Display Color Certification
for Game Developers
Improving gaming through standardization
Portrait Displays Inc. agrees with the Open Gaming Alliance™ that content and display companies should work
together to improve the gaming experience. One of the areas where the most improvement can occur is in the
visual experience of the game. However this is not an area where the developer can solve the problem alone,
because even the most beautiful, artistic, and visually exciting games will look sub-standard on a sub-standard
display. This problem can only be solved if the developers and the display manufacturers work together.
Portrait Displays and Technicolor have designed a program to bring both sides together to improve the gamers’
visual experience, and we have integrated this into the Open Gaming Alliance Certification program.
What is the problem?
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Game developers work hard on the look and feel of a game. They spend
a great deal of time creating the atmosphere of the game and tuning the
colors to match the mood of the game, often using displays in the creation
process that are top quality and calibrated. Then gamers buy the game and
load it on their computers.
The problem is that the typical gamer’s notebook has a sub-standard display
that shows less than 60% of the color gamut that the developer has on their
displays. Half of the displays currently in use fall short of displaying the depth
and range of colors the developers designed into the games. What is the
result? The gamer moves his character into a cave and then can see nothing.
The faces of the human characters in a game are unrealistic. The sky is not
the shade of blue that was designed, etc. In short, the user has a difficult
time with the game and has a disappointing gaming experience.
The developer wants the game to look as good on the user’s display as it
does on the display that was used to create it, and the gamers want this, too.
But gamers have no way of knowing if their displays have the same color
qualities as the developers’ displays, because display color specifications are
complex and seldom explained.
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This problem exists for computer displays, but not televisions. Televisions
are designed to show content authored in the REC709 standard color gamut,
which is the same specification used by video and film content producers.
For this reason, console games do not have a color quality problem, because
they use televisions for their displays.
Display Color Certification for Game Developers
How can the color problem be fixed?
The best approach to addressing the color quality problem is to use branding with a consistent mark to identify
to the consumer the color qualities of the display. Portrait Displays and Technicolor have partnered to create a
program that provides the branding and mark to solve the color consistency problem between game creators and
game players. With this branding and mark in place, discerning gamers can choose a display that will most closely
match the quality of those used by game developers.
The solution comes in two parts: 1) Certification of display devices, and 2) Certification of the displays used in the
creation of the games.
Display Device Certification
Portrait Displays is in the business of device display certification.
This is done in cooperation with Technicolor, who helped write
the certification specification and supplies the Technicolor Color
Certified mark, as shown in the illustration to the right.
Portrait Displays does not work with televisions, but rather they
characterize and calibrate manufacturers’ computer displays,
including tablets and smart phones, producing reports such
as the calibration report shown below. Portrait Displays also
licenses display-control software to the display manufacturer to
bring the display into compliance with the Technicolor specifications.
With the introduction of the program we have two design wins for the certification mark: HP monitors and Toshiba
notebooks. We expect many more as the program continues to roll out.
Display Color
Displays have many characteristics; size, resolution, refresh rates,
response time, ergonomic aspects, and color. Color is independent
of the other display characteristics and is the only characteristic
in the Technicolor Color Certified specification. Display color is
defined as:
•Absolute (X, Y) color gamut. How many colors can be shown,
“How red is the red?”
•White point. This is the color of white, ranging from the white
of candles to that of sun light.
•RGB and white gamma. This relates to how much color change
can be seen? Are small changes in bright light as visible as small
changes in a dark scene?
•Luminosity. The maximum brightness of the display.
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Display Color Certification for Game Developers
Game Developer Certification
Game developers are the content producers that design the content to be shown on the users’ displays. This
content is designed on displays with certain color characteristics, usually to the REC709/sRGB specification.
When the game is played on displays with the same color characteristics that was used by the developer and
designer, the color quality will match what the designer planned. However if a display is used that does not
have the same color characteristics, the look of the game will be inaccurate and the user’s gaming experience
will be compromised.
Portrait Display’s experience is that most content creators do a good job with
color accuracy and they typically use color-accurate monitors. For this reason,
the program is structured as a self-certification process for game developers. The
developer uses the Display Color Certification Form to provide information about
the display used to composite the final game, then Portrait Displays assesses
whether the display meets the Technicolor Color Certified specification. We
expect that most developers meet succeed. If the developer applicant meets
the self-certification requirements, then they are provided with a trademark
agreement with Technicolor. When they return the signed agreement to
Technicolor, then can then use the Technicolor Color Certified mark, an early
version of which is shown to the right, on their game and in their game marketing
materials.
Joining with the OGA Certification Program
Portrait Displays and Technicolor are joining forces with the OGA to integrate the Technicolor Color Certified
mark into the OGA Certification Program. By doing so, we will ensure that games meeting the requirements to
bear the OGA Gaming Certification will also meet the color quality requirements necessary for the optimum
gaming experience.
Start the certification process today to get the color certification mark for your game by contacting Portrait
Displays at [email protected].
© 2015 Portrait Displays, Inc. All rights reserved. Portrait Displays and the Portrait Displays logo are registered trademarks of
Portrait Displays, Inc. Open Gaming Alliance and the Open Gaming Alliance logo are trademarks of the Open Gaming Alliance.
Other trademarks are the property of other companies.
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