decolourizing games

[Einar Saukas]

A modern example (that looks amazing):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/916730/Gato_Roboto/

[Pobulous]

Some of Chris Kerry's games would look better with a lot less colour, and some shading/details instead.

[stupidget]

Nothing (as in the game called Nothing ) looks stunning in monochrome:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/3 ... um/Nothing

[Sokurah]

A modern example (that looks amazing):

https://store.steampowered.com/app/916730/Gato_Roboto/

Indeed, that looks fantastic

[Einar Saukas]

Limbo is another great modern example.

However these examples have something in common: they were designed intentionally to be monochrome.

I doubt we can find a modern colored game where removing colors would make it better.

[Lee Bee]

I doubt we can find a modern colored game where removing colors would make it better.

[HEXdidnt]

I doubt we can find a modern colored game where removing colors would make it better.

"Better" is always going to be subjective. A lot of Zosya's scrolling action games could certainly be made smoother if they were made monochrome, but they grab attention precisely because of their very efficient and clever use of colour, and how effectively they use a mixture of pixel scrolling and attribute scrolling with negligible colour clash, and huge improvements in how they handle colour blocking.

I'm not even sure it's necessarily important or significant that Gato Roboto, Limbo and Nothing were designed as monochrome - that was an artistic choice, a decision to work within very specific limits. They could have added colour, but would that have made them 'better'? Would it have detracted in any way from the gameplay?

This game turned up in my Reddit feed recently:

The creators claim it has a "strong Spectrum vibe", but it really doesn't. Spectrum with a neon glow, filtered through Jeff Minter's Melt-O-Vision, perhaps, but there's a serious misunderstanding of what constitutes 'Spectrum style'. This game probably would look 'better' in mono, because the way the colour has been handled makes it more akin to a super-high-res version of one of those old Grandstand tabletop game units.

Considering there have been movies made over the last couple of decades that chose to present themselves in black and white, to fit a particular aesthetic, it can certainly be said that going monochrome can make a movie 'better' but, again, it's subjective. I've had people tell me they can't watch black and white movies because they send them to sleep.

If we're including non-Spectrum 'modern' games, I'd suggest LA Noire would benefit by a monochrome filter... It'd certainly help the game live up to its name in terms of visuals, if nothing else.

[Daveysloan]

I quite like the aesthetics of the Acorn Atom versions of the MPAGD games that Kees van Oss converts, here's the ones he did for our games:

[firelord]

I believe that some games would be better if we removed just 8 colors from their palette.

[Vampyre]

Have I completely imagined this but was there a Speccy game that allowed you to either play it in colour or monochrome? I have this vague memory of such a title but at the same time I think I'm making it up. Or maybe I'm getting it confused with some of the filters that modern games have. The Last Of Us games had options to make it sepia, B&W etc.

Another like Limbo that would only work in monochrome is Return of the Obra Dinn. So much more atmospheric than if it was full colour. What was the name of that Puzzley/Adventure type game that originated on the Apple II in the 1980s? It wasn't The Bard's Tale but it was a name fantasy-based like that. That was completely black and white too and I think all ports of it were. Can't think of its name and it's really bugging me now

[bluespikey]

Have I completely imagined this but was there a Speccy game that allowed you to either play it in colour or monochrome? I have this vague memory of such a title but at the same time I think I'm making it up. Or maybe I'm getting it confused with some of the filters that modern games have. The Last Of Us games had options to make it sepia, B&W etc.

Halls Of The Things (The greatest spectrum game of all time) has this option. Not that it is especially fabulous to begin with.

[AndyC]

At first I thought there must be loads of examples where this would look better, but the more I think about it the less convinced I am. I think it's probably because games that were in colour usually made other sacrifices to accommodate it reasonably well. The Dizzy games, for example, don't really look any better by draining all the colour out even if it stops Dizzy himself from constantly changing colour.

Now there are probably examples like Double Dragon, which compromises certain aspects of the scrolling to allow for colour. If you just took the colour out, it doesn't really improve it, but if you took the colour out and were able to scroll more smoothly as a result it'd probably be a better game overall. When you aren't taking advantage of less need to compromise for colour, the end results are always going to be a bit disappointing I think.

[Wall_Axe]

It's to to see how bad they would look if the programmers were lazy enough to maintain these games Mono

[Sokurah]

Some of Chris Kerry's games would look better with a lot less colour, and some shading/details instead.

Agree, I've applied the "less colour" idea to Jack and the Beanstalk, but I'm confident that it'll work perfectly for Monty is Innocent, Giant's Revenge and most of his other games too

[Vampyre]

What was the name of that Puzzley/Adventure type game that originated on the Apple II in the 1980s? It wasn't The Bard's Tale but it was a name fantasy-based like that. That was completely black and white too and I think all ports of it were. Can't think of its name and it's really bugging me now

Managed to find it - The Fool's Errand. And it was nowhere near as B&W as what I remember

[Bedazzle]

Trying to play Steve Davies Snooker would have been a nightmare. "For those of you watching in black and white, the pink is next to the green."

Not at all. Back in time we played a lot on Speccy and BK (russian computer) with b/w tv's, and have nearly no problem to distinguish different colors in games.

[XTM]

Have I completely imagined this but was there a Speccy game that allowed you to either play it in colour or monochrome? I have this vague memory of such a title but at the same time I think I'm making it up.

There is a well-known game by a well-known software house that gives you this option.

No, really. Look no further:

Spoiler

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/9 ... trum/Cobra
Though it is only the play area that becomes monochrome, not the scoring/lives etc. bit

[Lee Bee]

Have I completely imagined this but was there a Speccy game that allowed you to either play it in colour or monochrome?

Yes, it was mentioned earlier in the thread…

Let me remind you of Tarzan Goes Ape (Codemasters), a game that actually gives you the option of monochrome or clash.

 

[bluespikey]

I've been trying to find it, but I'm sure that Philippa Irving writing the Frontline section of Crash would praise games for clear graphics, and complain about her black and white telly. I don't think it was a joke either.

Edit : Here it is reviewing Vulcan in issue 39 :

There are 11 terrain symbols listed in the manual, all reasonably clear on the screen, though on my black and white monitor (which is all I can afford on my £1.99 a year grant) I had difficulty distinguishing between 'rough' and 'mountain

WtAF? Still gives a generous 89% for the graphics rating.

[Vampyre]

There is a well-known game by a well-known software house that gives you this option.

No, really. Look no further:

Spoiler

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/9 ... trum/Cobra
Though it is only the play area that becomes monochrome, not the scoring/lives etc. bit

Cheers! I knew I didn't imagine it.

[Bedazzle]

Have I completely imagined this but was there a Speccy game that allowed you to either play it in colour or monochrome?

Partially it can be set in

[dvduk]

I do remember seeing those odd couple of games where the colour had been turned off by the coders due to how the clash was effecting it ... wasn't it Pacland and one of the racing games. And I believe some clever folk managed to undo it to get close to the original effect.

However some things would certainly look better with mono options for sure.

[HEXdidnt]

I do remember seeing those odd couple of games where the colour had been turned off by the coders due to how the clash was effecting it ... wasn't it Pacland and one of the racing games. And I believe some clever folk managed to undo it to get close to the original effect.

The racing game is OutRun Europa... though the performance of the 'recoloured' version seems pretty much identical to the released version as far as I can tell: they're both terrible.

Europa was a massive disappointment at the time, because all the magazines had shown colourful screenshots... but it was fairly obvious that the Spectrum wouldn't have been able to make that work in that style of driving game. Problem was, coming after the mostly acceptable conversions of OutRun and Turbo OutRun, Europa's performance hadn't been made any smoother in monochrome, so it's the worst of the series. They might have got away with it if they hadn't given it the OutRun brand.

[Vampyre]

Partially it can be set in

I initially thought of 3 Weeks, but that was setting the Wally sprite as transparent rather than any monochrome.

[Einar Saukas]

I do remember seeing those odd couple of games where the colour had been turned off by the coders due to how the clash was effecting it ... wasn't it Pacland and one of the racing games. And I believe some clever folk managed to undo it to get close to the original effect.

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/list?group_id=536