Expand Color Palette

[Omay238]

This may not be possible with sprig hardware, but adding different shades of already integrated colors would be very useful for things such as shading and details.

[leomcelroy]

I've been looking at other color palettes actually. Unfortunately changing them would adjust how people's games look but we could try to match the general colors of the current palette with a more carefully designed one.

Here are a few I was studying for inspiration:

https://androidarts.com/palette/16pal.htm

https://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/bauhaus/new_artist/form_color/color/

https://yeun.github.io/open-color/#gray

https://pico-8.fandom.com/wiki/Palette

[leomcelroy]

What colors would you add?

[Omay238]

I'm not sure what colors I would add, but a question: are more than 16 colors possible?

[leomcelroy]

It's possible yes. We limit the colors as a design constraint but technically the limit is the number of characters.

[Omay238]

How many total colors would be possible?

[Omay238]

I made a pretty similar one that could preserve old art if the colors were put correctly here.

[Omay238]

The colors in hex are:

#000000
#555555
#aaaaaa
#FFFFFF
#800000
#C00000
#FF0000
#008000
#00C000
#00FF00
#000080
#0000C0
#0000FF
#808000
#C0C000
#FFFF00
#008080
#00C0C0
#00FFFF
#800080
#C000C0
#FF00FF

[leomcelroy]

How did you choose these? Are they just evenly spaced?

[Omay238]

I got the half and three quarters brightness versions of all the original colors. I also changed the lighter gray to be a bit brighter.

[Omay238]

I do like the original. It's a nice amount of pure colors that can be used for simple art. My additions would probably just be used for shading.

[Omay238]

Do you think you could have up to 36, letters and numbers? I'm trying to make a new palette that is more diverse.

[LucasHT22]

@Omay238 I suggest adding these colors:

[zachlatta]

Is there a technical constraint preventing us from supporting all colors?I know there is a vibrant community of people who love pixel art - especially middle schoolers, and I’d love for pixel art to be a “handle” for them to grasp to get deeper into their Sprig games. See https://www.pixilart.com/ for an example.For that to happen, I think we would need to be able to support arbitrary colors.On Sep 14, 2022, at 18:10, Lucas @.***> wrote: @Omay238 I suggest adding these colors:

—Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: @.***>

[Omay238]

I don't know how hard this would be, but a potential solution is have some sort of function (like setPalette()) to change the palette to some custom one. From what I understand, the colors used can be changed, using sprig hardware, but it would just be a matter of software.

[leomcelroy]

We can't do arbitrary colors because there needs to be a map to characters, at this point some of the color constraints are baked into firmware as well though that's more of an implementation constraint as opposed to something inherent to the problem.

That's good thinking Leonard there actually is a setPalette function which Ced and I discussed documenting. It should just work though I'm forgetting where we landed on exposing it. I do think the limited palette helps people with creativity (limitations effect in this way being a theme of the whole system).

[leomcelroy]

I've consistently settled on less than 16 colors being preferable. I'd like to take a closer look at the palettes you're (@Omay238) suggesting though. It's possible to have 36 yes though that many would involve changes to the interface I think.

[LucasHT22]

@leomcelroy I agree that the reduced palette helps people with creativity, but at least brown should be added, because without brown you can't make a tree

[Omay238]

I tested a new color palette, which just adds darker shades and browns, which you can see doesn't really make it easier to make art, but the abilities are just greatly expanded. It also doesn't require extra code for making it look good. I think that was already changed with my issue about lots of sprites.

[Omay238]

I can make a PR with the updated palette.

[LucasHT22]

@Omay238 , just a small formatting error, in the formatting from the current color palette, has 6 colors per row, while yours has only 5

[leomcelroy]

On the formatting, I think that's just the flex box.

@Omay238 could you trim it down to 16 colors? I like what you're doing but it feels it's getting away from the minimalism.

[leomcelroy]

Maybe two shades for each?

[Omay238]

Ok, I could do that. I'll send a new preview for it.

[Omay238]

I feel like this one allows more detail than the original, and it is 16 different colors. How do you feel about it?

[LucasHT22]

Keep at least 1 shade of brown, without brown you can't make a tree or woods, it's a big barrier

[leomcelroy]

@Omay238 Thanks so much for pushing this issue! I've been really wanting to make the palette nicer and spent a couple hours looking at your suggested palettes and the feedback others gave this week. @kognise and I integrated that into the editor today and you can see the new palette on this branch.

What do you think?

[LucasHT22]

Good color palette, doesn't lose Sprig simplicity

[Omay238]

I agree. It looks pretty good. Anyways, I'll close this issue now.