Ubisoft Chroma helps developers simulate color blindness across all game engines

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Something to look forward to: People with color blindness have varying degrees of difficulty seeing or distinguishing certain colors. Gamers affected by color blindness often rely on specific accessibility options to fully enjoy their on-screen experience. Ubisoft's latest release, however, could significantly improve their experience – not just in one game, but across a broader range of titles.

Ubisoft recently introduced Chroma, an open-source tool designed to simulate various types of color blindness. According to the French publisher, around 300 million people worldwide are affected by color vision deficiency – many of whom are gamers who spend significant time engaging with rich and vibrant digital environments.

With Chroma, developers can simulate the three main types of color blindness: Protanopia, Deuteranopia, and Tritanopia. Ubisoft has already used the tool internally across several game projects, supporting its accessibility team during complex testing scenarios. Notably, Chroma is designed to work across all games, with no dependencies on specific game engines or platforms.

The tool boasts additional features such as accurate visual simulation and real-time rendering at up to 60 FPS. While 60 FPS may not be considered "high-performance" by modern gaming standards, it represents a reasonable tradeoff in the context of accessibility – especially when the alternative is an inaccurate or incomplete visual experience. It's also possible that this frame rate applies only to the simulation tool during development, rather than affecting performance in final game builds.

Chroma also offers live gameplay recording, screenshot capture, a configurable UI, and more. The tool works by applying a filter over the game's graphics to simulate color blindness, Ubisoft explained. Developed since 2021 by the company's Quality Control team in India, Chroma uses the Color Oracle algorithm and supports both single and dual screen setups. It provides several hotkeys and a customizable overlay to streamline testing.

According to Jawad Shakil, Ubisoft's Quality Control Product Manager, Chroma was designed to integrate color-blind accessibility into the creative and testing process from the earliest stages of game development. The QC team devoted extensive effort to ensure the tool eliminated lag and minimized visual inaccuracies.

Ubisoft is now releasing Chroma under an open-source license, giving other developers a new option to enhance accessibility in their own games.

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Ubisoft Chroma helps developers simulate color blindness across all game engines

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Neat. My son is color blind and I always want to know more about how the world looks to him.

Always appreciate little things like this.

 

[WhiteLeaff]

Wow, there are 300m people with this problem? Shocking.
Glad to see Ubisoft doing something positive anyway

 

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Glad to see Ubisoft doing something positive anyway

FOR ONCE.

 

[kiwigraeme]

I wonder if colour blind people are better at texture recognition - meet someone with no sense of smell - one of the main variant's for him was texture told me this food felt exactly like something vastly different in taste

 

[Aus spot]

Sub title is inaccurate. There are not 300 million gamers with colour blindness

The story corrects this by saying there are 300 total people and “many” are gamers.

Neither statements are accurate data wise.

“Off the estimated 300 million (no primary data source) it is assumed many would be gamers.” Would be more accurate.

 

[NumberNine]

You know this has gotta be that one person they forgot about in the basement finally delivering their project, coming upstairs only to discover the ship is sinking after being excluded for years.

"Hey guys, I finished the colorblind tool- Oh wow. Why is everything on fire? We sold the furniture?"

Edit:

 

[Xelions]

Potential players! I hardly think they all play games. Still useful if this tool expands to other areas in computing!

Wow, there are 300m people with this problem? Shocking.

I have to... All in the US.a! couldn't distinguish between Harris and Trump during the voting!

 

[Angga B]

Those with color blindness already see the world according to what their eyes capable of discerning so I don't see any way this simulation can improve their "accesibility".
It'd be quite neat and probably helpful for normal users to know how and what people with color blindness might perceive the visual world. In that sense it is more apt to call this feature as reducing accesibility to normal users instead, as it is.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Those with color blindness already see the world according to what their eyes capable of discerning so I don't see any way this simulation can improve their "accesibility".
It'd be quite neat and probably helpful for normal users to know how and what people with color blindness might perceive the visual world. In that sense it is more apt to call this feature as reducing accesibility to normal users instead, as it is.

You don't understand why game developers being able to see as a colorblind person would can Improve accessibility for the colorblind? Furthermore you claim that it will reduce accessibility somehow?

Bruh.

 

[Angga B]

You don't understand why game developers being able to see as a colorblind person would can Improve accessibility for the colorblind? Furthermore you claim that it will reduce accessibility somehow?

Bruh.

Just think, let's say a colorblind red see everything in red as certain shades of gray. Pun intended. Is that mean that developer should avoid using red objects in the game world and replace it with that shades of gray? How a normal person see that world then, a fantasy land, where fire is grey?
Replace word red with any other word color, I just use it as an example. Now imagine that the accesibility modification already happening and the developer change fire red color with other kind of color,let's say blue so that the colorblind gamer can see it better. If the gamer getting so accustomed to it isn't that going to be dangerous in the real world outside that fantasy land?