What are the "do's and dont's" when it comes to picking colors for the two players and the board in a 2 player abstract game? When you ask the players themselves, everyone has their own finicky preferences, with no real consensus between them. (Red & green might be the only way to go for player A, while player B hates red & green because he's colorblind.) Anyway, how do you come up with a colorscheme that pleases everyone - or what ones are already used that work?
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1About the close vote - this isn't primarily opinion-based in my opinion, as it can be discussed on principles of clear color contrast, visual impairments and the like.– TheThirdManCommented Jun 6, 2017 at 8:46
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In addition to worrying about colours, consider making the pieces different shapes/patterns/etc., if possible.– xorsystCommented Jun 6, 2017 at 11:43
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1First rule of game design, if you try to please everyone, you will please no one– AndreyCommented Jun 6, 2017 at 15:40
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Is this a physical game or a computer game? (I had the same problem with the abstract version of my game. Black and White was too conventional, so we went with "Indigo & Ivory" . Took me many months of polling to find a good, neutral color scheme.)– DukeZhouCommented Aug 15, 2017 at 20:41
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1 Answer
If it's only for two players, you're in luck. Chess and Go are both over a thousand years old, and both use the classic combination of Black and White.
If you insist on having a colour, though, you want to follow black and white's example; have lots of contrast between them, and keep in mind accessibility. Amy's preference for red and green is far less important than Bill's colour-blindness when it comes to designing your game. Any dark colour and white will do this job, and this is commonly seen in chess sets; Red and White is common.
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1Meanwhile, Black and bright Red seems rather common with Checkers sets. Same principle of contrast, except in the opposite direction. Commented Jun 6, 2017 at 4:30
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Chess boards follow the same rules: black and white, or any two highly contrasting colours. How many colours did you need for the board?– monoRedCommented Jun 6, 2017 at 13:29
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Just one, I wasn't sure if wood or a neutral color would be better. Thanks.– EriekCommented Jun 6, 2017 at 19:06
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The positions and (if relevant) types of the pieces are more important than the board spaces. So, to prevent the board colouring from being too overpowering, the pieces' colours should contrast more than the board spaces. The smaller contrast in the board spaces' colours doesn't matter so much, because they will generally be a bit bigger than the pieces on them.– Rosie FCommented May 2, 2018 at 9:02