A little over a week after a Dead by daylight designer was publicly agitated by requests for accessibility options, developer Behavior Interactive announced that he is working on accommodation for colorblind players.
“This is not how we wanted to reveal it, but we feel it is the right time,” said the studio’s official Twitter account for video game accessibility advocate and consultant Steven Spohn earlier today. “We have been working in a colorblind mode for some time and are planning a release soon.”
Spohn had already asked the developer to answer for statements made by live balance designer Ethan “Almo” Larson in his personal stream on Twitch, during which he ridiculed a viewer for “chatting about colorblind mode all the time”.
“It’s getting really boring,” Larson said on January 12. “We’ve heard it a million times. We know. Continuing to harass us about it is not going to change anything. If done, it will be done when we have time to do it or if someone decides it is something that should be done. We know that many players want this. We know that it is not a small number. We understand.”
Dead by daylight fans have long ago asked for a colorblind mode, as the condition can seriously affect someone’s ability to play. According to a recent Reddit post urging the community to boycott the online game on September 6, which advocacy groups have designated as Daltonism Awareness Day, some of the most striking examples of the game include minuscule differences between the colors of the status effect against the health bar and recent changes in the UI that replaced a more obvious visual indicator of character injuries with a simple red glow.
G / O Media can receive a commission
While unable to provide a release date, Behavior Interactive hopes to add a colorblind mode for Dead by daylight in the next major game update. The studio also shared examples of the work done so far.
“This is not indicative of the team’s opinions, and we apologize for any frustration or damage this may have caused,” official Twitter account added in response to Larson’s statements.