When creating a game, you should think about the colours that will be in your project. With a well-chosen palette, you can create an interesting visual experience that will delight and engage your players.

This post has collected tips for choosing the perfect colour palette for hyper-casual games from the successful, most downloaded projects of 2021.

What are colour palettes in games?

The colour palette is a generic design term that applies to most industries. In-game design, it’s a set of predefined colours, usually associated with the game’s rules.

An example of a colour palette at different levels of the game

A palette of 5-6 colours is the most common. This is by no means an axiom or a guide, but rather a rule. When considering your games, colour consistency is vital. For example, green is good, red is bad, etc.

Choosing a colour palette for your hyper-casual game

This article will not delve into colour theory, but it is essential to consider how colours affect the feel and atmosphere of your games when choosing a colour palette. Colours matter and the emotions associated with them.

  • Red is danger, energy, and passion.
  • Orange – enthusiasm, youth, and creativity.
  • Green – harmony, and nature.
  • Blue is soothing and cold.
  • Purple – spirituality, mystery, and luxury.
Features of the colour palette of hyper-casual games
Samurai Flash

Without exception, you first need to, for yourself, shift the focus of the game action away from the environment or background. From the example above, the first screenshot (blue background) is the original colour palette from the Samurai Flash game.

The background colour has been changed in the 2nd and 3rd screenshots to show how the main game actions (player character, villains, and platforms) remain high contrast and bright regardless of the background.

You will want your background to remain subtle, not distracting from the main gameplay since its purpose is to make the user fall in love with you.

It is also worth noting that about 300 million people in the world suffer from colour blindness. Yet, setting a high contrast of the gameplay only makes your game more accessible to such people. Keep this in mind.

For hyper-casual games, try to choose a bright, crisp, and contrasting colour palette; the main thing is not to overdo it!

The best hyper-casual colour palettes

Let’s look at 3 examples based on 2021 games that were the most downloaded in the Apple App Store and Google Play.

1. Join Clash 3D

2. Sushi Roll 3D

3. Phone Case DIY

We can see that blue and orange are the most common shades for palette selection in the game. However, these colours are widely used in filmmaking. Try to pay attention to the colours when watching a film, and you will notice the predominant shades of orange and blue.

Conclusions

Get inspiration from examples. You can also use online palette generators such as the Adobe Color Wheel.

Remember that when you are thinking about the colour palette of your game, adopting the rule of “opposite attraction” can be a great start, and you will make sure the colours seem “right” for the game you are creating. Feel free to try different combinations.

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