I want to raise an accessibility and safety issue that I think a lot of players in flower-dense areas run into, and suggest a simple fix.
The problem
When you walk in Pikmin Bloom, every flower you and other players plant stays visible on the map, layered over roads, paths, and open spaces. In busy, well-traveled areas, this builds into a dense carpet of mostly red, yellow, and white blooms.
The flowers actually needed to be interacted with are marked with a shimmering gold circle. But once the map is already saturated with red, yellow, and white flowers, that gold shimmer blends straight into the noise. Spotting a harvestable flower means squinting at the screen, often while walking, because the visual difference between “decoration” and “interactive object” just isn’t strong enough against a busy background.
That’s not only an inconvenience, it’s a safety issue. Instead of a quick glance down and back up at the road, players end up staring at the screen for longer stretches, often while crossing intersections or moving through foot traffic.
What I’m suggesting
A simple settings toggle to hide planted flowers entirely (or reduce their density/opacity), so only the harvestable flowers remain visible.
This kind of toggle would help accessibility broadly: low-vision players, colorblind players, and honestly anyone trying to play safely while walking through a crowded area. I’d love to see this considered.
This isn’t just a personal preference; it lines up with established accessibility standards
- WCAG 2.1/2.2, Success Criterion 1.4.1 (Use of Color): a Level A requirement stating that color alone should never be the only way an interactive or meaningful element is distinguished from its surroundings. Right now, “harvestable” is signaled almost entirely by a gold tint against a background that’s already full of red, yellow, and white.
- WCAG 2.1/2.2, Success Criterion 1.4.11 (Non-text Contrast): a Level AA requirement that UI components and meaningful graphical objects maintain at least a 3:1 contrast ratio against whatever’s adjacent to them. A gold shimmer sitting in a field of warm-toned flowers falls well short of that in practice.
- Game Accessibility Guidelines: an industry-recognized reference used by many studios, includes guidance to give a clear, consistent signal that interactive elements are interactive, and to never let essential information rely on color alone both squarely apply here
References
- WCAG 2.1/2.2, SC 1.4.1 Use of Color Understanding Success Criterion 1.4.1: Use of Color | WAI | W3C
- WCAG 2.1/2.2, SC 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast
- Game Accessibility Guidelines https://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/
Screenshot for reference
I’m attaching an image, showing how dense a my map gets (looks like this at home and at work).
You can barely even find my character in there!
