{"id":223,"date":"2020-05-11T21:28:15","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T21:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brown-sheep-511001.hostingersite.com\/carla\/?p=223"},"modified":"2020-06-23T20:28:46","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T20:28:46","slug":"getting-started-with-color-blind-accessibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2020\/05\/11\/getting-started-with-color-blind-accessibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Started with Color Blind Accessibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you&#8217;re creating a game, there&#8217;s a lot of things to care about; balance, fun, component count, graphic design, and more! One thing that I like to take into account it trying to make the game as accessible as possible and one way to make your game more accessible is to try to make it color blind friendly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why does it matter if a game is color blind friendly? Only a small percentage of the population actually is color blind, so why make sure that they can play your game, especially when there&#8217;s several varieties of color blindness? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-heading\">The short answer is that making your game color blind friendly makes the game better for everyone. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If a color blind person can differentiate all your components easily, then so can someone that&#8217;s not color blind. Making everything distinct means that no one is worrying about the colors of anything and that means that you can get to the fun a lot faster. Plus, just because only a few people are color blind, doesn&#8217;t mean it only affects that person when they play. I know when I play a non color blind friendly game with my color blind friends, I feel really bad every time they make a mistake or take longer on their turn. Who likes seeing their friends struggle? I&#8217;d say that most people don&#8217;t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How do you go about making your game color blind friendly?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Use Symbols AND Color<\/li><li>Take advantage of Tools <\/li><li>Avoid using Semi-Transparent Components <\/li><li>Use Different Shapes for Physical Components <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Use Symbols AND Color<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Always use symbols AND colors to denote differences, not just color. You could go with just symbols, but having colors and symbols makes it easier for people that differentiate using color so that it&#8217;s easiest for everyone to know the differences you&#8217;re trying to convey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/decree-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-226\" width=\"375\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/decree-1.png 375w, https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/decree-1-300x204.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><figcaption>Decree Card from Animal Kingdoms<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In the above example, each icon is paired with a color and each icon is very different. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When you do choose symbols, the simpler and more different the symbol is, the better. For example, a circle, square, and triangle are easy to tell apart, but a triangle and an upside down triangle are not. Some people will have no problems, but some people will. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tools<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Make your color palette one that is good for most vision types by using  a tool to see how color blind people see your colors. You should try you color palette alone and on components to get a real look at how your colors can appear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Website:  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.color-blindness.com\/coblis-color-blindness-simulator\/\">https:\/\/www.color-blindness.com\/coblis-color-blindness-simulator\/<\/a> <\/li><li>Phone App:  <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=asada0.android.cvsimulator&amp;hl=en_US\">https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=asada0.android.cvsimulator&amp;hl=en_US<\/a> (android) or  <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/chromatic-vision-simulator\/id389310222\">https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/chromatic-vision-simulator\/id389310222<\/a>  (ios) <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/EJX6JdbUcAAs3qP?format=jpg&amp;name=large\" alt=\"Image\"\/><figcaption>Example Color Palette using the CVS app<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The above color palette was trying to find four colors that worked together, with the 3rd and 5th color being the ones that were being tested to see which was better. Neither color was particularly great, as the 3rd and 4th colors and the 2nd and 5th colors were pretty close to each other for those that have deuteranopia color blindness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The traditional color palette of green, red, blue, and yellow uses a green and red that look nearly identical for some forms of color blindness and you can easily get away from that by using a different color, such as white or black instead of the red or green. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Avoid using Semi-Transparent Components<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s much harder to choose colors that work well for all the different types of color blindness when the components are semi-transparent, especially in different levels of light. Making sure that components are opaque or not semi-transparent makes things way easier to be differentiated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, if you do need to make components semi-transparent, you can give one or two colors differences so you can tell them apart. For example, if you had blue and purple acrylic dice, you can add sparkles to one to make it stand out more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Use Different Shapes<\/strong> <strong>for Physical Components<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Make wooden or plastic bits different shapes so that you can tell the difference between them that way.  For example, if you have meeples of different colors to differentiate players, the meeples can be different shapes. This is also a nice way to add in a fun touch of theme, while making the game accessible as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you put in a bit of effort, you can make your game a lot more enjoyable for everyone that plays it. This isn&#8217;t the only kind of accessibility that you should try for, but it&#8217;s one that can make your game so much better, at little to no cost. I love my color palette that I use AND it gets people excited, as it&#8217;s more rare to see bright colors on player meeples, especially purple and orange, which are really great to use in a color blind friendly palette. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Did you enjoy this entry? Please let me know I\u2019d love to hear what you think and what kind of things you\u2019d like to see from this blog. Feel free to send me an&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:contact@weirdgiraffegames.com\">email<\/a>&nbsp;or comment with your thoughts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to sign up for my mailing list, so you don\u2019t miss a post:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/carlakopp\">https:\/\/tinyletter.com\/carlakopp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;re creating a game, there&#8217;s a lot of things to care about; balance, fun, component count, graphic design, and more! One thing that I&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"twitter_4766012646_4766012646":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accessibility","category-design"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide3.png","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":152,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2020\/02\/14\/interview-with-sarah-reed-visually-accessible-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":223,"position":0},"title":"Interview with Sarah Reed: Visually Accessible Games","author":"Carla","date":"February 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm talking today with Sarah Reed, co-designer of Oaxaca, Project Dreamscape, Scrapyard Rollbot, and several other fantastic games. Introduction Tell us a bit about yourself. I\u2019ve been a gamer all my life. My grandma and aunt played board games with me as a kid. In high school, I moved more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Accessibility&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Accessibility","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/accessibility\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide10.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide10.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide10.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide10.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide10.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":490,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/07\/20\/working-on-multiple-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":223,"position":1},"title":"Working on Multiple Games","author":"Carla","date":"July 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I really enjoy working on multiple games at the same time. As a publisher, this is pretty much required if I want to have more than one game come out every year or so. The process of game design and development can take months, and art can sometimes take even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/working-on-multiple-games.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":942,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2021\/05\/18\/in-depth-design-trails-of-tucana\/","url_meta":{"origin":223,"position":2},"title":"In Depth Design: Trails of Tucana","author":"Carla","date":"May 18, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"If you haven\u2019t played Trails of Tucana by Z-Man Games, you can check out the\u00a0BGG page\u00a0or this video by Gaming Rules! https:\/\/youtu.be\/Izs_3e-F3u4 Trails of Tucana is a flip and write game where you're trying to make trails throughout the island of Tucana with the goal of connecting villages to each\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/trails-of-tucana.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/trails-of-tucana.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/trails-of-tucana.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/trails-of-tucana.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/trails-of-tucana.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1263,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2022\/05\/03\/game-design-going-off-the-rails-part-1\/","url_meta":{"origin":223,"position":3},"title":"Game Design Going Off the Rails &#8211; Part 1","author":"Carla","date":"May 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a ton of ways your game design can go off the rails. You might want to design something specific just because, or maybe it's for a contest, or you might want to pitch to a particular publisher. Or maybe you somehow made a bunch of games with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/game-design-rails.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":212,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2020\/04\/28\/working-on-multiple-games-at-once\/","url_meta":{"origin":223,"position":4},"title":"Working on Multiple Games at Once","author":"Carla","date":"April 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Most designers start with one game, then eventually start working on two games at once. Some designers even move on to having 5+ in progress at the same time! There's several great reasons why you should work on more than one game at one time. You can playtest based on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide4.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide4.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Slide4.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":515,"url":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/2020\/12\/07\/organized-game-design-with-annamaria-jackson-phelps\/","url_meta":{"origin":223,"position":5},"title":"Organized Game Design with AnnaMaria Jackson-Phelps","author":"Carla","date":"December 7, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"AnnaMaria has designed Synchronized, HEAP, and Net Fishing, she is the social media manager for Pencil First Games, and is a content creator at Girl's Game Shelf. Watch the live chat below: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=OzaDsGS8gXc&t Staying Organized in a Pandemic There are so many online resources out there! Before the pandemic, we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Game Design&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Game Design","link":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/category\/design\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/annamaria.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/annamaria.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/annamaria.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/annamaria.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/annamaria.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1339,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223\/revisions\/1339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weirdgiraffegames.com\/carla\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}