Alternate Color Palette... Comments?

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Author Topic:   Alternate Color Palette... Comments?

Kudro70 posted 02-28-99 11:32 AM ET
Anyone tried this yet? What do you think?

UndertakerAPB posted 02-28-99 11:39 AM ET
Makes the game look 16x worst.
Have to be a retard to enjoy alternate graphics like that.....

DEVIL'S ADVOCATE,
Undertaker
Glak posted 02-28-99 12:36 PM ET
it is for red/green (or is that red/blue?) colorblind people. It allows them to tell things apart. It is not for other people.
hcainesjr posted 02-28-99 01:07 PM ET
I wonder what the exact percentage of people have red/green colorblindness. I think someone told me that more men have it than women. I don't have it, so I not gonna switch.
HBC
Dick Knisely posted 02-28-99 01:18 PM ET
Almost exclusively male. Something like 1/3 of all men have some form of color accuity problem with red/green being the most common. Mild forms are probably more common than that since many people have never been tested well enough to have it detected.

In its most severe form the person cannot see the difference between the red stoplight and the green stoplight--that's my Dad. I'm mildly blue/green color blind. The revised color palette looks bad to me too, but it should since its there just to let the red/green folks see the difference between fungus and the green patches of terrain.
mooman posted 02-28-99 01:22 PM ET
Undertaker you are a friggin rude moron
Spartacus posted 02-28-99 01:51 PM ET
I have just had a look at the Color-blind graphics and consider them a significant improvement, though I have normal sight. In my opinion, a major weakness with smac is the terrain graphics because they are so dull and it is so difficult to distinguish the tiles from each other immediately. This was one of the really great things about civ2,and somehow Firaxis underestimated the importance of clarity. Firaxis, could you not give us alternative color options or icons with more pleasant, brighter colors, or at least a pixel editor so some enterprising fan can come up with a better alternative. It would really make the game more pleasant to play.
Andrew Goldstein posted 02-28-99 02:23 PM ET
I posted this to comp.sys.ibm.games.strategic about a week ago. For those who miss it, here are all the types of colour blindness and the breakdown by gender:
Type Men Women
Protanopia 1.0% 0.02%
Deuteranopia 1.1% 0.01%
Tritanopia 0.002% 0.001%
Cone monochromatism Very rare Very rare
Rod monochromatism 0.003% 0.002%
Protanomaly 1.0% 0.02%
Deuteranomaly 4.9% 0.38%
Protanopia: Severely reduced discrimination of reddish & greenish
contents of colors with reddish colors appearing dimmer than normal (rho
cones missing)
Deuteranopia: Severely reduced discrimination of reddish & greenish
contents of colors without any colors appearing dimmer than normal
(gamma cones missing)
Tritanopia: Severely reduced discrimination of bluish and yellowish
contents of colors (beta cones missing)
Cone monochromatism: No color discrimination, but approximately normal
brightnesses of colors (gamma and beta cones missing)
Rod monochromatism: No color discrimination (No cones present, truely
black & white vision)
Protanomaly: Some reduction in the discrimination of reddish and
greenish contents of colors, with reddish colors appearing dimmer than
normal (rho cones have a spectral sensistivity shift towards that of the
gamma cones)
Deuteranomaly: Some reduction in the discrimination of reddish and
greenish contents of colors, without any colors appearing dimmer than
normal (gamma cones have a spectral sensistivity shift towards that of
the rho cones)

For those who are not familiar with how the eye senses colors:
The eye has structures called rods (brightness detections) and cones
(color discrimination) which are very small (on the order of about .002
mm). In the normal eye, there are three types of cones: beta (max
sensitivity to blue (~440 nm) light), gamma (max sensistivity to green
(~550 nm) light and rho (max sensistivity to red (~600 nm) light). When
light is absorbed in a rod/cone in the retina, the molecules of the
photosensitive pigment are excited, and, as a result, a change in
electrical potential is produced. This change then travels through a
series of relay nerve cells, and eventually results in a series of
voltage pulses being transmitted along a a nerve fibrre to the brain.
The rate at which these pulses are procduced provides the signal
modulation, a higher rate indicating a stronger signal, and a lower rate
a weaker signal. Color vision is obtained when the signals of the
various cones are subtracted from each other.
If anyone is interested in more detailed explanations, I lifted all the
above information from the first chapter in "Measuring Colour" by R.W.G.
Hunt.
a gagne posted 03-03-99 07:01 PM ET
hummmm.....
isn't there another similar topic around?...
well, as i said before - i am one of the unlucky ones - certain *shades* of reds/greens/browns all look the same to me.
when i first played the game, i kept trying to build new bases on fungus or rocky squares - i couldn't see the tile details.
i loaded the color-blind tile set (10MB) and restarted the game...it has solved my problem but i must admit that some of the color choices are...well..ugly.
dont get my wrong, i am very very greatful for Firaxis to accomodate color-blind people - it shows their professionalism and the care they take in thier audience.
thanks Firaxis
/ag
Khurg posted 03-03-99 07:12 PM ET
Undertaker, you are one rude dude. I use that palette !!! And no I am NOT retarded, you bigoted moron. I am severly color blind (not I cannot tell red or green apart). I had a very difficult time telling certain squares apart due to this problem. The palette was a god send for me. MUCH easier to play the game.
HunterPDX posted 03-03-99 08:21 PM ET
Thanks, Andrew. Informative stuff. I think my eye doctor said I was Deuteranamolic.
Khurg, I agree with you. But understand that some people just don't understand that the entire world and All Patches do not revolve around them.
Kurt
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Author	Topic: Alternate Color Palette... Comments?
Kudro70	posted 02-28-99 11:32 AM ET Anyone tried this yet? What do you think?
UndertakerAPB	posted 02-28-99 11:39 AM ET Makes the game look 16x worst. Have to be a retard to enjoy alternate graphics like that..... DEVIL'S ADVOCATE, Undertaker
Glak	posted 02-28-99 12:36 PM ET it is for red/green (or is that red/blue?) colorblind people. It allows them to tell things apart. It is not for other people.
hcainesjr	posted 02-28-99 01:07 PM ET I wonder what the exact percentage of people have red/green colorblindness. I think someone told me that more men have it than women. I don't have it, so I not gonna switch. HBC
Dick Knisely	posted 02-28-99 01:18 PM ET Almost exclusively male. Something like 1/3 of all men have some form of color accuity problem with red/green being the most common. Mild forms are probably more common than that since many people have never been tested well enough to have it detected. In its most severe form the person cannot see the difference between the red stoplight and the green stoplight--that's my Dad. I'm mildly blue/green color blind. The revised color palette looks bad to me too, but it should since its there just to let the red/green folks see the difference between fungus and the green patches of terrain.
mooman	posted 02-28-99 01:22 PM ET Undertaker you are a friggin rude moron
Spartacus	posted 02-28-99 01:51 PM ET I have just had a look at the Color-blind graphics and consider them a significant improvement, though I have normal sight. In my opinion, a major weakness with smac is the terrain graphics because they are so dull and it is so difficult to distinguish the tiles from each other immediately. This was one of the really great things about civ2,and somehow Firaxis underestimated the importance of clarity. Firaxis, could you not give us alternative color options or icons with more pleasant, brighter colors, or at least a pixel editor so some enterprising fan can come up with a better alternative. It would really make the game more pleasant to play.
Andrew Goldstein	posted 02-28-99 02:23 PM ET I posted this to comp.sys.ibm.games.strategic about a week ago. For those who miss it, here are all the types of colour blindness and the breakdown by gender: Type Men Women Protanopia 1.0% 0.02% Deuteranopia 1.1% 0.01% Tritanopia 0.002% 0.001% Cone monochromatism Very rare Very rare Rod monochromatism 0.003% 0.002% Protanomaly 1.0% 0.02% Deuteranomaly 4.9% 0.38% Protanopia: Severely reduced discrimination of reddish & greenish contents of colors with reddish colors appearing dimmer than normal (rho cones missing) Deuteranopia: Severely reduced discrimination of reddish & greenish contents of colors without any colors appearing dimmer than normal (gamma cones missing) Tritanopia: Severely reduced discrimination of bluish and yellowish contents of colors (beta cones missing) Cone monochromatism: No color discrimination, but approximately normal brightnesses of colors (gamma and beta cones missing) Rod monochromatism: No color discrimination (No cones present, truely black & white vision) Protanomaly: Some reduction in the discrimination of reddish and greenish contents of colors, with reddish colors appearing dimmer than normal (rho cones have a spectral sensistivity shift towards that of the gamma cones) Deuteranomaly: Some reduction in the discrimination of reddish and greenish contents of colors, without any colors appearing dimmer than normal (gamma cones have a spectral sensistivity shift towards that of the rho cones) For those who are not familiar with how the eye senses colors: The eye has structures called rods (brightness detections) and cones (color discrimination) which are very small (on the order of about .002 mm). In the normal eye, there are three types of cones: beta (max sensitivity to blue (~440 nm) light), gamma (max sensistivity to green (~550 nm) light and rho (max sensistivity to red (~600 nm) light). When light is absorbed in a rod/cone in the retina, the molecules of the photosensitive pigment are excited, and, as a result, a change in electrical potential is produced. This change then travels through a series of relay nerve cells, and eventually results in a series of voltage pulses being transmitted along a a nerve fibrre to the brain. The rate at which these pulses are procduced provides the signal modulation, a higher rate indicating a stronger signal, and a lower rate a weaker signal. Color vision is obtained when the signals of the various cones are subtracted from each other. If anyone is interested in more detailed explanations, I lifted all the above information from the first chapter in "Measuring Colour" by R.W.G. Hunt.
a gagne	posted 03-03-99 07:01 PM ET hummmm..... isn't there another similar topic around?... well, as i said before - i am one of the unlucky ones - certain shades of reds/greens/browns all look the same to me. when i first played the game, i kept trying to build new bases on fungus or rocky squares - i couldn't see the tile details. i loaded the color-blind tile set (10MB) and restarted the game...it has solved my problem but i must admit that some of the color choices are...well..ugly. dont get my wrong, i am very very greatful for Firaxis to accomodate color-blind people - it shows their professionalism and the care they take in thier audience. thanks Firaxis /ag
Khurg	posted 03-03-99 07:12 PM ET Undertaker, you are one rude dude. I use that palette !!! And no I am NOT retarded, you bigoted moron. I am severly color blind (not I cannot tell red or green apart). I had a very difficult time telling certain squares apart due to this problem. The palette was a god send for me. MUCH easier to play the game.
HunterPDX	posted 03-03-99 08:21 PM ET Thanks, Andrew. Informative stuff. I think my eye doctor said I was Deuteranamolic. Khurg, I agree with you. But understand that some people just don't understand that the entire world and All Patches do not revolve around them. Kurt