Warframe's enormous colorblind-spot in UI design

[Durin_Mankiller]

Ok. I will try to be concise, but this is no simple subject. It's about the fact that I am red/green colorblind.

Now, I'm pretty new to the game and I may certainly have missed it buried somewhere in the options, (which it should never be) but as far as I can tell, there is no UI or game customization options that will allow someone like me to not go freaking insane trying to play this awesome game.

Worse, judging by the overall UI and art design decisions made in the game, not a single thought was given to people like me, so it would not surprise me in the least that there would be no "colorblind mode" or UI color customization options that would allow us to just handle the issue ourselves and hobble along.

This is a huge problem.

If you are even mildly colorblind, this game is a pastel hell. Dark-red, yellow and light-green navigation markers? For real? Have the developers even met a colorblind person before? Do you even realize we exist? I do not mean to be harsh in this, but recent studies have shown that up to roughly 20% of the population is probably affected by some form or degree of color-deficiency. Most without even ever knowing it until or unless they are tested for things like jobs and professions they may have studied years for, but suddenly find they will never be allowed to do.

We're talking about a pretty huge chunk of the potential player-base here. I often wonder how many people who left the game because they found it to be 'too hard' or 'confusing' only found it to be that way because they didn't know they were color-deficient, rendering them unable to even recognize the problems for what they are.

Problems such as the fact that the red markers for enemies during extermination missions are all but invisible against most backgrounds. For me, the yellow and green markers are yellow and yellow markers, with very little to distinguish them in terms of symbol size, shape or pattern, making them nearly impossible to differentiate at a glance and requiring close scrutiny, particularly if you are new to the game. These problems hinder and make very difficult something as simple as basic navigation. Which as you might imagine, is extremely frustrating when you're consistently the last one getting to the objective or locating a target because of it.

I understand that there is even a warframe that switches damage types as it's ability, but that the only indication of which one is active is the color of the lights on the frame?! Who thought that was a good idea? I'm sure it's pretty and all, but I might as well not bother with ever getting or using it. I would have no reliable way to determine what type of damage I currently had active. Much less so while in the midst of heated combat.

The problem for the DE team is that there are many different kinds and degrees of colorblindness along with different levels of successful mental adaptations to it made by the individual. So there is no 'One colorblind mode to rule them all'. However, there are some simple fixes they could certainly implement to start.

Most notably by recognizing that when someone like me is looking at the UI or the game in general while trying to differentiate and understand the information it's trying to convey, color is the very last criteria by which I'm making those determinations, if it's on the list at all. Shape, size and pattern rule. Color is ignored until all other criteria fail to identify, because it is almost certain to fail me as well.

Color alone simply cannot be the only method the game uses to convey information to me, the player. Because it essentially denies me any meaningful or speedy access to that information if not outright denying me access completely.

As I mentioned above, the Devs honestly don't even have to do much thinking about a temporary fix on the UI side of things in the short term. The simplest solution there is to change the mission icons a little and/or to provide full UI color-customization to us that will allow us to do things like change colors on primary, secondary and extraction mission objective icons as well as the health indicators, so people like me don't have to squint and focus on it to see how close we are to dying, or where we need to go.

For the long term however, there are quite a number of resources and a good pool of expertise on this subject in regards to game design and presentation that are just a google search away. DE is going to want to look into those before they dig this hole any deeper. Because the longer this issue is ignored as they proceed, the more time and money they will lose in fixing it.

On the other side of the coin, if they don't make this change in visual design philosophy now and fix past errors, they'll lose a lot more players than they otherwise would, which is the same as losing the money to deal with the problem in the first place only worse, because instead of a short-term cost, it continues in perpetuity for the entire lifespan of the game. More importantly, it also becomes a compounding cost of unknowable dimensions in perpetuity, because those players will not keep those bad experiences to themselves and may not even be able to properly articulate why the experience was so bad, casting a nebulous pall over the deliberations of any potential new player within the sound of their voice who is trying to decide if the game is worth trying.

I want very much to have what DE is trying to do with this game and their general business practices to succeed and become a new industry standard in an industry sadly lacking in any. So please do try to understand that I only feel so strongly about this issue because of that desire to see them make the best game they can make. I am only sounding the alarm and hoping that they pay attention.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and to consider what I've said.

[Fallowsthorn]

I'm not colorblind but I want to boost this because accessibility of all types is important. While this is maybe slightly alarmist, I do understand your frustration and I agree with your points here.

[OptimumBow0]

There have been steps like the mission markers being differentiated from each other in shape (square = kill, triangle = go here, oval/liset = extract) and locked/unlocked containers receiving geometry changes (basically all the stuff under section 7 of https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Heads-Up_Display). What specifically troubles you besides that?

[DeMonkey]

I've been trying for years to get proper colourblind support, with little success. DE are seemingly resolutely in favour of using filters and ensuring that as much of the game as possible is colourblind friendly.

They have objectively failed in this regard, especially after releasing the updated "High Contrast Theme" and ignoring all the negative feedback on it.

I don't believe the problem is as severe as you make out with regards to players leaving, because I found it fairly simple to adapt to several of the problems presented. Whilst objective and extraction markers are the same colour, their icons are different enough to be recognisable. Whilst enemies on the radar are hard to see at times, you can hear them pretty easily (and after enough practice with the game you know roughly where all the enemies will be due to the AI).

As for Chroma, you might want to do some research there. His element is determined by your energy colour, something that you decide upon before the mission starts. You're also provided with an icon of what the selected energy colour's element will be.

But, yes, there does need to be massive improvements to colourblind support, because unfortunately DE continue to make the same mistakes over and over.

@OptimumBow0 are you aware of how un-colourblind friendly the game is? Mining, for example, is genuinely painful.

Squinting at the screen whilst looking for a thin line of red when your eyes are literally flawed and red is the colour they see the least?

Trying to work out if a focus node is active or not, just by sight?

Trying to see which enemies are covered by an arbitration drone?

The list goes on.

Edited December 4, 2018 by DeMonkey

[Blakrana]

22 minutes ago, Durin_Mankiller said:

Worse, judging by the overall UI and art design decisions made in the game, not a single thought was given to people like me, so it would not surprise me in the least that there would be no "colorblind mode" or UI color customization options that would allow us to just handle the issue ourselves and hobble along.

Unfortunately, it's pretty much the case.

The closest we get is the "high contrast" UI theme (Options - UI - Customise UI) which...no. Blue on Blue, is not high contrast. And this is the version they changed to after we pointed out the last one was a red/green/orange whatever mess.

32 minutes ago, Durin_Mankiller said:

Have the developers even met a colorblind person before? Do you even realize we exist?

Whilst I am at least heavily doubtful anyone in the Development team, or at least the UI department are colourblind, they do know we exist.

On the one hand, we have the laughable "High Contrast" colour scheme that they actually label as "for colour vision issues" (forget exact words, paraphrasing). Again, we told them it was bad with the initial iteration, they changed it to the current one, we told them it was bad...and they just kept it and proceeded to not respond to further stressing blue on blue is not contrasting.

On the other hand, they did add a pattern to Doors and Lockers for distinguishing between the Red locked states, and the Green Open states. Albeit after much prompting for a prolonged period of time...

Moving onto the foot, they changed the Mod card colours, kind of ignored criticism of the difference between the silver mod cards and the white Primed mods...then eventually added in the little Rarity Stars at the top of said Mod cards at some point.

Yet...moving to the other foot, there's been things like the Trials having colour based puzzles that, from what I heard when those were still things, were not colourblind friendly, the Mining UI seems to adore a lack of highlighting and contrast for the veins against the background as it's a Red/Blue thing with blue dots on a potentially washed out white background. Fun times...

In summary...they acknowledge that Colourblind users exist, and make a...modest showing when pushed...but still nonetheless fall short. Even something as meagre as some form of labelling for Warframe/equipment colour palettes, like we have with Dojos and Companions, largely falls on deaf or indifferent ears it feels. Personally some of my most cynical considerations come back to just plain old pride; why else do they ignore feedback from actual colourblind people in lieu of favouring their "looks fine to us" simulations? I understand that critique can be destructive, but if your "colourblind support" gets criticised for not actually being helpful...that's one of the most constructive critiques you can get. Ignoring that input is more destructive, at that point.

It'd be nice if they gave us some more freedom to tweak or alter the UI colouration but seeing as they're turning that into a questionable source of Platinum...sadly doesn't appear to be a thing that's going to happen.

Apologies for going on, any rate.

[AdunSaveMe]

It's not unfair to say that DE has a very big problem with keeping colourblind players in mind. They've made improvements, but very, very slowly.

[Durin_Mankiller]

On 2018-12-03 at 5:23 PM, OptimumBow0 said:

There have been steps like the mission markers being differentiated from each other in shape (square = kill, triangle = go here, oval/liset = extract) and locked/unlocked containers receiving geometry changes (basically all the stuff under section 7 of https://warframe.fandom.com/wiki/Heads-Up_Display). What specifically troubles you besides that?

I really don't understand why you bother mentioning markers being differentiated by shape, because they simply are not. Every marker is bounded by a little hexagon. Every. One.

So they're all shaped the same at a glance and therefore difficult to determine without focusing on it. Moreover, the colors used for them often cause them to blend right into the background for me, making what pattern is within the tiny icon fairly indistinct, without moving my view around until I can actually properly see it.

I want you to watch this short video, then actually look at the image you dismissively linked.

That image was designed to showcase the new UI, but actually only succeeds in illustrating it's abject failures. Look at item number 7 in the image. Dark-red-on-black symbol, (which effectively makes it a black dot for me) against a shadowed background. It doesn't matter what pattern exists within that little hexagon if I can't even distinguish it from the black bordering, or the symbol itself from the background.

It is pretty much invisible for me. That is the marker for an enemy! I'm sorry, but if you want to claim that they're addressing the issue, then you will have to explain the exceedingly poor design choice of making the navigation markers in a level a bunch of yellow and red hexagons. While you're at looking at all this, you should also keep in mind that in gameplay we are not looking at static images, with all the time in the world to look at something and make determinations.

In fact, I and other colorblind people are being forced needlessly to compensate for their design inadequacies several times a second, every second we play. This roughly analogous to opening a shop you know will be patronized by wheelchair-bound customers, then failing to put in a wheelchair ramp.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Durin_Mankiller
Removal of insult, refinement of analogy

[Durin_Mankiller]

On 2018-12-03 at 5:20 PM, Fallowsthorn said:

I'm not colorblind but I want to boost this because accessibility of all types is important. While this is maybe slightly alarmist, I do understand your frustration and I agree with your points here.

I appreciate your support in this. I realize you feel that it is alarmist, but perhaps I can illustrate for you how it is not.

Suppose you decided to open a neighborhood market. Now suppose that in research, you come to find out that at least 10%, but possibly as much as 20% of your potential customers in the area are wheelchair-bound.

Then, knowing this, you fail to put in a wheelchair ramp because you think it would be too much trouble or expense. Why do you care? You don't need a wheelchair to access your business, so you decide it doesn't matter.

Now, how much business will you lose over the term of your shop's existence there? How many people in wheelchairs will take one look, then give your shop a hard pass and never say a word to you? How many of their friends and family will similarly give your shop a pass out of resentment for your lack of consideration, or worse, your outright refusal to do anything, even when complaints are lodged? Suppose a few of those wheelchair-bound people really like your shop anyway, struggling their way into your shop every time they arrive, blocking up the stairwell, or otherwise affecting the shopping experience of your other customers, because you didn't make any accommodation for them. How does that look? What does that do to your numbers?

Suppose then that many, if not all of your direct competitors did foresee all this and put in wheelchair ramps. How much is a ramp costing you now?

This is no different.

That is not alarmist. That is simply the reality of a competitive market.

Edited December 5, 2018 by Durin_Mankiller
editing

[TitaniumGuy]

I totally feel you, and i hope this gets more attention.
did you play arbitrations yet? because the little invulnerability drones are more or less undetectable for me

[Desnax]

I know this thread is a week old, but it's the most recent one on the topic so figured I would also include my thoughts. I'm also high red colorblind with some forms of greens and blues. Also known as protanopia. Most games use red to indicate death is coming or to mark waypoints, which made my playing those games harder than it has to be, avoid the red circles... wait where? dead.. sigh. So over the years those games have included options that changes those red markers and death circles into green or other colors depending on your choice of colorblind option and really that's all warframe needs to do. Change UI red stuff into a different color when the option is selected, no need for shapeshifting or redoing the game core mechanics, just a color swap is all thats needed.

[Durin_Mankiller]

On 2018-12-14 at 5:10 AM, Desnax said:

I know this thread is a week old, but it's the most recent one on the topic so figured I would also include my thoughts. I'm also high red colorblind with some forms of greens and blues. Also known as protanopia. Most games use red to indicate death is coming or to mark waypoints, which made my playing those games harder than it has to be, avoid the red circles... wait where? dead.. sigh. So over the years those games have included options that changes those red markers and death circles into green or other colors depending on your choice of colorblind option and really that's all warframe needs to do. Change UI red stuff into a different color when the option is selected, no need for shapeshifting or redoing the game core mechanics, just a color swap is all thats needed.

Agreed. If the developers wished it, the UI alterations can be a client-side alteration that does not appear for anyone else.

However, I do still wish to advocate for a more universal approach in making these changes for a few very good reasons.

Those being that the changes are largely cosmetic, require minimal resources. time or effort to be put forth on the part of the developers and most importantly, the fact that such changes would actually enhance the experience of all players.

Warframe is without a doubt a rapid-action "Twitch Shooter". To say that seconds count is a vast understatement. Because in Warframe, microseconds are what counts the time. We need instant access to all available incoming information. Instant.

Not after a few seconds of squinting at the screen or asking someone who may or may not be watching you play. Right. Now.

In making a game like Warframe, failure to effectively and instantly communicate crucial information to the player is simply making a very poor design choice. Particularly after having been made aware of the problem, as they apparently have, it is a willfully poor design choice. Which frankly, for many of the reasons outlined above, I completely fail to understand.

[Durin_Mankiller]

On 2018-12-09 at 2:27 AM, TitaniumGuy said:

I totally feel you, and i hope this gets more attention.
did you play arbitrations yet? because the little invulnerability drones are more or less undetectable for me

No. I haven't gotten that far yet. Can't wait for that! 

But I did find trouble with the Vauban frame. There's a mine you can lay that you can switch damage types on, apparently. I don't know how to do that or even if I was successful. I can only assume it was color-coded. No explanation is given to the player about how to switch the damage type and everything I tried seemed to make no apparent difference.

So really, that's kind of a toss-up on who screwed up and then who screwed up more. Did the artistic design team screw up and use color-coding as the only means of conveying information again? Or did the interface and documentation guys screw up more with inadequate documentation that only compounds the errors of the artistic design team?

Why not both?

You know, it drives me freakin' nuts with how many defense and infiltration missions DE makes us endure in this game. Normally in a game like this, things like the Extermination missions are a nice, simple, refreshing and pallete-cleansing reprieve from dealing with A.I. captives, defectors, drones etc. that are constantly getting themselves killed out of general stupidity and so forth.

But that just isn't the case and your frustration is only redoubled when you are constantly, constantly having difficulties in doing something as simple as locating the enemies.

I most certainly understand that many people might see my words here as needlessly reactionary. That is because they are only viewing this in the short term. You see, I've been playing games for 35 years. That's probably longer than some of the developers have been in existence. I and other colorblind people such as yourself have had to endure this negligence on the part of game developers for quite long enough, I think. It's about time we stopped taking this crap from them without complaint.

This is not a new issue. At all. By any definition. They really have no good excuse for this.