this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2026
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I remember reading an article a few years back about I think it was the Tomb Raider devs that tried removing the yellow paint and just using more natural indicators that fit into the environment more seamlessly.
The user experience testing showed almost no one was able to figure out where to go, what they could do, or interact with, etc. to the point where the testers were getting frustrated and actively complaining about the lack of direction and indicators.
The best solution though, is just make it a setting. Just make those textures a toggle setting to turn on and off, but leave it on by default for general usability. For those that care, they can disable them.
Yeah. Im not really a fan of the full toggle system, because the visual cues are such a big part of level desig. All tough i fully support the idea of being able to tune the contrast. It is also good for people with visual impairments.
There are few good workarounds devs use that most people dont even notice. Like in fallout 4 almost every "dungeon" has its entrances lighted in some way and allmost allways doorways that go foward have some visual cue. Another from bethesda is how draugh dungeons have always stone pillars showing the way inside and bandit dungeons have flags. Dead Space has stompable crates that have lights and after opening those the lights shut down.
Then there is always the sixth sense way to do it that i personally like, where player can toggle or ping the what ever skill they have and it leaves the actionable objects high lighted for a time. The negative thing with that is that player can easily develope a habit of spamming the "loot view" all the time and spend too much time collecting every lootable item making the game progress slower than designed.