Graphics MFG38's Palette Experiments

MFG38 · December 9, 2023

It seems as though there's no end to the kinds of misadventures I get involved in when it comes to Doom. In the past 5 years alone, I've gotten into speedmapping, speedrunning, community projects (both participating in them and hosting my own) and - most recently - palette editing.

Ever since I made my first custom palette for an as-of-yet-unannounced WIP project, I've found a new kind of fascination for the Doom palette. It's no secret that custom palettes often work wonders for establishing a distinct visual identity for a wad, but making a good-looking custom palette is an art form of its own. With that said, I figured I'd share some of the palettes I've made over the past few months that turned out decent enough to be worth pushing out to the public.

So far, 10 palettes are included herein, all with distinct vibes and degrees of extensiveness with which I made the edits. The palettes are as follows:

Aether: Brightens the entire palette slightly and applies a subtle yellowish tint to some ranges.
Ansible: Remotely inspired by Axiom Verge 2. Tints some ranges with hints of blue.
Candyland: Gives the grays a greenish tint and makes the pinks pinker.
Cold War: Gives the grays a slight blue tint and applies subtle desaturation elsewhere. Also brightens up the blue range.
Depression: Darkens and desaturates almost the entire palette except the reds.
Desert Heat: A rather heavily saturated palette that gives off an impression of scorching warmth.
Nocturne: Inspired by cold winter nights. Darkens the entire palette slightly and gives things a midnight-ish tint.
Old York: A mostly grayscale palette with a subtle blue tint and slightly darker reds.
Rorschach: An experimental 21-color palette that turns most of the palette black and white, with hints of color acting as accents.
Strength: Heavily desaturates almost all color ranges except a few, namely the blues and reds.