Indie Game // HUD

Today, while Andy was constructing the final game maps, I set to work deisgning the HUD (Heads up display) which would be on screen at all times. I found this definition of HUD in Level Up: The Guide to Great Video Game Design by Scott Rogers:

"HUD:
Named after the heads-up display found in modern aircraft, the HUD is the most effective way of communicating with the player. The HUD refers to any visual element that communicates information to the player. The mini-screens and icons found in a HUD are some of the best tools in a video game designer's bag of tricks. They can communicate information, emotion, even tell the player where to go and what to do. Let's look at some of the HUD elements found on an average game screen:


1. Health bar/lives
2. Targeting reticule 
3. Ammunition gauge
4. Inventory 
5 Score/Experience
6. Radar/Map 
7. Context sensitive prompt"

We discussed this and decided that we wouldn't need most of these, and would be looking at just indicators of the player's current health, money and how long they can stay in a transformed state before turning back to normal. We did some research into how the HUD was implemented in classic games. Here are some of our favourite uses:

mario games have traditionally used a primarily text-bad HUD, with coins being the only measurement indicated through the use of an icon. 

Zelda takes a very different approach. Nintendo's approach to A HUD here is very visual and inkeeping with the style of the game.  As a more complex game, the HUD in Zelda needed to display health, items, collectables and currency and as a result it required a larger real estate on screen than many other games of this period. 

Sonic the hedgehig used a character icon for health, the game icon that represnts extra lives when found in the game. Apart from this, it is textual. this suits this style of game better as it is about precision and timing which can be most accurately displayed in this way. 

(insert sketches)

 My favourite of these ideas for displaying health was using Oli's glasses to contain a more traditional health bar which would indicate damage by moving from green (full) to red (empty).

For money, I was initially planning on using a dollar symbol with a numeral that goes up and down. In practice this looked too digital and the green colour didn't really sit well on screen, particularly over the grass of the land level. I adopted the laser that Andy had designed for Oli's magic glasses and used it as a countdown timer for transformations. This would animate like a fuse and crackle as it shortened. 

Fixing the currency problem, I went back to video game basics and used coins as a symbol. I also compartmentalised the different indicators to make make them more visually separate on-screen.  Here is the HUD in context: