Enough with the red screen.

[Danny Ocean]

Yeah, you're getting shot at and you need to grab cover, but that's a lot harder when you can't see where you're going. So it basically means that if you are hit, you're pretty much dead, with no saving throw.

Except you're grossly exaggerating. It doesn't get to the point where you can't see where you're going until there's legitimate grounds for it to be so. Plus, when you look over someone's shoulder when they're playing a game with that effect, you'll see that they leave the centre of the screen around the cross-hair clear.

I used to agree with your sentiment, but now I find myself unaware of how badly I'm being hurt in some of the older games. I now greatly appreciate the visual cue.

 

[shadow skill]

I prefer the red screen method for first person games in particular. I think the traditional HUD really only serves to clutter up the screen with information that would serve me more if it was placed elsewhere like on the gun in the case of ammo indicators. I think it is distracting to be looking off into a corner every so often to monitor health and ammo. But I am the type of person that prefers to turn off reticles if I have the option to do so. I think health bars are fine in third person games though.

 

[ethaninja]

I know right? Lets not forget the regenerative abilities we somehow get with the redscreen. At least back in the days of healthbars you had to FIND health, and medpacks were a lot more sensible. What's next? The ability to shoot fireballs out of your arse at the taliban or something?

 

[Billska]

You know the red screen in MW2? It's actually a medical based red jelly which heals all wounds. When you get shot you throw it on your face and eat it all up. Nom nom nom nom nom.

 

[Bunnybeater]

Personally, I quite like the red screen. Not necessarily the red aspect (WHY DOES MY LEG KEEP SPLASHING BLOOD ON MY CORNEAS?), but because it gives you a form of tunnel vision. If you've ever had a massive adrenaline dump (basically an adrenaline rush squared - usually experienced when something is actually threatening your very life), you'll know that you completely lose your peripheral vision.

I find the way the edges of the screen become difficult to see is a good simulation of the panicked loss of perspective - adds some extra urgency as you try to get out of the way of fire, with little idea where is safe or how to act. YMMV.

 

[x EvilErmine x]

I think the arguments for regen health and first aid health packs are both valid depending on the type of game it is. Some work better with a health bar (Fallout 3 for example) and some work better with regen health (i.e. most FPS's)

Maybe a better method than the red screen for regen health could work thus:

When the payer is at say 50% health have the game desaturated the colors of the screen. so everything appears slightly duller.

When the payer is at say 25% health have the screen go into gray scale.

Then finally if the player gets to like 10% or lower health, then have the players screen go into a tunnel vision effect that blocks out about 50% of the players vision.


I dont know if this has been done exactly like this before but IMO it's a way better idea than the having what looks uncannily like strawberry jam splattered in my face every time i stub my toe in game (I'm lookin at YOU here MW2!)

Ohh and completely off topic, the first time i got 'jammed' in MW2 this little sceen popped into my head for some reason,

'Sir we've been jammed'
'what?'
'We've been jammed sir....i think it's raspberry'
'Raspberry? Hmm.....only one man would dare to give ME the raspberry!'

Cookie for the refrence.

 

[Irish Rover Baird]

A system I would like would be a diagram of your body, with injuries being properly mapped on it according to where you were shot. So, for example, you would not be killed by getting repeated gunshots to your hand, but it would impair your aiming skills.

Swat 4 has something like that. Only not as specific and you can die with shots to the arm, or at least lose the Level

OT: I actually really like the Regenerating Health Bar. It doesn't impair and you don't get those moments where you have 10 health and a room filled with baddies ahead.

Yeah, I'll have to agree with this.

I like the SWAT 4 method, as it was actually more realistic than most of the health indicators nowadays.
If you were shot in the foot, well, there goes your sprinting, you're just tied down to walking slowly.
If you were shot in both arms, your aiming quite sucked.
Which, to be honest, made it feel like a realistic SWAT operation.

And I also like the regenerating idea.
Let me explain by this small example:

I once played a game where you could save anywhere you wanted. It had no health regeneration.
I saved at a point where I thought it was safe to go, with only 25% of my health left.
I went into a next room, got overrun by a shitload of baddies, with no health packs whatsoever.
I died. The game loaded my last save...I tried to enter the room, find cover and kill the baddies as quickly as possible...I died again.
The game loaded my last save etc...

So yeah, I'll go with the body diagram thing and regeneration.

 

[Squilookle]

When playing Reach, health regenerates by a third

Yeah I dunno- only being able to guess my health after a vicious firefight down to the nearest third just isn't going to cut it.

 

[GundamSentinel]

I don't mind red screen, not even the MW2 can-see-a-thing one. At least you know when you're almost dead. Bad Company 2's red screen I hardly noticed which often led to: "Oh, I'm dead... Wasn't expecting that..."

Health meters aren't bad either, I love the HL2 meters. Easy to see, but not in the way. To me, health meters work better in singleplayer and red screen (in combination with a health meter/bar) in multiplayer.

As long as you can't actually feel pain in games, there's just no realistic health system. And it's fine that way.

 

[hurfdurp]

When I first encountered it, I thought it was neat. After regularly being implemented in games, you get used to it and its limitations. For instance, you have a general idea which shade of red indicates how many more times you can have damage inflicted on you (not as straightforward as health bars, but doable), and I like the panic it causes as my screen gets more and more distorted and I freak out and most likely run to my death. I think it teaches you to be even more cautious than a red, blinking health bar would.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

I irreconcilably hate all video games, don't care which ones, that feel the need to obscure your screen with bloodspatters or "veins" around the corners, or even worse, fade out the colors, to indicate your health. It RUINS the graphics!

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I like the black and white effect from left 4 dead, and the heartbeats. It impairs slightly but damn it makes you nervous.

Actually, this is a sort of advantage. I find that when I'm near dead with the black and white screen, you can see better in the dark, since the contrast is so high. It helps you get back on your feet while still telling you to watch out.

 

[Netrigan]

If it's a game with recharging health, then I think there needs to be some sort of visual. I prefer the graying out, since it doesn't restrict visibility too much... since the effect is progressive, you're often got cover selected by the time visibility starts to get too impaired.

Modern Warfare 2 is the absolute worst offender I've seen so far, with the blood splatter being so thick that it's nearly impossible to see what's going on.

Although I much prefer the hybrid health/recharge system used by Just Cause, Assassin's Creed, and other games. Only one unit of health recharges, so you're rarely stuck in a unwinnable situation, but you're certainly checking your health meter at regular intervals.

 

[UkibyTheMaid]

There are two things that 1) annoy me and 2) distract me a lot.

And these things are red screens and BEEPING SOUNDS WHEN YOU ARE DYING. I don't need a constant beeping sound warning me about my death! I can see the health meter! I'm completely aware of the fact that I'm about to die!

I particularly don't like that on the Pokémon series. They have this stupid beeping sound in EVERY SINGLE GAME. I mean, really! Is that really necessary??? It isn't like there's a lot of things happening on the screen and you need to attract my attention to the fact that my pokémon is dying. I can perfectly see that >_>

 

[AugustFall]

Isn't it meant to impair you? I thought that was the point.. a guy who has just been shot isn't operating at full capacity so the idea is add intensity. A health bar offers no detriment to being shot and things like slower movement speed and such would just not be fun.

The whole point of the red screen is impair you. It's not a design flaw, it's the design.

 

[Netrigan]

Isn't it meant to impair you? I thought that was the point.. a guy who has just been shot isn't operating at full capacity so the idea is add intensity. A health bar offers no detriment to being shot and things like slower movement speed and such would just not be fun.

The whole point of the red screen is impair you. It's not a design flaw, it's the design.

Considering how much effort they're taking to make games easy enough for mainstream audiences, I'm not 100% sure that that's the design. I always assumed it was a warning system and most games are pretty good using it as such. Maybe the red screen is designed to mess you up, but I don't think Infamous and Gears Of War meant it as anything but a clear warning.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

'Sir we've been jammed'
'what?'
'We've been jammed sir....i think it's raspberry'
'Raspberry? Hmm.....only one man would dare to give ME the raspberry!'

Cookie for the refrence.

LONE STARR! (camera smashes into helmet)

Here is an example of a HUD that works both practically, as well as fitting with the context of the game.

Spoiler

It works since it is in your helmet, providing context, and it gives you a clear indication of how much you have left.

 

[JaymesFogarty]

While health bars do lean closer to what I would like, I concede that they aren't perfect either. As Lazarus Long pointed out, they can be missed on the screen by merit of being so unobtrusive.

A system I would like would be a diagram of your body, with injuries being properly mapped on it according to where you were shot. So, for example, you would not be killed by getting repeated gunshots to your hand, but it would impair your aiming skills.

MGS3 nailed damage mapping. If you were hit by an incendiary grenade, you were burnt. If you were shot in the hand, your aiming would decrease in accuracy, and you would have to remove the bullet. Likewise, breaking or damaging leg bones would reduce movement speed, and force you to apply splints until they healed. It was a brilliant system, that worked with an overarching health bar on top.

 

[Miles Tormani]

When playing Reach, health regenerates by a third

Yeah I dunno- only being able to guess my health after a vicious firefight down to the nearest third just isn't going to cut it.

Well, the health meter is actually more accurate than that (divided into nine or eighteen blocks, depending on how you want to look at it), but it happens to regenerate to a third. Or two thirds if you were at half health.

When teammates are checking in on your health, though, do you really need to say anything other than "near death"? Saying that you have exactly 23 hit points doesn't really help. It's still going to be about the same number of bullets that kill you.