Question about Phalaenopsis colour genetics

[Nanuqsaurus]

Hello all! I'm hoping to make an orchid breeding simulation game, but am having trouble finding information on colour genetics.

Is there a resource anyone could point me toward that has information on dominant/recessive colours, dominance hierarchies, whether colour inheritance is quantitative rather than discrete, etc?

I'd also be interested in the inheritance mechanisms of petal shape and size/number of blooms per spike (primarily in Phalaenopsis)

Thanks so much to anyone who is able to offer help! I've had poor luck with my self-directed research.

[Roberta]

Welcome!

I will leave the answers to some of our Board members who have experience with hybridizing. I'll just say that it's complicated... and not altogether predictable. Even the most experienced breeders get surprised... they make their best "educated guess" (so that they don't waste years and lots of bench space) and then hope that they get what they were looking for. And in a seed cross, individual plants will be different so then they pick the ones they're interested in further propagating, or cloning, after the seedlings bloom. There's certainly plenty of science involved, but also a roll of the dice when all the factors get combined.