Blogs Thoughts on HUD Design

I agree, storm20200 is probably in the minority, everyone I know says the first condemed game is one of the scariest they've played. I didn't like FEAR too much, as he pointed out with condemned, it was either action or horror and it was quite obvious when you were getting each one. Condemned however, I had no such issues, I felt like at any moment around the corner it could be something scary or it could be a crazed guy ready to jump you. I found the apprehension of not knowing what was round the corner quite scary, especially as in my first playthrough, I went through the entire game without firing a single shot and used only melee weapons.

I admit, it's not the best game in the world, but if it were a film, it would be a cult classic, one of those games where if you get it, you absolutely love it, if you don't then you can't see what the fuss is about.

 

I liked Frontlines: FOW HUD, as it made you think you were using future tech goggle based HUD, like little triagles appearing around enermies and allies for a second, really helped and is along the likes of tech in devolpement

 

But that's how I played all of it apart from the final level.
The way you guys talk about it is like it's one of those games where you create your own fear but how can you be immersed in a game enough to create fear when it's flaws are staring you in the face for the entire game? Going through that game was a chore, the only reason I continued was because I'm an achievement whore. The last game I found scary was Silent Hill Homecoming because as well as it being a scary game I played it on hard mode meaning that if I ever had to fight something I knew it would be hard because I'd have very little ammo and if they got one over on me my HP would get drained badly. That's where I can understand not knowing when enemies are coming but on Condemned even with Melee only which is how I played it there wasn't any real threat because once you get the hang of the combat it's quite easy so there's no fear in being attacked. I honestly don't know how people could find that scary which is ironic because I'm a complete wuss for scary games or scary films.

 

No mention to AvP (first one) when playing as the alien? Health bar at the bottom and that's that. (Not that you'd expect an ammo counter, but still...)

 

i used to play a HL mod called Hostile Intent - basically a realism mod with no HUD whatsoever. so no ammo, health, radar or anything, and all aiming using ironsights. it was awesome because it was 2 shots to the chest and you were dead (so you had to be careful), and voice comms was a must so you knew where your teammates were.

having no HUD works for something like this, but it needs to be there for conveniences' sake for other FPS games. otherwise you end up with some crap like Trespasser where you stared at your tits to see how much health you had.

 

I prefer having no hud.

Especially for shooters and the like.

Learn to know your weapons, and count your rounds, folks.

 

I'm surprised Dead Space hasn't rated a mention, that was a fairly well integrated and explained system. Plus that was a pretty scary game to boot.

I have to disagree on the point about the Resident Evil system though, in the games prior to number 4 you still had to access the inventory to check your ammo, but i thought that really broke the immersion, one second you have a zombie jump out about to rip your face off, then you bring up the menu to check the ammo, the screen changes, the game pauses and you were free to change weapons or reload as you please. 4 & 5 improved on this (and I realise these are the ones the post makes reference too) but you still lose much of the immersion bringing up a clunky menu mid-fight.

 

Sometimes this kind of topics are taking just to far...

If i want the ultimate realism on everything (health, amount of damage acording to where i got shot, no hud)

Then damn it, i just gonna grab a gun and go out to rob a bank, then kill the first driver a take his car, that's some hardcore GTA right there.

Or just enlist in the army and BAM, some hardcore Call of Duty !!

My point its, the hud, medkits or regen health system are there for one reason, and that its so we can go RAMBO on our enemies and enjoy the game, WE CAN DO THINGS IN REAL LIFE WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE. and that's the whole idea of videogames (ofc except for sims, but that's other topic)

But hey, why dont you make your next TOPIC about how awful and unrealistic the recoil its, or what about how silly its running and firing a rifle simultaneously!!

 

This Article immediately reminded me of Trespasser as well as the guy who commented above. The game is very old, but back then I thought it was very immersive. You felt very alone, very helpless, and could be gobbled up by raptors that would HUNT you (IE spawn behind you lol). You would find guns but there would never be any good source of ammo, you ended up sneaking through the map listening for faint sounds of raptors on the prowl or fighting each other.. only looking for a way to either way until one died or bypass it all together, knowing that you would run out of ammo well before you could kill them all.

For some reason though that type of immersion never caught on... WHERE'S MY AMMO COUNTER?!?!?!?!

 

Not sure i can see your point at all, HUD's in many various games are explained as an actual real thing, like specs with a screen inlaid, or a fancy suit with a screen between you and the real world.

As for Doom "separating" the world you're supposed to see and what you need to know on a bar and essentially being different screens, thats the single most convoluted attempt to explain your personal preference I've seen. Its not a separate screen, its not intentionally separate and info the character wouldn't have, it was just iteration, well, 2 or 3, huds now are iteration 7,682, thats the difference, not intentional separation, but early design.

Likewise Doom didn't pretend you were in a futuristic combat suit with intergrated screen which intentionally keeps track of the information for you.

You also seem to be forgetting the realism thing, in REAL life you aren't just popping in to game for 10mins to a couple hours at a time, maybe with a few different games inbetween, and a job, and kids, and a life. A solider out in Iraq, or a soldier in a distance galaxy in the future or past, whose in the middle of enemy territory can doesn't have these other distractions. He'll remember he has 4 clips, because his life depends on it, after coming back from a long day at work, feeding the kids, taking the dog for a walk, a couple rounds of CS:S or COD, people don't remember. The character hasn't gone anywhere, forgotten anything, the player has.

Its realistic that when hit in real life you could feel, my leg just crumpled under me, it sounded like a cannon, my legs probably gone and I'm dead, a player doesn't see the bullet hit, or feel it, there needs to be a way to see it. Whoopdedoo, Resident evil you can see damage, COD you can't, a health bar,(prefered) or flashing screen is required to have a visual representation of things the actual character in a real life scenario would have.

Hell, in real life a cop experience with his gun would be able to tell an empty gun, from a full gun, based on the feel of the weight. I've only shot a few guns at ranges and I can tell the difference on several guns between loaded and unloaded.

Games AREN'T realistic, and some things will, till body suits, neural interfaces, holodecks, won't ever approach realistic, complaining about the inabilty of a screen to realistically let you know what your situation in, is daft.

Personally I though Condemned, what little I could be bothered playing, was boring, slow, not scary in the slightest(though almost no game/film has ever scared me) and incredibly not realistic, hell, the unrealistic "I can sense DNA/forensic material" ability the character has, to the "I'm in America but can't find a gun, ammo, or hit the local walmart between missions to fill up the gun I just put in my pocket after I found it" stupidity of the cop whose after a serial killer but can't come up with a single way to find ammo, in AMERICA, in the UK that would be realistic, in the states, heck I'd go to the local dealer and buy a gun off him.

Even more so, where do these pyscho's get their guns, and what sane american goes and buys a gun for, $300-3000, but won't buy 100 bullets for $10, but buys a single clip, even though you buy ammo in boxes, which will come in larger quantities, no one buys 15 bullets, so how do these people end up with so little ammo.

Half the game is not realistic, most games are barely realistic, the HUD is the very least of the troubles because at least in the HUD its covering something that quite literally can't be realistic. You can't feel the weight of your gun, you can't remember what you have in the middle of a war in Iraq if you do various other things back in the real world between in game time. The HUD replaces the visual, audio, sensual things a game will never be able to replicate, piss poor writing, design and game mechanics that CAN be fixed to be realistic should bear the brunt of your ire, not the single thing thats more than excuseable.

 

I think some might be missing the point. Joe isn't so much arguing that there should be realism, but more that to add to the immersion of a game there needs to be an explanation for why this info appears on the screen. It doesn't have to be realistic, it just needs to be explained, especially when in say, a FPS the game is trying hard to show you the world through the characters eyes.

 

Pretty much. To be clear, I don't really have anything against unexplained HUDs, it just bugs me a bit sometimes.

 

You could also argue in realtime the military(or whoever) does count their bullets so its a projection of that. Although I'm pretty sure our health doesn't have a 100 counter.

Can't say I'm a fan of unique HUDS. Why? because most of the time their crap and i believe this to be quite a delicate.

Although imo Dead Space's UI was brilliant especially the map/inventory.