Readability versus being pretty?

People often think they can't coexist but the truth of the matter is, they're a balancing act for one another. That something that looks pretty needs to have good readability in a fast pace game, in slower pace games you can afford to have visual complexity.

It all depends on the type of game you're making, the more visual elements going on the screen, the less pretty and the more readable things need to be, try to greyscale your level and see if it's readable.

The following genres that need to follow this rule;

Fast paced FPS

RTS

MOBAS

Battle Royale

2D platformers

Twin Stick Shooters

Bullet Hells

Action platformers

Action

PVE

Racing

The following genres that don't need to follow this rule;

Chess

Turn Based RPGs

Puzzle games

Turn based card games

How many games actually follow these rules?

Oh boy not many I will tell you sadly.

The list of games that don't follow this rule;

Overwatch 1 & 2

Warframe

I don't play many games that have visual complexity

Games that did follow this rule

TF2

Neon White

Freedom Planet 1 & 2

Hi-Fi Rush

20XX

Shantae

Older Assassin Creed games

Sly Cooper (expect 4, though I don't remember much of 4)

How to make a game readable?

A couple things;

1. Break down the visuals using grey scale

2. Cut back on details, the less details in the less important places, the better

3. The open your eyes test, close your eyes and open them at the right time to see what you can see visually speaking, what is the first thing your eyes lock onto; if it's a mess, your eyes will lock on to less important parts.

4. Keep shapes simple, use a black silhouette to know the shape of the item. If people can't tell what it is from that perspective, then you failed.

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