Enough with the red screen.

[Cid Silverwing]

I irreconcilably hate all video games, don't care which ones, that feel the need to obscure your screen with bloodspatters or "veins" around the corners, or even worse, fade out the colors, to indicate your health. It RUINS the graphics!

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I like the black and white effect from left 4 dead, and the heartbeats. It impairs slightly but damn it makes you nervous.

Actually, this is a sort of advantage. I find that when I'm near dead with the black and white screen, you can see better in the dark, since the contrast is so high. It helps you get back on your feet while still telling you to watch out.

 

[Netrigan]

If it's a game with recharging health, then I think there needs to be some sort of visual. I prefer the graying out, since it doesn't restrict visibility too much... since the effect is progressive, you're often got cover selected by the time visibility starts to get too impaired.

Modern Warfare 2 is the absolute worst offender I've seen so far, with the blood splatter being so thick that it's nearly impossible to see what's going on.

Although I much prefer the hybrid health/recharge system used by Just Cause, Assassin's Creed, and other games. Only one unit of health recharges, so you're rarely stuck in a unwinnable situation, but you're certainly checking your health meter at regular intervals.

 

[UkibyTheMaid]

There are two things that 1) annoy me and 2) distract me a lot.

And these things are red screens and BEEPING SOUNDS WHEN YOU ARE DYING. I don't need a constant beeping sound warning me about my death! I can see the health meter! I'm completely aware of the fact that I'm about to die!

I particularly don't like that on the Pokémon series. They have this stupid beeping sound in EVERY SINGLE GAME. I mean, really! Is that really necessary??? It isn't like there's a lot of things happening on the screen and you need to attract my attention to the fact that my pokémon is dying. I can perfectly see that >_>

 

[AugustFall]

Isn't it meant to impair you? I thought that was the point.. a guy who has just been shot isn't operating at full capacity so the idea is add intensity. A health bar offers no detriment to being shot and things like slower movement speed and such would just not be fun.

The whole point of the red screen is impair you. It's not a design flaw, it's the design.

 

[Netrigan]

Isn't it meant to impair you? I thought that was the point.. a guy who has just been shot isn't operating at full capacity so the idea is add intensity. A health bar offers no detriment to being shot and things like slower movement speed and such would just not be fun.

The whole point of the red screen is impair you. It's not a design flaw, it's the design.

Considering how much effort they're taking to make games easy enough for mainstream audiences, I'm not 100% sure that that's the design. I always assumed it was a warning system and most games are pretty good using it as such. Maybe the red screen is designed to mess you up, but I don't think Infamous and Gears Of War meant it as anything but a clear warning.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

'Sir we've been jammed'
'what?'
'We've been jammed sir....i think it's raspberry'
'Raspberry? Hmm.....only one man would dare to give ME the raspberry!'

Cookie for the refrence.

LONE STARR! (camera smashes into helmet)

Here is an example of a HUD that works both practically, as well as fitting with the context of the game.

Spoiler

It works since it is in your helmet, providing context, and it gives you a clear indication of how much you have left.

 

[JaymesFogarty]

While health bars do lean closer to what I would like, I concede that they aren't perfect either. As Lazarus Long pointed out, they can be missed on the screen by merit of being so unobtrusive.

A system I would like would be a diagram of your body, with injuries being properly mapped on it according to where you were shot. So, for example, you would not be killed by getting repeated gunshots to your hand, but it would impair your aiming skills.

MGS3 nailed damage mapping. If you were hit by an incendiary grenade, you were burnt. If you were shot in the hand, your aiming would decrease in accuracy, and you would have to remove the bullet. Likewise, breaking or damaging leg bones would reduce movement speed, and force you to apply splints until they healed. It was a brilliant system, that worked with an overarching health bar on top.

 

[Miles Tormani]

When playing Reach, health regenerates by a third

Yeah I dunno- only being able to guess my health after a vicious firefight down to the nearest third just isn't going to cut it.

Well, the health meter is actually more accurate than that (divided into nine or eighteen blocks, depending on how you want to look at it), but it happens to regenerate to a third. Or two thirds if you were at half health.

When teammates are checking in on your health, though, do you really need to say anything other than "near death"? Saying that you have exactly 23 hit points doesn't really help. It's still going to be about the same number of bullets that kill you.

 

[joshuaayt]

I think Deus Ex had the very best health system possible. I propose that we make it a standard, altering only the precision and the number of body segments

Oh, and fixing that disembodied head glitch it had going on.

 

[Squilookle]

Well, the health meter is actually more accurate than that (divided into nine or eighteen blocks, depending on how you want to look at it), but it happens to regenerate to a third. Or two thirds if you were at half health.

Oh ok, I see what you mean. That's a lot better than what I was thinking it was.

When teammates are checking in on your health, though, do you really need to say anything other than "near death"? Saying that you have exactly 23 hit points doesn't really help. It's still going to be about the same number of bullets that kill you.

Yes, yes I do. Most of the time it's after a head on fight with someone who I've killed while narrowly avoiding death, and they usually ask me out of curiosity how close they had been to winning the fight- i.e. how close I was to dying.

Another case is when your teammates see you run down a path, only to dissapear in the smoke of falling artillery, bursting grenades, mounted MG fire and bullets and bombs from planes zooming overhead. When the smoke clears and you're still off in the distance alive, knowing just how low your heath is is something they usually ask first. In the game I play online the most, all I have is a health bar divided into sub-bars, and I can only estimate based on that. Health percentage tells you exactly what it is, at a glance, and can also tell you exactly how much damage each hit does to you.

 

[badgersprite]

Well, the red screen is kind of supposed to be irritating. If you can't aim properly, then that forces you to take cover and regenerate health. Admittedly, having typed that out, it does feel a little patronising that game designers are basically telling you how to play their games and how to strategise like you haven't played a cover-based shooting game before.

I don't get annoyed by the red screen personally. Most times that it's used, and if it's used well, then I find it lures me in and makes me feel more tense in a firefight. It feels like the character has actually taken damage, if you know what I mean, as opposed to a declining health bar that doesn't affect your ability to fight until it empties completely and you die.

That said, though, I can see how it can get annoying when it's ubiquitous. I mean, so many games do use this system. It's like, "Wow. I'm playing completely the same game as the one I just finished."

I think the only time it really annoyed me was when it showed up in Mass Effect 2. It's like, "Huh? Red screen of death? What are you doing here? This isn't your game!"

 

[FlyAwayAutumn]

And another thing to really see the blood it would have to be in your eyes... ow.

I prefer health bars more specifically Halo Reach or Borderlands where you have a regenerating shield but you have health that need health packs.

 

[Something Amyss]

It seems that we agree, I try to argue the same point but the only thing anyone ever says is, "Health bars aren't realistic.."

The other major argument is that the move away from complex HUDs simplifies things greatly. This is, of course, true. However, you're turning the whole screen into a hud and just making the indicator more intrusive when it shows up, so I still think it's a wash. Just pointing out there's a better argument, even if it's one I don't particularly agree with.

I like simple HUDs, but some info should be well displayed. Health is vital (no pun intended) and shouldn't hinder your gameplay experience.

Note I'm not arguing with you; I just tacked on stream of consciousness discussion to a reply dealing with what you said.

 

[Squilookle]

I like simple HUDs, but some info should be well displayed. Health is vital (no pun intended) and shouldn't hinder your gameplay experience.

I find it strange that in some games I catch myself switching weapons just to bring up the ammo display. There's just something inherently... backwards about that system.

Mind you I thing Regen heath is the ideal way to handle a sandbox game. You never know where an outbreak of mayhem will take you, and having to rely on non-respawning health pickups is a bit less than ideal. So yeah, regen FTW in sandbox games.

 

[Miles Tormani]

Well, the health meter is actually more accurate than that (divided into nine or eighteen blocks, depending on how you want to look at it), but it happens to regenerate to a third. Or two thirds if you were at half health.

Oh ok, I see what you mean. That's a lot better than what I was thinking it was.

When teammates are checking in on your health, though, do you really need to say anything other than "near death"? Saying that you have exactly 23 hit points doesn't really help. It's still going to be about the same number of bullets that kill you.

Yes, yes I do. Most of the time it's after a head on fight with someone who I've killed while narrowly avoiding death, and they usually ask me out of curiosity how close they had been to winning the fight- i.e. how close I was to dying.

Another case is when your teammates see you run down a path, only to dissapear in the smoke of falling artillery, bursting grenades, mounted MG fire and bullets and bombs from planes zooming overhead. When the smoke clears and you're still off in the distance alive, knowing just how low your heath is is something they usually ask first. In the game I play online the most, all I have is a health bar divided into sub-bars, and I can only estimate based on that. Health percentage tells you exactly what it is, at a glance, and can also tell you exactly how much damage each hit does to you.

See, once again, unless I'm at more or less 1 hit point, something that can be easily guessed by my health bar being empty, claiming that I'm "near death" is good enough. To go by the Halo example, it doesn't matter if I have one health block or one and a half. One good DMR shot is still going to kill me. How "hard" it killed me is rather unnecessary at that point.

On the other hand, ODST's health bar was so damn vague and variable that it was nearly impossible to do anything but estimate.

 

[Squilookle]

I think we're looking at it from different sides of the glass- you're looking at it from the point of view of how much damage the player is still able to take before dying, whereas I'm looking at it from the point of view of how much damage a recent fight/event has brought the player down to without killing them.

Sort of like you're focused on how that player will fare in the upcoming future firefight, while I'm thinking of how well they fared in that noteworthy recent moment in the past.

 

[Miles Tormani]

I think we're looking at it from different sides of the glass- you're looking at it from the point of view of how much damage the player is still able to take before dying, whereas I'm looking at it from the point of view of how much damage a recent fight/event has brought the player down to without killing them.

Sort of like you're focused on how that player will fare in the upcoming future firefight, while I'm thinking of how well they fared in that noteworthy recent moment in the past.

Once again, I don't see how it matters. If I manage to make it through a fight, and end it with full health, it means I did well. If my health bar is short, it means I barely scraped through. Whether it's specifically at 4 or 5 percent means very little either way.

 

[Squilookle]

OK, so bottom line: the exact health value doesn't matter to you, and for me and my group it does. Seems simple enough.

 

[MR.Spartacus]

"Health bars aren't realistic.."

To which I'd say "How is getting covered with raspberry jam/spontaneously developing cataracts realistic?" or more often just point that "realism" isn't necessary when it impedes gameplay. That's my biggest gripe with Call of Duty. If you get severely damaged and need to make a quick getaway you can't because your as good as blind.