Of all the cyclical videogame debates that crop up on social media, few get me as riled up as whether or not developers should be painting objects yellow. Making interactable objects more noticeable by painting them a distinct color isn't a new thing for games, but the specific trend of choosing bright yellow streaks to signpost anything and everything—doorways, breakable boxes, levers, ledges, rocks—has awakened a backlash from some who believe this level of handholding works against games by stealing opportunities for players to discover things on their own.
While developers are often quick to counter this feedback by reminding players that yellow paint is the result of testers getting lost in early playtests, Ubisoft Massive has come up with an interesting workaround for its upcoming Star Wars Outlaws that just might make both camps happy: an "Explorer Mode" that turns off the "guiding color on core navigational elements" in the world. In other words: a yellow paint toggle.
