[cmdr_silverbolt]

What are some of your favorite examples of how games utilized the game screen for HUD.

Here are my top three:

1. Both Batman AA and AC.



What I liked was that the game made information available when you needed it, but it didn't permanently stick to your screen for no reason. I also like that you don't need to choose a different game difficulty to play the game like this.

2. The Witcher 2



TW2 has a concise and informative HUD- nothing excessive, all essential.

3. Fallout 3



Cool way to visualize a gameplay component. I am not a fan of tactical pausing, but this doesn't look horrendous, so I like it.

Overall, I would prefer to play any game without hud, and I am hoping for the day more games come with this option optimized for gameplay.

In TW2, for example, you can't really change signs on the controller without the sign wheel, which disappears when you disable HUD.

[slimgrin]

Save the poor mini map, TW2 had a very good main screen UI. TW1 was better in every other regard. My list:

[cmdr_silverbolt]

I liked the map in TW2. I don't know, maybe I am not that discerning about maps, but I didn't find any reason to complain about that one. I don't like the fourth one you posted, I hate it when games force too much picture-based information on you.

Oh, and here's an example of how not to do HUDs.



Arcanum's HUD is really in contrast with the rest of the game- it seems to purposely break immersion.

[slimgrin]

Compared to TW1, the maps for TW2 were fucking terrible. Both the mini map and the regular map. Trust me on this one.

[guipit]

best hud is no hud

[cmdr_silverbolt]

How do you even see the information available in TW1 minimap? It's has too much going on for being on such a small "surface". You can view it here.

Maybe you guys have 20/20, laser vision, and that's why you can discern teeny tiny details.

guipit said:

best hud is no hud ›››

I agree. As long as the game has built in ways to convey information to the player without HUD, then there should be an option to disable it. But even if you give me just an hud disable option, I'll be happy.

[slimgrin]

guipit said:

best hud is no hud ›››

So we can get the cheesy blood splatter screen and guess at our health and stats? No thanks

[slimgrin]

guipit said:

best hud is no hud ›››

Name an RPG that has no HUD.

[paul_cz]

Every game should have contextual HUD, that would appear only when needed, and options to set HUD sizes for Monitor/TV, as well as option to hide HUD completely.
I hope CDP will do good job with PC version of TW3/Cyberpunk and give us interfaces both for TVs and Monitors (on PC).

[Agbeth]

I like Skyrim HUD with immersive HUD mod. Its invisible so never gets in your way. All those health bars can be shown or closed using a hotkey. Crosshair and bars are fully customizable like size, brighness, contrast, fade times and so on with the option to disable HUD completely both for combat and outside combat.

Simple and elegant

[Benzenzimmern]

I would prefer if the big health bar only shows up when Geralt gets into a fight or when he has constantly under 50% of health.

[▫ Dona ▫]

guipit said:

best hud is no hud ›››

I agree.

Skyrim has a great HUD, I ended up modifying mine to hide the compass and turn the cursor into a small dot. I love how magicka, stamina and health bars appear only when you need them - that's a great idea. The old Tomb Raider games do something similar, showing only a thin health bar.

Silent Hill 1-3 have no HUD whatsoever, which is fantastic and only heightens the feeling of survival and tension. You can check it through inventory, there are no (visible) hit points, just the character portrait flashing at different speeds (representing heartbeat?) SH2 displays a red cross on the screen when you're really low, but I don't remember if 1 and 3 do the same.

I would really like to see more minimalistic HUDs, no overdesigned health globes and bulky fonts and information I don't need most of the time.

slimgrin said:

Name an RPG that has no HUD. ›››

RPGs need a certain amount of information on the screen, especially if you're working with a party, but in my opinion developers need to drop the 90s bevel/texture effect, serpents coiling around oversized health bars and horrendous 'old parchment' fonts. It makes the games look dated and is completely unnecessary. I'm not saying make everything clean Helvetica, but find ways to modernise the old.

Guild Wars 2 does a good job at simplifying the HUD. It isn't perfect because they still haven't implemented the option of hiding the news tickers on the right, but they will someday. The map can be resized and party information is pretty neat (the default option displays portraits, but I don't like that). They even made the 'health globe' work.

[guipit]

I'd rather have a device like this that I can look at if I want info.

HUDs kinda reminds me I'm in a video game.

[Wut the Melon]

Benzenzimmern and others: there actually exists a mod for TW2 which does the same as Immersive HUD for Skyrim, automatically hiding (customisable) parts of the HUD when they're not needed (i.e. outside of combat). It's a really neat mod with many options, hide/don't hide minimap, hide/don't hide combat log during combat, etc.

I use a variant which removes the HUD altogether outside of combat but brings up the complete HUD during combat or when using the Sign wheel.

Edit: I agree with you guys that HUD's should be minimal (during gameplay), and as Dynamic HUD and Immersive HUD for Skyrim show, even in RPG's we're getting closer to that.

[Yurtex]

You know this guy.




Ps: Max Payne 2 and 3

[cmdr_silverbolt]

That mod is only good if you like HUD in combat. What I like about disabling HUD is the lack of information, especially during combat. I was overjoyed when I found out TW2 already came with the option to tuck away HUD. If you play with KM, disabled HUD is really well optimized for the game.

Thanks for mentioning it though *thumbs up*

[Mataresa]

I always felt like Map or Journal for example should be something that Geralt holds into the camera, when you want to look at it.

[synd]

My favourite HUD is The Witcher 2's. However in The Witcher 3 a no HUD option or something even more minimalistic would be awesome for the people who aren't happy with the current one!

[DonSwingKing]

What every videogame needs imo, is a Interface-Editor like the one SWTOR has. You can adjust simply every single element of the HUD. I was very much impressed when i first played it.

[SixSixSix]

This was the first game of its kind that I played, that had no numbers on the health bar, which drove me crazy for a few days lol. I couldn't see if he was losing health in a fight or not, unless he lost large chunks like in the Kayran fight.

Once I discovered that I was developing Geralt correctly (i.e., never in danger of dying, etc.), I never looked at it again.

I did miss a compass on the main screen, but that was primarily because the game guide I had used compass-directions when guiding you to an area/quest site. But once I saw that North in the guide meant anywhere from slightly west to slightly east, and everything in-between, it really didn't matter.

Overall, the information provided was enough, and all the screens were very well done.

Oh, and I'd like to put in a plug to leave all QTEs out - hate that system. Or, if given the option of playing without them, truly disable them all. I have my game set so that I'm playing without them, but they still show up in different places. Very irritating.

One other issue. If you provide options to play as a swordsman or mage, or whatever, fight techniques need to be adjusted to account for that choice. For example, the Kayran fight. Understandably, as a swordsman, you have to get close up and personal with the enemy. To have to do that with a mage, too, was not a lot of fun. Such fights need to be scripted differently to account for different fighting styles.

I love wide-open games like Skyrim and the other TES games, and when I read a review about TW3, I decided to get TW2 to see if it's worth my while to play this game. The answer is a resounding YES. What a great game.