What Game Design Needs: More ... Monotony? [Who Needs Color]

[GamePoster]

... So Margaret Robertson argues, at least when it comes to graphics — why did everyone abandon monochrome for color? Wouldn't a little variety be nice?:

Why were we so quick to leave black and white behind as we moved on from Pong and Spacewar!, and so quick to assume that these 15, 52, 512 or 16.7 million new colours were necessities not possibilities? Why, other than the small consideration of it being certain commercial suicide, did so few designers chose to keep things monotonous? Why can't I think of a single voluntarily black-and-white game, from the last ten years, since my best candidate, Vib Ribbon, turns out to have a little hint of pastel indulgence in its scoring display.

I admit that while I adore old black and white film (more because I'm a fan of silent movies than because I'm so wild about monotony), but I do like my games to be vibrant — the washed out grey-and-browns is getting a little old. But I'm all for black and white if it's executed well — I've seen several modern films that utilize black and white and color to great effect. I suspect the game industry made a rush for color because, well, that's what humans do when a newer and cooler technology comes along.
Monotony [Lookspring]

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