Colorblind

[WeaselSlapper]

Hello all. I've been a civ fan for many years now and one thing has always bothered me. I'm colorblind and have always had a problem distinguishing what civ units belong to and where borders are (at least since borders were added in Civ III). Even with the "colorblind support" functions they added in previous versions I always had trouble. I'm wondering if there's going to be colorblind support in this version and will it be improved over other versions? One thing that's looking like a net benefit for me is that there are fewer civs so that means they need fewer colors to represent those civs so hopefully they colors will be farther apart so I can tell the difference a little better.

One major concern I had was in the gameplay demo the other day I had a really hard time identifying 2K Gregs boarders and it was almost impossible for me to tell the difference between the French units and the city state he friended later. Also in the screen shots of the strategic view I've seen identifying borders in general is going to be very hard. Can any one tell me what kind of support and features there will be to help this situation?

 

[Bibor]

I feel for you man, I hope you get some feedback soon. Civ should have a colorblind support, at least in the strategic view.

 

[nomikos]

I'm colorblind and have always had a problem distinguishing what civ units belong to and where borders are (at least since borders were added in Civ III).

We'll you're not alone. I'm red/green(/brown/some tans) color blind myself.

And while I was hopeful it was the video, I too had trouble telling the "French units and the city state" units.

If I'm reading Wikipedia correctly then somewhere around 7 percent of the US male population [more or less elsewhere]– or about 10.5 million men, have some form of color blindness.

I'd happily settle for being able to select each civ's color at setup.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

The ability to select colors at the start would be a great help, at least then I could have some control over what colors are there and avoid colors that are too close, but with so many city states in this version I'm not sure selecting civ colors will be enough.

 

[sokar]

The option I want is ability to select an alternate flag.

 

[Alsark]

Well, every civilization has two colors. Hopefully this means that, when you're actually playing, it will be easier to distinguish between two different civilizations. If this doesn't help, I hope they have some other kind of option for you. If not, it shouldn't be too bad to tweak the colors a bit in the files to make it a bit more manageable.

 

[Auncien]

I hope they put something in to help with this. I have a friend actually who is colorblind and interested in playing the game so it would make him very happy (and me too because I'd get to play with him).

 

[civfan1]

I know how you feel. But my freinds and I have ideas of making a colorblind mod.

 

[Thormodr]

I think a colorblind mod would be an excellent idea. Either Firaxis could make it or they could assist people in making the mod. Besides helping people and perhaps gaining some new customers, Firaxis would get some positive PR by doing this.

I am unsure how many other game producers would do this or have done this type of thing.

Count me in if there is a petition to get this done. (Sadly, I have no modding ability. )

 

[RogerBacon]

Add me to the list as well. I modified the colors of some of my civs in Civ4. It was easy using the XML. What would be even better than being able to choose color though (since there will eventually be 30+ civs with mods) would be the ability to add atexture of bitmap pattern instad of just a color. That would be much easier for EVERYONE to see at a quick glance.

 

[TheChanger]

A colourblind mod that adds the civ flag-symbol-thing to above the unit would probably help a bit and wouldnt be very difficult, and the ability to choose civ colours at game star twould be cool (even for non-colour blind people)

 

[bhavv]

 

[WeaselSlapper]

Add me to the list as well. I modified the colors of some of my civs in Civ4. It was easy using the XML. What would be even better than being able to choose color though (since there will eventually be 30+ civs with mods) would be the ability to add atexture of bitmap pattern instad of just a color. That would be much easier for EVERYONE to see at a quick glance.

With the number of civs and city states in Civ V straight color alone won't help because there aren't enough colors that are different enough to be able to tell apart easily, there will have to be patterns and textures. Normally for colorblind support there are x patterns, lines, squares and circles combine this with about eight different colors and there should be enough combinations to provide enough distinction so I can tell the difference.

I hope they put something in to help with this. I have a friend actually who is colorblind and interested in playing the game so it would make him very happy (and me too because I'd get to play with him).

With how the colors are now it shouldn't stop your friend from playing, it certainly hasn't stopped me. It just gets really frustrating at times because I get put at a disadvantage when the wrong two civs are close to each other especially when I'm one of those Civs and even more when I'm at war.

 

[WeaselSlapper]

Thanks for rubbing it in.

That test is not the typical colorblind test, usually they are a series of circles and you have to pick the number in the circle. They are also hard to do online do to the differences in computer screens.

 

[bhavv]

Thanks for rubbing it in.

That test is not the typical colorblind test, usually they are a series of circles and you have to pick the number in the circle. They are also hard to do online do to the differences in computer screens.

Yea I know, I've seen colorblind tests before. Fortunately I can see all the lovely colours within the visible spectrum, and have a lovely yet now hideously overpriced £325 Acer G24 monitor to enjoy them on, on which I've gotten a perfect score in that test three times in a row.

I actually did that test to test my monitor, not my eyes

 

[Scramble]

Oh yes, Colorblind support....

 

[bhavv]

Oh yes, Colorblind support....

View attachment 264047

LOL!!!!

Awesome T shirt

 

[TheChanger]

Oh yes, Colorblind support....

View attachment 264047

BAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAAHHAHA