Balancing · Resources
Resource colors and marks
A first shared visual language for raw and refined stacks so you can read family, tier, and matter state at a glance - without relying on color alone.
As colonies refine more stacks, lists get dense. Color family, tier shade, and matter-state shape work together so pig iron stays green, Orizin reads as sky blue, and Frurozin as magenta - without colliding with gold or iron greens.
This page mirrors the marks you see in the colony HUD, processed stock, build costs, and the colony flow view. Names and tier numbers stay visible on every chip so nothing depends on shade alone.
How to read a stack
Four signals encode identity. Text (name and T{n}) remains the source of truth on small screens.
- Hue - Follows the parent raw resource (or both parents for alloys and vapors).
- Shade - Tier 0 is lightest; higher tiers get darker within the same family.
- Shape - Solid rectangle, liquid ellipse with a dashed outline, gas cloud, plasma spark.
- Two-tone - Multi-parent compounds split two parent hues (or border plus fill on tiny chips).
Raw resource accents
These six hues anchor every refined mark that descends from them.
Pig iron
#4ade80 · Solid
Crystal
#fb923c · Solid
Frubin
#ef4444 · Liquid
Orizin
#7dd3fc · Gas
Frurozin
#e879f9 · Plasma
Gold
#f59e0b · Solid
Energy and warning chrome stay on the separate HUD warning colors - not a seventh raw accent.
Matter-state shapes
Shape follows the stack's matter state, not only the native phase of the raw ore. A pressed Frubin solid uses a solid rectangle even though mined Frubin is liquid.
Solid
Filled rectangle - default for pig iron, crystal, and gold ladders.
Liquid
Ellipse with a dashed outline so liquid reads even when the hue matches a solid cousin.
Gas
Soft cloud of overlapping circles - Orizin's native mark.
Plasma
Spark / star - Frurozin's native mark.
Tier shading (pig iron example)
Same family, darker as the tier rises. The mono T{n} label always sits next to the mark in the game UI.
On phones, letter and tier text stay visible so shade is never the only cue.
Multi-parent compounds
Alloys and vapors keep both parent hues instead of inventing a third palette.
Alloy pig + crystal (liquid)
Split green and orange on a dashed liquid ellipse.
Vapor frubin + orizin (gas)
Split red and sky on a gas cloud.
Next reads
Mining explains how raw rates climb. Refinement explains tiers, phases, and converters.
This is the first public pass of the visual language - marks may grow denser as more compounds ship.
Surface letter grids still use letter plus amount; only the accent color follows this palette.