I wish the gaming industry would get rid of regenerating health but..........

[rossatdi]

I like the health bar system. I know it's a little unrealistic but I think it's a great way of keeping a game kinetic and paced well. You can really punish a player with 100 hit points and then just when he's about to drop you can give him a pack. When you've got a regenerator then you can't punish the player as aggressively as they always need the cooling off period.

Alternatively for the more realistic games I love the Deus Ex & Fallout 3 style % health per body part. You have a general in combat 'boost' by taking a hit of energy but in downtime you go through a more careful process to fix arms (lowered accuracy), legs (lower speed) and head (poorer sight).

I'm going to have to agree. Plus I think people can just do all sorts of things without consequence or punishment which I don't really like. And Deus Ex really did do it well, almost perfect I think, that's why the PS2 version of Deus Ex is poor, because they replaced that health system with a health bar.

And as for DX3? They are putting in all of this flashy stuff yet they seem to think that the previous health system is a bad idea...I just don't know what to say.

I've said it before but you know that Deus Ex 3 is doomed when the director says that the original wasn't exciting enough. 9:1 says that it'll be a crappy generic action game with cool shades.

If there are three options:
1) Health bar
2) Regeneration
3) Localised damage

Then 1 & 2 together is the obvious way forward in terms of game design, at least for the standard FPS single player type game.

I quite like CoD4's very small regenerative health because it feels natural. Gears is really the main offender for me.

 

[rdaleric]

anyone any ideas for new health systems?

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

I like the health bar system. I know it's a little unrealistic but I think it's a great way of keeping a game kinetic and paced well. You can really punish a player with 100 hit points and then just when he's about to drop you can give him a pack. When you've got a regenerator then you can't punish the player as aggressively as they always need the cooling off period.

Alternatively for the more realistic games I love the Deus Ex & Fallout 3 style % health per body part. You have a general in combat 'boost' by taking a hit of energy but in downtime you go through a more careful process to fix arms (lowered accuracy), legs (lower speed) and head (poorer sight).

I'm going to have to agree. Plus I think people can just do all sorts of things without consequence or punishment which I don't really like. And Deus Ex really did do it well, almost perfect I think, that's why the PS2 version of Deus Ex is poor, because they replaced that health system with a health bar.

And as for DX3? They are putting in all of this flashy stuff yet they seem to think that the previous health system is a bad idea...I just don't know what to say.

I've said it before but you know that Deus Ex 3 is doomed when the director says that the original wasn't exciting enough. 9:1 says that it'll be a crappy generic action game with cool shades.

If there are three options:
1) Health bar
2) Regeneration
3) Localised damage

Then 1 & 2 together is the obvious way forward in terms of game design, at least for the standard FPS single player type game.

I quite like CoD4's very small regenerative health because it feels natural. Gears is really the main offender for me.

Yes I remember them saying what you said, I just didn't want to go into it as such. But now that we are talking about it, that's just it though, Deus Ex isn't even a bloody FPS, it's an ARPG, and should be treated as such. The kind of attention to detail that localised damage would bring to the game fits well with it, but Regenerating health and cover systems makes it more like an fps/tps.

 

[Sgt. Dante]

Regenerating health would be better if it had 2 conditions,

1) a Health bar, so you can see what kinda state you're in, ala, how close to death you actaully are
2) It takes longer to happen, in gears and halo if you take cover for a few seconds after being sniped in the FACE you'll be back to full health before the enemy can reload.

 

[rdaleric]

what does everyone think to a slowly decreasing health meter?

 

[squid5580]

what does everyone think to a slowly decreasing health meter?

You are going to have to elaborate a bit on that. A constantly dropping health bar sounds like a fancy lime limit and I despise time limits within a game.

My big worry about med packs is not with the system itself but more a concern about how it saves. A few times I have lost hours of gameplay due to a whack saving system that leaves me with no health and miles away from a med pak (or it could be right around the corner but it may as well be on Mars) and no previous saves to boot up. So my only choice was to restart the game entirely.

In a multiplayer game regen health sucks. Turok for the 360 proved how broken it can be. Where FEAR Files was the most balanced MP game I have ever played. No health regen or storing 10 med paks to spam in a bind. You kill a guy he drops a med pak you run over it and use it automatically.

I think the only way to come close to pleasing everyone is with a L4D director type AI. Getting your ass handed to you and the enemies will drop more med paks, doing well they drop less. That is the only way for a casual gamer to enjoy it as well as the "hardcore" gamer.

 

[Draygen]

anyone any ideas for new health systems?

Not a "new" idea, but rather a borrowed idea. In some fighting game or another, don't remember which one, you had effectively two health bars. The one bar was yellow and got knocked down relatively easy. It was your current or actual health. The second darker bar got knocked down slower, and represented the maximum you could regenerate your health too. Equating effectively to yellow being bumps and bruises, and the darker one being cracked ribs or bleeding lips.

If they borrowed this concept, and gave you a medium rate of regeneration, it could be keen. This would also allow the use of medkits or Medics that would be able to regenerate the darker bar, allowing you to get back to full in the action.

 

[JokerGrin]

Far Cry 2 had a really good system. I always loved fixing myself after getting shot.

Yep, this is the best health system I've seen so far.

 

[Syndef]

This idea isn't new, but you can have a health bar that doesn't regenerate, but if you get damaged enough, the game presents you OPPORTUNITIES to regain health. Say you've just survived a firefight but are down to 10%. The game then spawns a weak enemy for you to kill and the enemy drops a health bonus. Or, the game can force the next crate you break open to contain a medkit.

In a thread similar to this one, I described a non-regenerating health bar accompanied with a "shock" meter (damage increases shock, when shock reaches 100%, a chunk of health is lost, shock goes down, but health does not go up).

 

[shadow skill]

Half life has always used health kits to great effect. The pacing is Brilliant and regenative health would ruin it. As said before, certain styles of game suit different health systems. I like both. Far cry 2 health system was probly the best thign about the game, a combination of the two.

Funny thing is Half Life 2 actually does have a health regen mechanic at least with the poisonous head crabs. If they hit you your health drops to 1, then if you don't get hit for a few seconds it climbs back up.

 

[Specter_]

It depends on what the game aims to be:

For simple shooters it's ok.
For more sophisticated games I prefer med-packs.
On the realistic end I love what the ACE mod did to Arma (also it still can be improved).

 

[sneakypenguin]

Here is my idea for health, I can't remember if another game did this or not. But my way would be sort of a "luck" meter thing for military games, the longer your out in the open or away from cover the more your odds go up of getting hit until that one bullet finally does get you. I'm sure somebody can work the math/balancing for it.
So istead of regenerating health you just have "luck" so when you take cover or people stop shooting at you your "luck" meter goes back up.
I really can not think of a way to describe this clearly.

 

[shadow skill]

The best health recovery system is where you can carry multiple medkits and apply them when necessary.

XIII, Deus Ex, -Shock series, etc.

Yea I like this too but it eats up a key/button that could be used for something else, asuming you want to give players fast access.

 

[Cid Silverwing]

It reeks of the FPS-Retard syndrome. If the developers can't get it into their thick heads to bring back health meters then regeneration shouldn't be in there.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I'd prefer it if your health only regenerated when you weren't near enemies. That gets rid of the need for Medkits, and makes it less silly when you can dive into cover and then be fine. In Halo it made more sense because you were supposed to feel super human.

 

[Ironcanman]

I like both systems, but as our industry grows i dont think we can go back to the health bars easily...

 

[MintyFreshBreathGuy]

I'm not one for the regenerating health. I always feel like you can absorb too much damage or die in just a few hits. Although a health bar can have the same problem it also lets you stay in game without having to run over to a cover and just wait there until you get your guts back. I don't know if some people think it's more realistic due to the "time heals all wounds" saying, but I'm pretty sure you don't grow your arm back in just a few minutes. As for a new idea, the only things I can think of are A. every time you kill an enemy you gain health (kind of like in Legendary) and B. You have a set amount of health and you need to make it to a near by Health Station to regain health (like a dramatized version of the Republic Commando health).
Actually Republic Commando might have had the best use of health I can recall. You would get a limited shield that would rearm itself after a short period of time. However when your shield was depleted you would be vulnerable. When this happens you then worry about your health bar. There would be health stations throughout the level as well. However when you died you would order your squad to do one of three things (the third being quite the game). Either have them fight off the enemy (pointless) or revive you. As long as there was one teammate then you would most likely be healed unless the four of you were overrun.

 

[J.B]

I like regenerating health systems, but I'd like someone to innovate a little.

My idea would be would be a health meter consisting of a couple of blocks. As long as it dosen't go down a whole block, you health regenerates. If you however lose a block, you have to use a medkit to get it back.

 

[Yuriatayde]

There's two sides to this; there's the realistic shooters and the arcady shooters. Unfortunately, both sides are doing it wrong. The arcady shooters have the health bars, and the realistic shooters have "I've been shot, I need to catch my breath"

Here's the problem I see with modern games. Take Mirrors Edge for example; you're a mortal, a runner, the immersion is fantastic... UNTIL you get shot. Then you see a flash of blood, you stumble a bit, I'm at the edge of my seat watching the character show human reaction to being shot... only for her to dive behind cover, take a deep breath, and forget her injuries. WHAT?!

I propose the alternative to health bars; give each bodypart it's own health as seen in Fallout3, where as a limb takes damage, your speed/accuracy drops. Then, an additional health bar would be more of a "trauma meter" that would regen as seen in Gears of War; you can be killed by the trauma of an injury when your body would otherwise still be functional. Additionally, if you get hurt too much but survive, eventually your body will simply collapse under you from sustained wounds that would require treatment to heal.