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OnyxFlame · 08-29-2002, 09:20 AM

The mud I play on has a pretty good color scheme. Not abusive to the eyes and easy to tell what's going on at a glance.

For example when you look at someone, the health of all their limbs is represented in different colors depending on how damaged each part is. Concentration uses basically the same color scheme. Aura is represented in the colors it's supposed to be (except for octarine which just shows up kinda grayish. Bleah.) Room names are gray, descs are white, and exits are cyan or red, depending on whether there's a closed door or something there. Hexes (i.e. wilderness map) are colored according to what type of terrain they are, with prominent structures annotated. Valuable stones and metals in jewelry are colored, as are fireworks (which never get used unless it's a holiday or some creator got really really bored). You can buy colored who descs (1 color only) but they're expensive enough that people don't do it unless it's absolutely imperative to them that they show up as a psychopathic killer. Mobs and people and most objects aren't colored. The only really annoying color in the game is what happens when you're high on spotted mushrooms, and it was done that way to prove a point. You can't use color when you talk, although various methods of communication are colored separately to distinguish them from all the battle or spell spam.

As for color being a method of expression...if you can't express yourself through your words rather than a whole lot of <span style='color

urple'>colors, there's something wrong.

The moral of the story: make it tasteful, or the player will just turn off colors, or use his client to set them.

08-29-2002, 09:20 AM	#46
OnyxFlame Member Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 153	The mud I play on has a pretty good color scheme. Not abusive to the eyes and easy to tell what's going on at a glance. For example when you look at someone, the health of all their limbs is represented in different colors depending on how damaged each part is. Concentration uses basically the same color scheme. Aura is represented in the colors it's supposed to be (except for octarine which just shows up kinda grayish. Bleah.) Room names are gray, descs are white, and exits are cyan or red, depending on whether there's a closed door or something there. Hexes (i.e. wilderness map) are colored according to what type of terrain they are, with prominent structures annotated. Valuable stones and metals in jewelry are colored, as are fireworks (which never get used unless it's a holiday or some creator got really really bored). You can buy colored who descs (1 color only) but they're expensive enough that people don't do it unless it's absolutely imperative to them that they show up as <span style='color:red'>a psychopathic killer</span>. Mobs and people and most objects aren't colored. The only really annoying color in the game is what happens when you're high on spotted mushrooms, and it was done that way to prove a point. You can't use color when you talk, although various methods of communication are colored separately to distinguish them from all the battle or spell spam. As for color being a method of expression...if you can't express yourself through your words rather than <span style='color:blue'>a</span> <span style='color:cyan'>whole</span> <span style='color:yellow'>lot</span> <span style='color:green'>of</span> <span style='colorurple'>colors</span>, there's something wrong. The moral of the story: make it tasteful, or the player will just turn off colors, or use his client to set them.