Sorry about the cross post, but after adding to a previous thread, I thought I should put this in the suggestions box.

Could we get user adustable colours?  I've just thrown my third game because of the white, light grey, grey colour issue.  I have severe difficulties with them unless they are immediately next to each other, and at the top end of the ranking table, 3 games makes a lot of difference!

Thanks,

Paul.

I like that idea. I assume it would be on a per game basis? But if changed then it would save for the entire game. I wonder how easy/hard that would be.

We just got the ability to change the colors in the design tool last week. We are getting it but this is new to us too. Most of us map makers are used to the neutrals being a certain color and in RBG form and here it is a different color and in hex form. Send the map maker a PM or post here what map and I think we can change colors after the fact.
Also, monitors are gonna vary with colors so what is clear on my HUGE laptop is often less so on my crappy work Commador 64

Yertle wrote: I like that idea. I assume it would be on a per game basis? But if changed then it would save for the entire game. I wonder how easy/hard that would be.

No, my idea is fairly simple I think.  Suppose there are sixteen player colours, and when you register your wargear account, each of these will be allocated to a default setting.  In your personal settings you can then go and adjust any of the default colours, and this will apply for you only.  I think if you try and change the default set of colours for everyone, then you will always end up giving someone a problem.

For example, in my case, I would go and alter the light grey colour (which could be Colour No. 7, for instance) and change it to something totally different that I could see on my monitor.  Then it would never be a problem for me again, but no-one else would be affected.  My new colour choice would then apply permanently for me, and me alone.

Problem is that there are gonna be a lot of players and more coming so different colors would be tough. Yes, there are a lot of choices, but the difference between FFAA00 and FFAA01 is almost nothing and so there would be overlap. How would that reconcile. Also, sometimes it is required for map makers to designate colors for certain starting locations. Would it be hard to do this if we all had individual colors.
Oh, and I hate have white or black as color options on my maps because they frak up the plan when designing. I'd have no control over that and hence some people playing some maps would be either invisible, make the map look horrible or really screw up the gameplay.
I like your idea but I don't think it is the best solution. We'll get it right, we just started figuring things out and things are still changing.

I doubt that would work since designers can alter the player colors (and number of colors), really the designers should be taking care of this (like Risky said). I also didn't mean that it would change anyone else's view.

Although it may get confusing when you start referring to Green when someone else sees the person as Purple.

I think Risky or I misunderstood something...

I'm not totally opposed to the OP's idea. The primary justification might be color-blindness. If someone can't tell any blues and greens apart, then they can, on their account, adjust how they see the colors.

Here's how I imagine this working (and I see it fitting in with another suggestion I've made in the past):

• Add a tab to the account settings page for "Colors".
• The color selection tool from the board designer will appear here, along with a few options*.
• As a user, you can set these to colors you like with an absolute palette size of 16.
  • Each color would be assigned, in order, to the possible "seats" in a map 1~16.
• In the Flash player would be a toggle button/link in a small, discrete location near a corner, that would have the options (Use Board Defined Colors) and (Use Account Colors).
  • If you choose Board Defined Colors, the game will be presented with you seeing the colors in game that each player selected from the palette the designer provided. Basically, this is as it is now.
  • If you choose Account Colors, the palette you chose in your account settings will be applied to the game as viewed only when logged in from your account.
    
    • If you only ever play 4 player games and always use the Account Colors, you will only ever see the same first four colors you set up in your account settings.
•  As in my previous suggestion from another thread, in the board designer tool, you would see a button that says "Import Your Account Custom Colors." and on a single click, it would populate your map's suggested player colors with the palette you have saved in your account settings. This way, authors can re-use the same or similar palette across a variety of maps to help maintain their own 'brand image' without having to enter all 16 hex codes every time.

I wouldn't like the fact that I spend a lot of time picking out a player colors palette that plays well visually with the map image and then someone might instead be viewing it with their own personal setup of harsh, high contrast colors. But that's just the artist in me. From a practical standpoint it makes sense that people play with colors they can see. It's their own problem if they use a palette that clashes with the map. Still, I expect that most people are idiots and will blame the map author for the ugly appearance.

There could be some confusion when someone leaves an in game message that says "Red, quit attacking me!" and the Red player has adjusted how he sees colors so that he see himself as Blue and thinks the comment is intended for someone else. This can be overcome by speaking to each other using names, since we all have them and they are visible. Still, I expect that most people are idiots and will confuse themselves in this way and complain about it.

*Those options might be to default to Always Start with Board Defined or Always Start With Account Defined colors. It might also include an option that somehow sets that you always see yourself as the same color when you have your account custom palette loaded.

Yes, you have both made valid points. However, I would do anything to be able know which territories are neutral and which belong to another player. I am now in the position where I do not enter a game until there is only one spare place left, and then only enter when no-one has selected white or dark grey.

If we just got rid of that damn light grey, and neutral used dark grey instead, then the problem would be solved. But if I am the only one having the problem, then it's not worth the trouble. Is anyone else struggling with this, or do I need to get my eyes checked???

Hmm...thinking some more..I know others have had at least some problems with this....could we maybe just have an option of altering the neutral players colour?  Heck, I don't know. 

Hmmm..thinking some more about the problems raised by Risky and Yertle....

1.If you are silly enough to change the colours so much that you don't understand what colour someone is talking about, then that is your own fault, no-one else really suffers.

2. Again, if you change the default colours and they make a board look silly, then again, it only affects you, and it is simple enough to fix.

In either case, you can fix the problems yourself anyway, just by changing the colours back. I find it much worse not even knowing the difference between neutral and other players. I'd rather have a map look a bit silly (and be able to fix it if i want) than not be able to play at all.

The ability to toggle between "map default" and "custom user" colours sounds like a great idea and would address everyone's problems, would it not?

Don't forget, around 8 to 10 percent of the male population suffer some form of colour blindness.  I have seen a couple of posts where people complained about particular colours that I cannot believe could be confused, before I thought about the colour blind issues.  Heck, seriously, maybe I have a problem myself.  The odds of that are much higher than the 12 men I lost yesterday trying to kill invade a territory with only 2 men.   ;-)

I got nothing. When I started playing Online Risk I chose to use Yellow because it was obviously different from other colors and nobody else really took it. I don't like the color myself but it works for me when playing.

I suggest you don't try Count Risky Must Die when it gets released, however.

Just let the mapmakers take care of it. As Risky said, color customisation was added to the Board Designer very recently. As we get used to the shade of gray being used for neutral you won't see these color conflicts much in future.

Coding player-customised color palettes is too much work for Tom, in my opinion, to devote to a problem that will go away on its own.

asm wrote: Just let the mapmakers take care of it.

This is fine if the map maker has my monitor, and my eye sight.  Unfortunately no-one can allow for all the possibilities that exist except the individual user, and why stop them from being able to play?

As my final note, I'll just re-iterate that no-ones arm would be twisted to use alternate colours, no-one else would be affected.  And a simple toggle to default option would address any of the raised problems.

I'll leave it in the lap of the digital gods now, and add that I think the design of this site is first rate.  Great job guys, the playing experience is awesome.

I think Yertle and RB misunderstood your idea. As far as Cram goes I dunno, I'm not reading that giant wall of text.

OK OK I read it. The thing about artistic integrity I understand, but usability wins out, really.

The point about confusion over 'attack red!' is valid, which is why you have both the player name and the 'color name' to use instead of the observed color in a game to tell other people who to attack.*

The neutral countries should be exactly middle gray color with some sort of additional indicator like cross-hatching, herringbone, x-pattern, or something along those lines. Just like fog, although fog should be pure white with an additional but different indicator pattern.

Players should be given the option to change any of the displayed colors on a game-by-game basis if they have difficulty telling certain colors apart from within a game.

By making it game-by-game you avoid the whole nightmare of trying to assign 'red' to 'something else', because red might be one of 200 different hex values.

This would help colorblind people while only adding a slight burden of time for changing the colors at the beginning of each game affected. It would solve the monitor problem for those with crappy LCDs. It would help maintain artistic integrity as only those people with problems are likely to bother changing them each game.

It would only be visible to that one person, so you wouldn't need to 'reserve' color changes across the site.

*Whoops I'm wrong, you get to see the color names when you pick them, but not during the game.  Since the color names are like a default 'team' name (even for nonteam games) I think there should be an additional column showing that.

*Whoops I'm wrong, you get to see the color names when you pick them, but not during the game. Since the color names are like a default 'team' name (even for nonteam games) I think there should be an additional column showing that.

Object to this entirely. This is information no one needs.

Ok, can't individuals also adjust the tint, hue, balance and stuff to their monitors?
I say we make Neutrals a more defined color that is easy to see. I say we change the neutral color to yellow or cyan as bright as possible.

Note: Risky does not stand by his own statement

Whoops, sorry about the Pandora's box. Perhaps I should have left the lid closed. Anyway, I'm off to the local hardware store to grab all their grey coloured paint samples - once I find one that matches the neutral grey, I'll be all set! ;-)

Perhaps neutral could be given a fill pattern rather than a pure color, some kind of sandpapery gray. That would make it easier to distinguish from the players. I would also like to see the heavy fog color be some kind of pattern, too, not transparent and distinct from the pattern given to neutral.

That's a good idea, I think.

Red Baron wrote: Perhaps neutral could be given a fill pattern rather than a pure color, some kind of sandpapery gray. That would make it easier to distinguish from the players. I would also like to see the heavy fog color be some kind of pattern, too, not transparent and distinct from the pattern given to neutral.

Good idea re: neutral fill pattern.

The fog color is already a crosshatch pattern...