Bolonha

Decayed
Havoc And Malice
Immemorial
OG 2020
Old World
Harbinger
Aug 1, 2020
2
5
28
Now, onto some food for thought.

An aspect that lately I've been paying attention to in general gaming is the HUD, our ever-present head-up display.
Certainly one of the most useful tools that the player has at his/her disposition, where the constant feed of information auxiliates in split second decisions, specially when we're talking about the frenetic hack'n, slash'n, curs'n and swear'n of the ARPG style, which seems to be the general direction DHS is following.

However I'd like to take a moment to reflect with you on different takes on HUD's across the industry.

In the last decade, we saw the release of many titles which work on the concept of No Hud, in many cases they are there, just not how we tipically expect, and that's where I'm trying to address here.
Having a HUD that's not ever present can really benefit in the game's immersion.
One of the games that's outstandingly does that is the Deadspace series, where info such as HP, ammo, objects where scene objects that the character actively interacted with. You wanna know how much HP you've got? Check your spine RIG. Objective? Look no further, there is the guiding hologram!

In this brilliant interview, Deadspace director's James Schofield elaborates on that. (I've bookmarked the video where the subject starts, no need to browse. Viewer discretion might be advised)




Going further, we also have Metro game series, where the player could opt to forfeit said ammenities and go all in.
How much oxygen you've got left? Check your watch, blyat!
1596303764964.png





In the realm of Braveheart's facepaint we also have Senua, who had to make do with what skill she's got. Apart from some indicator flashes, she doesn't really have much elso to rely on.


I could go on citing many other games we know well, but I think that's fine for the point I'm trying to make.
Do I mean that the HUD is a pariah when it comes to immersion? Of course not.

We don't have to look far, if we just look at DHS's inspiring muse, Blood Omen.
1596304922201.png
I mean, once I had to put a guy in suit in a coffin and that was already tough, just imagine the hassle it is with someone dressed in spiked armour. Kudos to this guy for immersion.

It might be a little outdated for today's standards, since we've got gamers that play with 2 monitors, let alone let them admit a HUD that takes a 1/4 of your screen.
But we've everything we need there, HP, mana, roundworms (??), sword, and even better, even his armor would change. So atmosphere-wise, at least for me, it went along pretty well.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All in all, obviously it's a balance to strike.
• On one side, the game has to be immersive, that's why we have so many other discussions on music, visuals, lore, etc;
• But it also has to be accessible, after all it's a commercial product, that has to gather an audience and, some gauges and indicators might have to make it in so as to not create a steep curve of adaptation.

But at what level? Would it be possible to strike a balance between accessibility and immersion?

What are your thoughts on it? What HUD philosophy (is that a thing?) would you like to see in DHS? Is there any unthought approach to it?
Or which you think would be the most feasible?

Please share your thoughts, leave a like and press the bell button.
 
Last edited:
Please share your thoughts, leave a like and press the bell button.

LOL excellent first post @Bolonha - we are discussing this very topic and I look forward to seeing what the community has to say on it. BTW - we have literally gone over some the exact points and games you have mentioned here!
 
  • Friendly
Reactions: Bolonha
A "no HUD" is a pretty cool approach - though not all that new, the original Tomb Raider did it in 1996. Forcing it at all costs can, on the other hand, lead to questionable design choices that might actually oppose immersion, see the "boob tattoo" HP bar in the Jurassic Park licensed PC game Trespasser.

In my opinion, the most important thing is to have a clear separation between game mechanics and in-world elements. For example, an NPC who increases your max HP should say something like "I can teach you techniques that will help you persevere longer in battle" rather than "I can add another heart to your row of hearts in the bottom left corner of your screen". In a tutorial, it shouldn't be Toadsworth telling you to press the A button in time with your jumps to increase your damage output, but it should be a separate kind of dialog box clearly distinct from anything in-game characters use. Or perhaps even better, make Toadsworth explain it in a way that makes sense in-setting, like "if you time your jumps perfectly, they will be even more effective," but obviously, this might not tell the player how exactly to do that, or it may appear to be just story flavor unrelated to any game mechanic, so it must be done carefully.

I like no-UI. On the other hand, I also like a gameplay experience that's easy to pick up, for which a (good) UI may be helpful. For online games, there also needs to be a way for players to communicate, which is traditionally done in form of a text chat inside the game. So those things will have to be considered.


Edit: As a side note, when I was researching for this post, I came across an article by PC World Australia naming the 7 best life bars in gaming... their list made me slightly question their standards:
  1. Hearts in Legend of Zelda
  2. Doomguy's face in Doom
  3. Rock Meter in Guitar Hero
  4. Spine Bar in Dead Space
  5. Boob tattoo in Trespasser
  6. EKG in Resident Evil
  7. Heart and Brain in Primal Rage
Certainly not the winners or order I would have picked...
 
Last edited:
Well, it is not either having a hud or not having a hud - there's a ground in the middle. I like the disappearing huds where elements of the hud appear when you need them and disappear when you don't. You don't need to see life or mana indicator at all times, especially if they are full but it is helluva useful to have them while in combat. Same goes for quick item and weapon selection options, skills, ammo and so on. I would also argue that at some point it is worse for immersion to not have a certain information that you need than to have a hud. I also think I'm preaching to the choir here after seeing how the HUD in Eternal Darkness was handled.

I am also a fan of non-universal huds as those could be very immersive and could emphasize the gameplay and mechanical differences of different characters. As an example of this I would like to point to the old Alien Versus Predator games where there was a completely different hud for the Alien, the Predator and the Marine.
 
I like the disappearing huds where elements of the hud appear when you need them and disappear when you don't.

I read that as "appear when you read them" at first, which made me think it would be kind of amazing to have an eye tracker that would only show pieces of the HUD when your eyes are pointed at the part of the screen where they would be.
 
I read that as "appear when you read them" at first, which made me think it would be kind of amazing to have an eye tracker that would only show pieces of the HUD when your eyes are pointed at the part of the screen where they would be.
That would be annoying if you are trying to look at a place on the screen for some detail and a hud element suddenly appears.
 
That would be annoying if you are trying to look at a place on the screen for some detail and a hud element suddenly appears.
If you wanted to look at a certain detail, wouldn't your first reflex be to bring it in the center of the screen by rotating the camera etc. accordingly?
 
If you wanted to look at a certain detail, wouldn't your first reflex be to bring it in the center of the screen by rotating the camera etc. accordingly?
Not really. The center of the screen is usually where the character is so any detail there would be hidden by the character. If the element is visible on the screen I would usually just look at it and if it was not close enough I would usually pan it to one side of the screen where the camera would be the closest to that detail.
 
I'm in favor of no hud or one that is well integrated like in Dead Space for the sake of immersion, no matter the curve I have to overcome. The problem I see is that a different set up might be required for each class, not that this couldn't be accomplished but it does add another layer of difficulty in design. Another issue with this is the camera since it looks like deadhaus' isn't fixed at one position, meaning if stuff like your healthbar was represented somewhere on your back then when you bring the camera around to facing you it will become obscured.
 
I believe the HUD has to be, first and foremost, useful. In order to be useful, it has to give clear information at any time a player might need or want it.

This is a multiplayer game, which means certain concessions have to be made in order to better integrate with all the social systems it is expected to have. You could find ways to create non-HUD elements to represent important game systems, such as the RIG for your health in Dead Space, but it would be much more difficult to do so with private text messages being sent by your friend who is in another part of the world.

Game-integrated interfaces are limiting. The RIG and waypoint system in DS wouldn't work if the camera wasn't in a shoulder third person perspective. The watch in Metro wouldn't work if the game was not played in first person. Tresspasser's voice ammo count (she would say how much ammo she had left when prompted by the player) would work in any perspective, but wouldn't work if you had to count your ammo in the middle of dialogue, and her tattoo health bar is in the same situation as Metro's watch. Those systems work because they were made with a specific gameplay style and setting in mind from the beginning.

DHS may undergo many forms of evolution still, and although @Elveone's suggestion of having non-universal HUDs is interesting, I believe it would be more manageable to have different HUD elements between different Houses than between different Classes. Furthermore, there are some elements that would be common to all playable Houses and Classes, such as the game administration features (social, configurations, inventory menus). Being a social game on many levels, DHS will likely have a HUD.

The question then is "what kind of HUD?"
There are good practices, as you all have mentioned here, that should be maintained, and there are some specificities that DHS has of its own. For starters, DHS is a game that strives to be customizable, so the HUD should definitely have modular elements. You should be able to scale fonts and graphics, to move pieces of the HUD around and to even hide or add more elements if you deem fit. Perhaps you could go so far as changing their textures and adding your own look to the elements, which is something further that players will be looking forward to creating.

Those are things that DHS likely wants to have, but there are also some good ideas that would be smart to follow. Such as having some HUD elements hide at specific moments to better create an atmosphere, as hiding the HUD almost in its entirety when in conversations, cinematics, puzzle-solving circumstances or map exploration. But one thing I believe DHS should definitely focus on doing right is making everything that shows up in the HUD fitting with the Malorum universe. That is to say, having elements such as Vitality, Mana, and Essence meters be shown in a way that is fitting with the perspective that Deadhaus have from the world--be that grim, focused on the "charm" of death, or whatever else sends a good DHS message.

A simple example of that would be having the Vitality meter be a spherical and transparent reservoir with fluid liquid blood swirling inside it, and draining or pouring as your Vitality goes down and up (for the Vampire) and splashing around inside the sphere as you move and turn your camera, or having the chat messages be shown in a Necroliberatas-like book of the dead that writes itself (The name has changed from Necrolibriatas, as you might see in the Lore page--I like it better now, though I was used to the previous one).
In summary, have the elements in the HUD be fitting with the universe, lore and setting, and not just be there because they are serving a universal purpose.