What happened to health meters?

[Alphakirby]

Because some one (Halo) had a really good game without them. Then other developers assumed that if they did it too they would be as popular as Halo.

But didn't Halo have a regenerating shield AND a health bar?

Only the first,after that they cut out the middle man and just had regenerating shields. Then ODST brought back the health meters for one last hurrah.

OT:I miss health meters too,they added challenge to the game while at the same time forcing you to change up your strategies. Sure you could take the 30 monster army at 100 health,but at 10 health you need to try something other than run and gun.

Deus Ex Human Revolution has a good way of meshing regen health with a health bar by making the health reload ever so slowly so you can either take a health item,sit there for 10 minutes,or try to make it with what you have.

 

[MercurySteam]

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has one (well, one of sorts). It's not really a bar but it's basically a meter with a number next to it. Still, it is a recent game where your screen going red isn't the only indication that you're dying.

 

[imnot]

Honestly I prefer regenerating health, In halflife one I counldnt get past a part because I was on low health with no medkits in the reachable area, OS I had to load a sav from hours ago.

I prefer how Halo ce odst and reach do it with the regenerating shield and health point health.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

programmers got tired of people complaining that the Medkits are too far apart. keep em too close together, make the game too easy.

Sorry to be 'that guy', but that duty would probably fall on the level designers, not the programmers. Regenerating health is more difficult for programmers than medkits, although not significantly so.

Anyway, the reason as I see it is mostly the above reason, semantics and technicalities aside. With a health bar, you run the risk of the player being in a situation where they're severely disadvantaged, or one where they're too powerful. It becomes a big issue of balance, and a significant problem trying to tailor encounters to a player without knowing how well off the player is at that point. It makes fights harder to plan out in advance since different players will have different levels of difficulty at that point based on whether they messed up earlier or not.

With regenerating health and such, it's not so much an issue. The designers KNOW how much health a character will have in a fight, so they can apply a sort of 'one size fits all' mentality to planning out encounters and balancing them.

It doesn't work WELL for all games of course, but that would likely be the reason it's come into popularity.

EDIT: As a handy example of this, see:

In halflife one I counldnt get past a part because I was on low health with no medkits in the reachable area, OS I had to load a sav from hours ago.

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Anyway, the reason as I see it is mostly the above reason, semantics and technicalities aside. With a health bar, you run the risk of the player being in a situation where they're severely disadvantaged, or one where they're too powerful. It becomes a big issue of balance, and a significant problem trying to tailor encounters to a player without knowing how well off the player is at that point. It makes fights harder to plan out in advance since different players will have different levels of difficulty at that point based on whether they messed up earlier or not.

With regenerating health and such, it's not so much an issue. The designers KNOW how much health a character will have in a fight, so they can apply a sort of 'one size fits all' mentality to planning out encounters and balancing them.

It doesn't work WELL for all games of course, but that would likely be the reason it's come into popularity.

So you're saying, it's basically a way to make it so that anyone can play the game and finish it without too much trouble. And also a way for game designers to not think too hard about certain situations since then all they have to do to make an encounter harder is add more enemies.

 

[LawlessSquirrel]

SNIP

So you're saying, it's basically a way to make it so that anyone can play the game and finish it without too much trouble. And also a way for game designers to not think too hard about certain situations since then all they have to do to make an encounter harder is add more enemies.

Essentially, yes. The designers don't have to worry about 'what if the Player's on low life?' and similar problems where the encounter might verge on impossible when it was barely intended to be a challenge, and players don't have to worry about getting into a situation where they're far too weak to move on unless they go back a few saves. It makes it much easier to plan out for designers, and much more forgiving for the players.

I personally see a lot of value in it, but wouldn't consider it a system that can be applied to just any game. Games like Silent Hill would suffer a lot from regenerating health. I guess it's best used when the game's meant to keep a constant forward momentum and keep the action flowing, since it tends to be you get a lot more cautious when your health is low. Not a big deal when it just means ducking into cover for a few seconds.

 

[DirgeNovak]

Regenerative health is 'cool' apparently. Valve has kept health meters in its recent FPS titles though.

Valve released an FPS recently?! I honestly had no idea.

 

[HazelrahFiver]

Regenerative health is 'cool' apparently. Valve has kept health meters in its recent FPS titles though.

Valve released an FPS recently?! I honestly had no idea.

Win.

As for my response to this thread, the regenerating health comes and goes for the same reason that just about every thing comes and goes. It occurs for the same reason that women get breast implants, why skinny jeans get worn, and why passion fruit is a flavor.
Popularity trends.
The idea comes and goes, and it works for some games. I'm surprised that it appears a game like Rage, by ID for god's sake, doesn't have a health meter. However, it's because they crafted the game to work better with regenerative health, as it's one of the popular trends.

 

[omega_peaches]

Call of Duty 2 Came out, that's what happened.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Why aren't there health bars? Because of regenerating health.

Why is there regenerating health? Because they went casual.
See most of the new gaming population doesn't care about what they are doing only about pretty pictures moving on screen, taking away all consequences is a very simple way to offer up just that.

Then you add the time/money developers save with cutting corners and we get the full picture.

 

[krazykidd]

Honestly, they're not realistic, and with a huge focus on realism in the last 10 years or so not many games are using them. Health meters still exist though. Bioshock uses them, TF2 and L4D use them, it's just that a lot of the big titles don't.

Can you explain how regenerating health is more realistic? At least health kits make sense , you get hurt you need treatment . I guess in the futur humans will be able to regenerate limbs.

 

[hoboman29]

I ask the same question its not that hard but a green bar in a corner of the screen or do what timesplitters did and have it only appear when you get hurt

 

[SpartanBlackman]

Nuclear Dawn has a health bar and no regenerating health.

 

[Johnson McGee]

Realism in video games ... Interesting aspect. We began with Health Tonics in RPGs and flying crosses in Quake shooters .. See where we ended up now? I call that progress.
Neither Health Bars, nor regeneration is realistic, but, let's be honest, the latter gives a more streamlined gameplay.

Therefore we need to look forward and find a new solution, something that combines the streamlined experience AND realism.

If you want good realism I suggest you try a game called Bushido Blade. Sure it's old (PSone) but take one hit and you are severely injured or dead.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I enjoyed the life bars (or other health methods that allowed to stay "alive" with a limited amount of hits). When you found items that replenished your health, you had to be creative and smart on when to use these items rather than feel 100% when you weren't threatened.

When you were low on health, the excitement was cranked up to 11, making you be more cautious, yet force you to make your move(s) count. There was nothing more exciting like going toe-to-toe with a foe and defeating them with 1 HP, 1 Ring, 1 Hit Counter, or on your most basic and vulnerable form.

This form of bliss is now cheapened or gone altogether by simply taking cover for a few seconds or running away until your shield returns. It's like the talented rookie boxer who can dish out damage, but always hides behind his gloves or avoids his opponent when he's not dishing out punches because he can't take on multiple hits at a time.

More games need to re-invent the life bar to make gameplay both interesting and challenging. Limit the amount of health-ups in a level, create incentives for taking risks or completing tasks (the greater the risk/task, the more HP you replenish), and the option to restart challenges or boss fights rather than restart the level over.

 

[Epslion.Bear]

In my opinion Battlefield Bad company 1 got it right

Health meter but with a regenerating health kit

 

[hardRAWKR]

Honestly, they're not realistic, and with a huge focus on realism in the last 10 years or so not many games are using them. Health meters still exist though. Bioshock uses them, TF2 and L4D use them, it's just that a lot of the big titles don't.

Can you explain how regenerating health is more realistic? At least health kits make sense , you get hurt you need treatment . I guess in the futur humans will be able to regenerate limbs.

Well it's not really more realistic, but on the surface it's slightly more believable than having a big floating bar in front of your face telling you how much health you have left.

 

[crudus]

Supposedly it is so you never got stuck at any point in the game. Traveling around with 1 health in any game is enough to get you screwed. I have had it happen and it is frustrating. This is what quicksave (rather multiple save slots) was meant to prevent, but I guess that wasn't a reasonable option. I still prefer healthbar over regenerating health.

they aren't realistic enough.

I know I play games to escape reality by having my characters go the speed limit, get to work on time (or at all!), and obey any and all laws of physics. It's fun!!

 

[Anarchemitis]

It reduces immersion to have small, easily identified objects that can be walked over that regenerate a unilateral metric that tells you how close you are to failure. Apparently it increases immersion to give the visual appearance that all damage you take is just grazing bullets or someone with a spritzer filled with red kool-aid in front of your goggles.