Would you be happy playing a game in monochrome?

I'm thinking about using a monochromatic colour scheme in my game prototype as a homage to old black and white movies; an atmospheric film noir style. Do you think that people would be happy to play something that looked like this? Would you?

I would, if the game was good.
I still love Tetris on the Gameboy Original.

I think there is a half-life mod that's in all black/white. Or it could have been a Mafia mod.. It's set around 1918 and it's an FPS with tommy guns and such.
I suppose I would play it also if it were good enough.

But would you be playing it despite the fact that it was black and white - tolerating it because the gameplay was fun - or because you genuinly have no problem with it?

Black & White or should I say NOIR are a decent genre... Black & White can be a great look... Fantastic athmosphere... I would not play a game JUST BECAUSE it was in Black & White... I would play a game in Black & White if the idea were good and the game was fun!

For me, yes.

definitely... it adds an immersion factor that rivals full, photo realistic color work... but is distinctly different...

great idea Luke...

oh, if you haven't seen this already, here's something along those lines that i've looked at and found interesting...



http://webpages.charter.net/lflicking/

click here

on the page, then click cancel to download this lil gem.



--Mike

That's the same as asking someone if they would watch a black and white film. Anyone who says they wouldn't, BECAUSE it's black and white, is an idiot. Or, to be fair, probably just doesn't like films and the films they watch are just something to waste time while they get ready to go out clubbing on E.

In short, no, it wouldn't put me off :)

If it was monochrome for some astetic reason, then yes I would accept it, and posibly even credit it with "style".
If on the other hand it was just monochrome to be monochrome, then no, I wouldnt like it.

For example, in my current project, at the start of the "Tutorial", its all in monochrome LED green, as a retro statment. It makes no speed difference at all if I made all the sprites full 32Bit Colour (In fact they are 32bit colour, just all green). And so hopefuly it does look like it was a sytle, rather than a fudge.

I would safely say if I had the choice of 2 near identical games, 1 in color and 1 in black and white.. I would probably choose teh color one. Why ? .. No idea, it isn't a concious decision, the color one just seems more appealing.

As long as it fits the game, yeh

I would say go with monochrome, except, make it antialiazed at the edges.

Oh, yeah...

"... \Blitz3D\samples\Hi-Toro\Death Island\deathisland.bb"

I think it does add loads of atmosphere.

The planned new Wii game 'Sadness' is going to be black and white (if it actually gets completed):

http://wii.gamedaily.com/game/gallery/?gameid=5283

Monochrome is good, comes with a special atmosphere and concentrates more on lightning. There are a lot of fantastic B&W movies/photos. So much for the good side.

But i bet that after some time you will cry for colours again. I remember this when i was working on a NeXT. The first ones only had greyscale. It looked slick and was great but once you touched something different with colours woah you realised there is a whole new world to explore.

There is a place for each of them but if you want it simplified i would say colours beat monochrome.

Black and white like this?

Yeah, I'd play something that looks like that.

Definitely yes.

If modern films can be so good Shindler's list/Sin City then I don't see why a game can't be just as atmospheric.

Sin City does contain colours and a film is consumed in less time than a game. Well, normally, should be, would be nice if...

One of the engaging factors in black and white film, photos, art, is that it forces the person watching it to 'suspend disbelief' to accept it. One of the most important aspects of film and games is to do this, and the brain isn't very selective about this. If it is tricked enough to buy that the world has no color, then it will be tricked enough to believe the world you have made over other logic-less things.

When you watch a black and white film, your brain starts to add in it's own colors to make sense of it all, which is part of the reason that colors look so bright when you switch back to something colored.

The Wizard of Ozz uses that to great effect. When you look at the color parts all on their own, they really don't look that good, I mean, think of how old the movie is. But when you spend the first 15-30 min of the film with a browny black and white fuzz, and then suddenly smack into the color section, it looks amazingly bright, and it follows through the rest of the movie, to the point that you don't even notice that the end is also black and white, from a concious perspective.... by that point, you've just accepted the movie, and a black and white scene doesn't break the illusion anymore.

SO.... Yes, I would play a Black and White game... But it has to also be good... A bad game in black and white is just like a bad game in color...

I reckon it could work well. I would also consider some options like the 'Sin City' limited use of colour, or having very subtle tints over the grey.

..green monochromatic would be fine for my twisted eyes..

Yes. But not snooker.

If done well, it can definitely 'work'... But one problem you'll face is that *any* game (or movie) choosing B&W will alienate at least a chunk of the potential people playing it, so it's can be a bit of an obstacle.

I'm sure that there are many great B&W movies, but personally there are few were I can gather the patience to sit down and find out...

I would certainly give it a go if the game was set in a theme that warrented Black&white images. It's all about Mood setting. As with anything else in a game, it has to compliment the game itself. Don't just do it 'to be different'.

There are a few games in which I would have loved Black & white. One of which is the last Max Payne. The whole old detective atmosphere would have worked very well with Black and white cinematics.

If the game is set in a film-noir setting, I would definatly give the B&W a try. If it gives to much problems, you can always make it a sepia colour tone. All images basicly B&W, but with a yellow-brownish, 'aged' look. This gis a wonderfull mood-setter.

it can look good if you do it right and but the game in a past time period, like the 40s or 30s

I've made a black and white game. Actually, it was made to run on a 9" Mac Plus, so only uses 1 bit graphics. You can play it here http://www.ragtag.net/films/movies/slabbers/index.html if you want to. :-)

Not very atmospheric though...

Ragnar

I think this is the key point. You will reduce your potential audience by utilising monochrome styling.

Right or wrong, many people will not watch/play a movie/game simply because it is black and white. The same does not apply vice-versa.

acutally.. I'm not sure that is true of games... Games don't have a 'tradition' of black and white like movies did.. sure there were black and white games on PCs with black and white monitors... but that was alongside color atari and NES games... so it doesn't have the stigma that black and white movies have... being grainy, slower paced, and old...

So I think that a game in black and white, could have the same market as if it were in color.... Provided the graphics are just as good as if they were in color.. a lot can be done with value alone... and I don't see people not reading manga cause it is mostly black and white...

Ive just played Battlefied 2142. And most of it is in Black and white

I would probably overlook a game thats just black and white. A game like Gears of War, which has very minimal variation of colour (sepia, blues, yellows, greys) had an excellent portrayed atmosphere to it.

I wouldn't myself go for an all out black and white, I would go for a more Gears of War feel.

when I was a kid, I hated playing spec or C64 games on a B&W TV...

Nope. Exhibit A: There is already a recently released game exactly like you describe. I can't remember it's name and haven't heard it mentioned anywhere I usually visit.

No. I don't think "Not having colours" makes something more atmospheric. It works in (some) movies (like Clerks) because you are passive to the story. It doesn't really work in video games because it breaks suspension of disbelief. It could work for effect in a game, for example a time-travel game where the interface needs to adapt to technology that was available at the time, but for a whole game, I just don't see it working.

If you did grayscale with hints of color that could be interesting. I'm thinking especially of "Shindler's List" (yes, a movie) where the only color I remember is the red Scarf the one girl was wearing. Another excellent use of this, and more upbeat in tone, is "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", Betty Boop had blue eyes even though she was black and white.

BW isn't the same as BW. Monochromatic is 1 bit color, I remember my Atari ST monochrome monitor. It has a resolution of 640*400 on 12". Patterns gave me some pseudo greyscales.

Then there are modern BW movies, like Schindlers list or sin city etc. they may utilize those effects as mentioned. EG: everything BW, except blood that is glowing red.

and finally the old BW movies. They may be sephia to some degree and contain dust, scratches and missing frames etc.

They are also 18 fps movies replayed at 24 fps for some special slapstick comedy ambience.

Personally I'd prefere the old movie style.

good point, I'd be even less willing to play a monochrome game.

Greyscale??? paperwhite VGA??? or real old retro MONO... The kind where the Hercules Graphics card was a step UP???

MONO nope...

Greycale??? It has been poked at a few times and could be very noir if done right... intersting concept.