The obvious yellow paint in games that guide players where they need to go should be an optional toggle.
That way those who turn them off will have to learn that nature and reality doesn’t actually give “organic directions” for them to follow and prove again why game devs use yellow paint.
That way those who turn them off will have to learn that nature and reality doesn’t actually give “organic directions” for them to follow and prove again why game devs use yellow paint.
Comments
The bright yellow gets the player’s attention. Without it, you’d more likely fumble around getting lost.
I've literally seen testing on this in my 11 years of working in the industry; people get lost, they become frustrated, they spend a little too long in transitional spots where nothing is going on.
Devs didn't just decide it was fun to put paint somewhere! lol
https://bsky.app/profile/oleogustus.itch.io/post/3lbczh5c2ts22
Cool.
What happens when there aren't light sources?
What happens when the level is *outside*?
I pinky promise you, if you've thought about this, so did every professional game designer.
This is why we get yellow paint.
busy, cluttered levels with little naturalistic signposting are unreadable, so they just splash paint on shit.
Most younger gamers are growing up with robust open sims without clear cut direction which proves that most players are more intelligent than these "yellow paint" games are giving credit.
Crush game journalists balls.
you are right that yellow paint is a crutch for poor, "lets just make the game photorealistic slop" art direction, though.
TLDR: Replay Metroid (any of them) It's still good.
I'm not gonna pretend the yellow paint harms me cause, like, get real. it's just cool when devs find those quirky ways to make it obvious while still immersive
One from recent memory is Still Wakes The Deep, its under directional markers that will remove the yellow directional markers from the environment.
https://bsky.app/profile/shawn-in-3d.bsky.social/post/3klbp46sebx25
Apologies for the snark, and you're mostly right (depending on the game) - preconceived means players won't look up. It's exactly why there should be "yellow paint" on things to lead the player to look up 🙂
they would be so angry if they lost the intuitive game design that allows you to find ammo without having to stop and think about it lmao
They had to design SOMETHING in a specific way to let players know it was interactable.
yellow paint is loathed because its the laziest solution.
Or why you have some games that use glowing or a similar effect - Human Revolution used a yellow glow on things you approached to let you know that you could use it.
Or in Mirror's Edge how the path was shown with red-colored objects->
Doom 2016 wasn't too bad with it either, using green environmental lighting to show things you could climb or pathways.
....okay yeah I think I get the yellow paint hate now that I think about it.
people tolerate red barrels because IRL we tend to paint explosives containers in bright colours and put warning signs on them. its intuitive.
like, the natural rhythm in the game design is god tier. it's a work of art.
But they pulled it off.
Always hated the idea of a catered experience as per nintendo's way of doing things. I wanna mix the vol lvls and remap buttons for example.
It's about these gamers' fear of games being made for demographics other than them. New players, in this case.
1. Letting me know I figured it out.
2. Spelling out why yellow is there.
(Playing Horizon Zero Dawn which has yellow paint on hold points.)
https://gofund.me/aba678cd
the colour coordination of the game as a whole is also really great with them all denoting something different
Animals leave tracks. By default, those tracks also have a visual glow, downed animals are outlined, etc. Each element can be toggled and you can also select each color.
Great for tailoring accessibility, difficulty, & realism.
Coming from Morrowind with all the hints being hidden in books and conversations and the hints are just like "look for a Nord on a small island in the northwest auf Morrowind".
And then the guy is wearing brown armor and stands next to a tree on a muddy "island".
https://youtu.be/K2wAYQsrnn8?si=OSh_FyzI0ySSRR_5
Like the old roadrunner cartoons being merged into modern games.
I made it 75% of the way through a game before realizing I could trigger out of reach (glowing, golden) ladders to drop by shooting them
I *love* the way it’s implemented in Firewatch tho: a combo of given directions, ways to notice natural features, *and* having you actually *look*, rather than the immersion breaking “every road is a single canyon so you can only move forward or backward”
Any somewhat acclaimed game pre 2010 led players to the correct destination without it. Elden Ring led players without it. Because they have good design
It does feel like a crutch to just go, like... "here's yellow paint with arrows"