Value

Value is how light or dark something is, with its colour ignored. A desaturated screenshot shows nothing but value. It is the quickest way to judge whether a scene reads, because the eye separates shapes mostly by light and dark, and only then by hue.

The main advice of this page is to plan and check value first. A scene with clear value groups can still read with weak colour choices, while good colour rarely fixes muddled values.

#Value, colour and brightness

Every colour has a value. A saturated red and a mid-grey can sit at almost the same value, which is why red-on-grey signage sometimes vanishes in a greyscale check. Hue and saturation are covered in colour for environments; this page is about the light-to-dark axis alone.

In a game engine, value comes from two places:

1. The surface, mainly the base colour (albedo) map. A white plaster wall has a high value, a coal heap a low one.
2. The light falling on it. The same plaster wall reads dark in shadow. See light and shadow and real-time lighting.

Painters control both at once. 3D artists set the first in textures and the second in lighting, then fix the result in exposure and post-processing. That split is why value problems in games are often lighting problems, texturing problems, or both.

#Value groups

Painters simplify a scene into a handful of value groups before adding detail. Stan Prokopenko's notan exercise reduces master paintings to two values, "just lights and darks", with an optional mid value for ambiguous areas, and insists: "Don't draw the details!" (Proko: Project – Notan Master Thumbnails). The thumbnails are kept "intentionally small to help you avoid drawing details" (Proko: Project – Notan Master Thumbnails).

For environments, a three-group plan is a useful default:

• Light: sky, light sources, lit focal surfaces.
• Mid: most of the walkable world.
• Dark: foreground framing, deep shadow, interiors seen from outside.

The same thinking applies to a single object. Prokopenko describes "two main zones", light and shadow, separated by the terminator (Proko: Shading Light and Form – Basics). If the darkest part of the light family is darker than the lightest part of the shadow family, the form stops reading as one lit object. The light and shadow page covers these zones.

#What value does in a game

#Separating characters from the world

Valve's paper on Team Fortress 2 explains that players "must be able to visually identify other players very quickly" (Mitchell et al. 2007). The game uses colours with "increased saturation and value contrast", with "muted colors dominating and small areas of saturation" (Mitchell et al. 2007). The world is quieter than the characters standing in it.

Riot's environment team on VALORANT states the same priority from the environment side. Art is "always subordinate to gameplay clarity", materials stay in a similar value range to cut visual noise, and interiors must not get too dark so that "characters are always clearly visible" (playvalorant.com: The Art of VALORANT Map Environments).

#Leading the eye

The eye goes to the strongest local contrast, usually where the lightest light meets the darkest dark. This is how a focal point is built, and why The Level Design Book says "brightly lit doorways help players understand the flow of the room" (The Level Design Book: Lighting). A lit exit in a dim room is a value decision before it is a lighting one. See visual hierarchy and readability and wayfinding.

#Setting the mood

Naughty Dog lighting artist Gabe Betancourt describes pushing values for drama: "We try to push values as far as we can to get the most dramatic result" (80 Level: Learning Lighting for Video Games). He adds a caveat about darkness: "We like to push for darks when we can, but it's important to give a sense of it rather than taking it literal" (80 Level: Learning Lighting for Video Games). A night level that is truly black is unplayable; a night level that feels dark but keeps readable mid values is the goal.

#Realistic and stylised value

#Checking value

These checks take seconds and should become a habit.

1. Greyscale. Desaturate a screenshot. Many reference tools can do this live; PureRef, for example, lists a desaturation toggle among its features (pureref.com: PureRef). In an engine, a post-process material or a quick screenshot in an image editor works.
2. Squint. Half-close your eyes. Detail disappears and value groups remain.
3. Thumbnail. Shrink the screenshot to around 200 px wide. If the main read survives, the value structure is sound.
4. Posterise. Reduce the screenshot to three or four grey levels in an image editor. Check that the focal point lands in a different group from its surroundings.
5. Compare to reference. Put a desaturated reference photo or game screenshot next to yours and compare the darkest dark, lightest light and the size of each group. See gathering and using reference.
6. Check on more than one screen. Sobotta recommends calibrating your monitor and checking work on several (CGSociety: How to Create a Stunning Portfolio with Jared…).

#Value and cinematics

Fixed shots let you control value precisely, the way a painter does. The Level Design Book notes that three-point lighting "assumes linear fixed 2D screen compositions" and works best for cinematics and cutscenes (The Level Design Book: Three point lighting). Its three-point page shows Psychonauts 2 lighting documents that include exposure and value analysis of characters (The Level Design Book: Three point lighting). In gameplay, you plan value per space instead of per frame. See cameras, lenses and field of view.

#Related pages

light and shadow · colour for environments · visual hierarchy and readability · focal point · composition · silhouette · exposure and post-processing · base colour (albedo) map · exercise: lighting one scene four ways

#Further reading and watching