioned earlier and 'automatically' select colors that are close to each other.. 

As soon as you log in to the Adobe Color website, you will see a page like the one in the image above.

On the left side, you can see the color harmonies we listed earlier. You can continue by selecting certain harmonies from here. You can get color codes from the palettes at the bottom or make adjustments to create your own palette.

Paletton

Paletton is one of the color palette generator websites that I personally recommend. Its ease of use is a big advantage, as it allows you to select four different shades of a color by simply moving your cursor.