This past weekend I figured I’d see what all the kids are talking about and gave Temple Run 2 a whirl on my Samsung Galaxy S3.
The overall game experience seemed cool at first. Until I got ~5 sec. into the game. I have played the original Temple Run once or twice (ok, more like a lot) and knew I was looking for coins and looking to not run into or off of shit. What ensued was pretty funny.
I ran off bridges, into walls, and into rivers.
I collected no coins (unless it were by chance) and overall I was left with a WTF moment.
I had no idea what was going on. Until I realized… I am color blind and this games color scheme was TOTALLY not designed for me. The coins blend in with the ground. The turns are mostly masked by color similarities. Totally unusable for me!
After recently reading this article about how Duck Hunt works I was left with thinking about the importance of contrast and simplicity in design. In Duck Hunt, the sky is blue and the birds are white/black. So easy to establish what you’re objective is and how to obtain it. In Temple Run 2, the ground and the coins are each a different hue of yellow (i think).
Setting users up for success in an app means being explicitly clear what’s going on at all times. What is going on and what is expected should be crystal clear.
The creators of Temple Run probably did not consider the color blind when designing. Thats forgivable and probably understandable. BUT what they should have considered is creating and using contrast to establish what should be done in the game. Instead, they are relying on the success of their first game.
Note to self: Be explicit and and design with contrast in mind when building anything going forward.