Why is mana blue?

[rusty_shackleford]

?

And what are the earliest games you an find that have mana in it, and it is represented as blue?

[Norfleet]

?

Mana is blue because Health is red.

And what are the earliest games you an find that have mana in it, and it is represented as blue?

Probably MUDs. When ANSI color was introduced, health was red, mana was blue, and move/stamina was...I forget, because I didn't actually use the color display because I don't like new things.

[Tweed]

Dragon Wars is the earliest game I see that makes magic blue, but it isn't called mana there.

[Oyster Sauce]

Blood is red, so of course it's life. That leaves us with two more primary colors.
Developers in the 80s were pretty smart. They knew that one day every single game would need a stamina meter. People run through grass, brush, trees and other greenery. Couldn't use that one for mana.
Gods are usually ******* around casting spells in the sky, which is blue. Also, the sky shoots lighting bolts and blizzards and aurora borealisea at us all the time. The sky is obviously a mage.

[rusty_shackleford]

Blood is red, so of course it's life. That leaves us with two more primary colors.
Developers in the 80s were pretty smart. They knew that one day every single game would need a stamina meter. People run through grass, brush, trees and other greenery. Couldn't use that one for mana.

Health being red or green is still a tossup to this day

[Oyster Sauce]

Blood is red, so of course it's life. That leaves us with two more primary colors.
Developers in the 80s were pretty smart. They knew that one day every single game would need a stamina meter. People run through grass, brush, trees and other greenery. Couldn't use that one for mana.

Health being red or green is still a tossup to this day

Realistically they're probably both mostly white due to minimalist UIs outside of soulsclones

[Tweed]

Blood is red, so of course it's life. That leaves us with two more primary colors.
Developers in the 80s were pretty smart. They knew that one day every single game would need a stamina meter. People run through grass, brush, trees and other greenery. Couldn't use that one for mana.
Gods are usually ******* around casting spells in the sky, which is blue. Also, the sky shoots lighting bolts and blizzards and aurora borealisea at us all the time. The sky is obviously a mage.

Realms of Arkania uses green for astral points and Dungeon Master made all the stat bars the same color to indicate who was in what position.

[rusty_shackleford]

I played Daggerfall way after it released and I died because I thought my healthbar was the one it wasn't

[Atlantico]

?

And what are the earliest games you an find that have mana in it, and it is represented as blue?

Yeah especially since it is canonically white!

Typical anti-white discrimination from devs since day one

Exodus adds that it had to be collected before it was melted by the heat of the Sun, and that it was like a coriander seed in size, but white in color.

[Valter]

[logincrash]

Health is red because first aid kits are red or have a red cross on them.
Mana is blue because it's the opposite of red.

[Acrux]

"Mana" as magic energy source was first used by Larry Niven in The Magic Goes Away. I haven't read that series in a long time, I wonder if there's any association with it being blue from that.

[rusty_shackleford]

Mana is blue because it's the opposite of red.

The opposite of red is either cyan or green depending on what you're talking about specifically

[logincrash]

Mana is blue because it's the opposite of red.

The opposite of red is either cyan or green depending on what you're talking about specifically

Nah.

[Norfleet]

Health being red or green is still a tossup to this day

Health being red or green isn't a tossup. If health is a single color, it will be red. Green health only occurs in damage bars. In which it will be in one of two common forms: A green bar against a red background, so that when health reduces, the green-to-red ratio shrinks, or a green bar that changes to yellow and/or red as it shrinks. A singular health meter using only a single color is red. Green bars are generally a "goodness" indicator. In Sims, for instance, you have multiple bars, and the bar being green indicates a good condition, with the bar turning angrier colors as it depletes.

[Manny V]

mana blue cause sippy is blue, and i need sippy to restore mana

[Val the Moofia Boss]

For League of Legends fandmade creations, Riot put out a guide and part of it was talking about color and saturation. For magic (ie momentary things going off that you need to be aware of to avoid/take advantage of right now, be it an AoE heal going out you want to walk into before it expires, or an incoming damage AoE you want to run away from or pop a defensive before it hits you), it needs to be brighter than the rest of the environment and characters but not brighter than the UI.

► Show Spoiler

https://f.rpghq.org/F9aMk130UkIq.pdf?n= ... guide.pdf

[rusty_shackleford]

Blood is red, so of course it's life. That leaves us with two more primary colors.
Developers in the 80s were pretty smart. They knew that one day every single game would need a stamina meter. People run through grass, brush, trees and other greenery. Couldn't use that one for mana.

Health being red or green is still a tossup to this day

Surprised at how many disagreed with this. Even health packs are typically green because of the red cross thing not allowing red healthpacks.

From a quick cursory glance at notable games released this year:
Monster Hunter Wilds, green health
KCD2: red
AC shadows: white (always been known for its minimalist slop I guess)

and holy **** there have been so few games released this year, please fire the women and ***** already

[rusty_shackleford]

For League of Legends fandmade creations, Riot put out a guide and part of it was talking about color and saturation. For magic (ie momentary things going off that you need to be aware of to avoid/take advantage of right now, be it an AoE heal going out you want to walk into before it expires, or an incoming damage AoE you want to run away from or pop a defensive before it hits you), it needs to be brighter than the rest of the environment and characters but not brighter than the UI.

Not quite related to this, but I kind of hate these "art guidelines" because I feel like it stifles creativity eventually. It sorta keeps quality up when the original designers are gone, but it eventually degrades into some parody of what it was because they don't understand the reasons for the various guidelines.
Like how modern WoW art looks very cartoony, it looks like a mobile game copying the WoW artstyle

[rusty_shackleford]

Blood is red, so of course it's life. That leaves us with two more primary colors.
Developers in the 80s were pretty smart. They knew that one day every single game would need a stamina meter. People run through grass, brush, trees and other greenery. Couldn't use that one for mana.

Health being red or green is still a tossup to this day

Surprised at how many disagreed with this. Even health packs are typically green because of the red cross thing not allowing red healthpacks.

From a quick cursory glance at notable games released this year:
Monster Hunter Wilds, green health
KCD2: red
AC shadows: white (always been known for its minimalist slop I guess)

and holy **** there have been so few games released this year, please fire the women and ***** already

from the HQ '23 GOTY:

Caves of Lore: red
wh40k rogue trader: green
JA3: … minimalist?
BG3: red
Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion uses both depending on if it's a friend or enemy(your health is green)

As I said, they're both used, pay attention

[orinEsque]

?

And what are the earliest games you an find that have mana in it, and it is represented as blue?

Red is color of urgency, alarm and blood. So it's health

"Blue" - human eyes only recently managed to interpret the color blue, or so they say. I assume that's why it's associated with intelligence/ greater perception and therefore mana, which used to canonically always have to do with int classes.

edit: I think calmness/focus might be associated with blue as well, tho.

[Tangerine]

Because it's close to purple but has better color complements.

[Norfleet]

wh40k rogue trader: green

Hero's Adventure: Road to Passion uses both depending on if it's a friend or enemy(your health is green)

Rogue Trader does this also, as well as apparently a third color for non-party entities (allies? neutrals?). So, "health" isn't what is green. Partymembers are green. The actual health isn't colored. The color of the bar conveys entity allegiance, not that it is health. There isn't even a mana bar.

[wndrbr]

Green is poison.

[Norfleet]

Monster Hunter Wilds, green health

Another example of a green-red healthbar, yes. MH healthbar is a green bar that reveals red underneath. There is not a mana bar, although the stamina bar exists (and is yellow, a common choice for "energy meters" that are not mana).

Now how many games have a PURELY green healthbar, that is used WITH another bar like a mana or shield bar (shields being magic, are blue), where the healthbar does NOT change color or reveal a second color underneath (usually red)? This is not a common pick unless the game's UI is attempting to emulate the green-and-black aesthetic of the pre-black-and-white era, in which case it is not truly a colored healthbar at all. If green is being used in a colored healthbar, it is generally an indicator of overall status (green good, yellow ungood, red bad), or an indicator of allegiance (your units are green, enemy units are red).

[J1M]

?

And what are the earliest games you an find that have mana in it, and it is represented as blue?

Red is color of urgency, alarm and blood. So it's health

"Blue" - human eyes only recently managed to interpret the color blue, or so they say. I assume that's why it's associated with intelligence/ greater perception and therefore mana, which used to canonically always have to do with int classes.

edit: I think calmness/focus might be associated with blue as well, tho.

If you are going to be dumb enough to read that and believe it, don't be dumb enough to repeat it.

[rusty_shackleford]

Green is poison.

I always thought that was a bit odd because there are games where it's health and poison.

[J1M]

Some other minor factors nobody mentioned yet.

The color properties of old CRT televisions.
Colorblindness aka "color confusion" which is most commonly between red and green.

[orinEsque]

?

And what are the earliest games you an find that have mana in it, and it is represented as blue?

Red is color of urgency, alarm and blood. So it's health

"Blue" - human eyes only recently managed to interpret the color blue, or so they say. I assume that's why it's associated with intelligence/ greater perception and therefore mana, which used to canonically always have to do with int classes.

edit: I think calmness/focus might be associated with blue as well, tho.

If you are going to be dumb enough to read that and believe it, don't be dumb enough to repeat it.

maybe you are too dumb to realise, but I put "or so they say". And I am using a popular belief as a rationale as to why blue might be chosen for a ... "fantasy" video game. Who's the dumb one now?

[rusty_shackleford]

Afaik mana is almost entirely a CRPGism (as we understand it), but I guess I could try checking if it originated in tabletop with a game that used to be popular but nobody talks about anymore