The importance of art style and colour: part two

In the first part of this blog I talked about how some of my favourite games where successful; this was due to their unique art styles and colours. Within this post I will continue to explore these games looking more at the colours used and how this effects a players emotions and mood.

The colours in a game are very important to the overall mood of the game; if you use dark colours it is more likely to make the atmosphere more scary and eerie, if bright colours are used it makes it seem more cheery and upbeat and if neutral pastel colours are used it makes a very calm and peaceful surrounding. Colours can make a person feel so many different emotions and this is obvious when used in a game environment.

The Wolf Among Us uses many different colours to create their dark moody environments for example this image uses the complementary colours purple and yellow to create a wary alleyway scene. 

The purple in this image represents inferiority and the yellow anxiety, the characters in this image are unsure of the outcome of a potential fight in an alleyway but they know it isn't going to go well. 

Journey uses many colour schemes to create their beautiful environments; One of the most powerful being a monochromatic scene. 

In this image the use of orange tones create a calming and beautiful atmosphere, the colours are desaturated so they are not over powering. The use of orange gives a sense of comfort, security and warmth; the browns bringing tranquillity, earthiness and support to the environment. 

Don't Stave uses a very muted desaturated colour scheme; the colours used are realistic and are normally seen in everyday life; for example blue, green and yellow is often seen in nature. 

The analogous colours used throughout the game create a cartoony but realistic world; the colours being muted work perfectly with the whole gothic Tim Burton style of drawing.

Hotline Miami doesn't really have a set colour scheme, they use bright wacky colours that clash to create a trippy looking world; the use of the swaying scenes helps create this atmosphere.

The bright neon colours in-game denote the 80's due to the use of the same colours in this era. The overall use of the pinks and reds connote emasculation and aggression which help the player get in the mood; ready to smash some heads in.

Angry birds has used analogous colours to create a bright, happy and childish atmosphere. 

The green is used to show balance and also boredom, the bright colours used on the pigs makes your eyes drawn to them making them the main target. The yellow used on the bird is used to show confidence and power; this makes the bird seem more dominant than the green pigs. 

After looking at all of the colour schemes in these games it is truly amazing how just a few colours, shades and tones can make you feel different emotions and moods. The way that red can make you feel strength and anger and how blue can make you feel cold and intelligent is astonishing. By utilising colours psychological meanings you can create incredible atmospheres like the ones I have shown above.