Actually thats a real cool idea, being able to twitter from within a game. Having the game support it in some way, like imagine playing an orc and you twitter and it plays with the spelling to make it sound/look orcish, Or whatever.messy said:
Poll: FPS: Time for the HUD to evolve?
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It's certainly a step forward in terms of realism, but not all games need realism. I do actually quite like it, but I don't think it'll catch on. Simply for the sake of user-friendliness, games will keep having HUDs, especially FPSes where you need to keep track of health, ammo, a compass/radar, etc. Plus, in some games, Halo for instance, having an HUD makes perfect sense in the context, as it's the readout given by the viewscreen of the helmet.
I have, however, played one game which handled the "no HUD" issue very well: King Kong. Not necessarily a great game overall, although the shooting sections were very fun. In this regard, it's one of the more realisic FPSes I've played. Ok, you have regenerating health, but there was no HUD at all: no ammo counter, no health, no compass; nothing. As you took more damage the screen would get progressively darker red, and that was the closest it got to having any on-screen information. Aiming was done, like in hardcore CoD4, by using your gun's sights; you could fire from the hip, but it was inaccurate, and you could never really be sure what you would hit, just like it would be in real life. Possibly the one weakness was the way you found out how much ammo you had left; you pressed a button and you'd get a voice clip of your character telling you how many magazines/rounds you had. Arguably the weak point, but I don't see how else they would have done it.
King Kong wasn't necessarily as much fun or as well put together as CoD4, but the fact that there was no HUD at all, and the fact that that aspect of the game was so well done, definitely made it one of the more unique and memorable FPSes I've played.
I have, however, played one game which handled the "no HUD" issue very well: King Kong. Not necessarily a great game overall, although the shooting sections were very fun. In this regard, it's one of the more realisic FPSes I've played. Ok, you have regenerating health, but there was no HUD at all: no ammo counter, no health, no compass; nothing. As you took more damage the screen would get progressively darker red, and that was the closest it got to having any on-screen information. Aiming was done, like in hardcore CoD4, by using your gun's sights; you could fire from the hip, but it was inaccurate, and you could never really be sure what you would hit, just like it would be in real life. Possibly the one weakness was the way you found out how much ammo you had left; you pressed a button and you'd get a voice clip of your character telling you how many magazines/rounds you had. Arguably the weak point, but I don't see how else they would have done it.
King Kong wasn't necessarily as much fun or as well put together as CoD4, but the fact that there was no HUD at all, and the fact that that aspect of the game was so well done, definitely made it one of the more unique and memorable FPSes I've played.
Yeah, the "what angle I'm looking" and "am I sitting down" displays were a bit much.nikki191 said:
A dated game but still one of the best FPS ever in my opinion (if not the best).
It'd be really good if you could do it during long load times, or online when everyone's picking maps. The twitter feeds itself would be pretty cool "well I appear to have just got a Head shot, nothing left to do but teabag the poor individual" (I wrote this with Stephan Fry's voice in mind, I suggest you read it the same way)asiepshtain said:
I like it, using it to pass loading times and respawn time, maybe you can even have the game verify claims you make, instead of a screen-shot you have the game send to everyone a message you just kicked someones ass, verified.messy said:
Since space marines are the hot thing of this century (who knows they might actually come to existence in real life b4 2100) i think they should try to do like Dead Space, where the HUD was replaced by visual indications on your suit, but that limits it to third person shooters.
Staying space-marine-ish you could always take the metroid prime approach and make it seem like an integrated part of the game (it was info displayed for samus in the visor of her helmet) or anything else that makes it seem like less of a interface.
Maps are usefull in some games BF2 for insatnce where it's important to know the location of vehicles/teamamtes spotted enemies incoming airstrikes etc. but if the game doesn't need it to work, i would prefer a map that you had to toggle on, like you would unwrap the map/pull out your gps/whatever.
A nice way to display health without a bar would be nice.
Conclusively i think HUD should be as minimal as possible, and if theres a well functioning way to replace it with something that makes more sense "in-game wise" use it.
Staying space-marine-ish you could always take the metroid prime approach and make it seem like an integrated part of the game (it was info displayed for samus in the visor of her helmet) or anything else that makes it seem like less of a interface.
Maps are usefull in some games BF2 for insatnce where it's important to know the location of vehicles/teamamtes spotted enemies incoming airstrikes etc. but if the game doesn't need it to work, i would prefer a map that you had to toggle on, like you would unwrap the map/pull out your gps/whatever.
A nice way to display health without a bar would be nice.
Conclusively i think HUD should be as minimal as possible, and if theres a well functioning way to replace it with something that makes more sense "in-game wise" use it.
Metroid Prime has a nice approach: the HUD is projected on your visor, so it's a part of the game world instead of breaking the fourth wall. I think a lot of games give lip service to this, but so subtly that you don't even realise it's supposed to be part of your helmet (Halo and Half-Life 2, to pick the obvious examples).
That reminds me of the Sanity Meter in Eternal Darkness. If your sanity level drops too low, you start hallucinating all kinds of crazy shit!Bluebacon said:
It depends on what kind of game, and how much sense it would make.
CoD4 does it pretty well, offering BOTH options.
On the other hand, try imagining Brothers In Arms, without the order indicator (as in, telling squads where they need to go): "Yeah, head to that wall over there! No, not that one, THAT ONE! NO NOT THAT ONE!"
The best option would be that the player him/herself can simply choose how much he/she wants to see. Don't want the ammo indicator? Disable it. Want to play the game without a HUD at all? Disable everything.
CoD4 does it pretty well, offering BOTH options.
On the other hand, try imagining Brothers In Arms, without the order indicator (as in, telling squads where they need to go): "Yeah, head to that wall over there! No, not that one, THAT ONE! NO NOT THAT ONE!"
The best option would be that the player him/herself can simply choose how much he/she wants to see. Don't want the ammo indicator? Disable it. Want to play the game without a HUD at all? Disable everything.
You should be able to activate(I guess I'll use that word) your HUD in game at any moment with the push of a button. but it onlys shows map, health and ammo.
In specific, I like minimal screen interference. But there are games (Mech games and driving games in particular) where you need a copius amount of information. Imagine Steel Battalion without the HUD. That would just be bad. Some games increase immersion with an HUD, some don't.
Off topic, did you know that the latest version of the Lexus RX will have an HUD projected on the windscreen like a fighter jet? That's just awesome.
Off topic, did you know that the latest version of the Lexus RX will have an HUD projected on the windscreen like a fighter jet? That's just awesome.
I like the realistic "you have to look through your crosshair in order to aim properly with this gun" way of playing shooters. But it really depends on the game, since the aformentioned only works in realistic shooters.
FPS games with regenerating health don't need a HUD, other than something to indicate how many spare mags i have. But even that's not necessary, i can keep track of that.
Racing games that have in-car view just need the dashboard.
RTS games most certainly need the HUD.
As for everything else, i like the way Dead Space displays information with its holographic thingies.
Racing games that have in-car view just need the dashboard.
RTS games most certainly need the HUD.
As for everything else, i like the way Dead Space displays information with its holographic thingies.