AfterWorld Survival Forum
Discussions => Ideas and suggestions => Topic started by: Zen "ZenX" Star on January 07, 2014, 12:52:44 pm
-
We have a gui showing various things, I think it would be handy for the gui to show our current weight and weight limit, could be handy when hunting, mining and picking rocks.
Not crucial but would be convenient :)
Zen
-
This would be OK as long as it is an option (i.e. in the options dialog) so it could be turned off (by default). Otherwise it is HUD clutter.
I get notification in the system chat window when my weight limit is beginning to effect my movement speed.
-
Or just press "I" for a split second and you can see your weight.
-
An option would be fine, and I realise you can press I :P , but I would still find it handy to have a visual display, the same way we can see our AWD total, it would be more relevant to see the weight details whilst picking rocks than it is to always be able to see our AWD total.
Anyway, its just something that would appeal to me or some others, it doesn't have to appeal to all, and is only a suggestion.
Zen
-
on the hud, the very left red line going from bottom to top. I don't think that means anything. could be weight
-
good suggestion dale!
Zen
-
that is the extra Stamina bar, when u charge that whit Red Bear / Stamina Booster u have an extra advantage for sprinting
-
The stamina bar is blue, I think dale is referring to a vertical red line to the left of the stamina/health/poison/toxic bars.
It appears to do nothing, and is a good suggestion to be utilised as a visual weight indicator :)
Zen
-
oh yeah, true is the second vertical one, whit red color, that one I missed, indeed if graphical can be complete not half, can be, and is a good idea
-
I like the idea of either a bar that fills or a color-changing dot somewhere that goes from green to yellow to red as your max carry weight is reached. The red dot on the left end of the quick slots bar would be the perfect thing to use, actually, since the quick slots are already an extension of inventory.
-
personally i prefer numbers over bar lengths, if it would be possible to have a (for example) [100/100] smack dab in the middle of the stamina bar and easily readable, (and same for all your bars) and it would change as it changes, this would be very useful for me and the health bar especially so i woudlnt have to guess what my health it (since it is more than 100) by the length of the bar
-
Good point, it's only after playing for quite a while that I've been able to figure out my own method of knowing when to use my HK. But if the bars showed the number of HP I have left I wouldn't have to do as much guess work.
-
I'd like to weigh in (pun intended :P ) with a somewhat "wider" argument/viewpoint.
I'd like my game to try to deliver a realistic experience.
I'm not wearing the Google glasses (http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/) in RL? Why would i want to wear em in a game?
OK, there's some (non-visual) signals we are experiencing in reality - i.e you feel the increasing weight of your backpack in RL, but there's (currently) no way to reproduce these signals directly while experiencing the virtual world.
Looks like there's indeed no other way than replacing this perception of increasing weight with a some kind of visual indicator, so we become aware of the approaching potential problem and can pay attention to it in time.
In my book the best way would be a decrease in movement speed, and if that's not clear enough signal (for several reasons, it prolly isn't) - put a small bar in the HUD, or just a dot changing color.
The numbers, however, belong to the world of excel tables, action logs and specific tools/interfaces. We're out here in post-apocalyptic wasteland, tryng to survive and suddenly all this scientific stuff tries to crawl out and right onto our game screens! No way, i say, we hafta fight n push em back to where they belong!
:)
-
I see your point Fifth, all quite reasonable.
I would respond though by suggesting that if there is a HUD/GUI, which there is, then it already has information on it that in real life wouldn't be there :P
So, the HUD concept is there, and is in pretty much every MMO, but AWS does allow those that don't want to see it to turn off components, or the whole enchilada.
So, not making a suggestion for a paradigm shift, just suggesting adding one bit of info etc that saves having to open Inventory every time you want to check weight. And opening inventory is no more realistic than having an indicator on the HUD :)
Zen
-
Yes, i was suggesting it's a "necessary evil" so to say. I know we all used to it, and the games today can't work without HUD's.
I belong to this ultra radical Minimal-HUD-Fighters-faction, u know. This thing spoils my immersion so it should be kept to minimal.
Example: remaining rounds until reload - number is worst solution, in the heat of the fight u don't have time to read what's the exact number anyway, progress bar with changing color would be more useful.
But all this is still just beggar's rags n crutches. It should be possible to see the actual tray. Suppose it's one of those modern translucent trays, you hold down the trigger, the empty sleeves are falling to the ground and u can see your tray is getting empty.
I know our software (in general) is too primitive still, our games won't let us interact with the virtual objects directly. No doubt, making a HUD and putting stuff there is so much easier, but... i still want this! :)
-
Yes, i was suggesting it's a "necessary evil" so to say. I know we all used to it, and the games today can't work without HUD's.
I belong to this ultra radical Minimal-HUD-Fighters-faction, u know. This thing spoils my immersion so it should be kept to minimal.
Example: remaining rounds until reload - number is worst solution, in the heat of the fight u don't have time to read what's the exact number anyway, progress bar with changing color would be more useful.
But all this is still just beggar's rags n crutches. It should be possible to see the actual tray. Suppose it's one of those modern translucent trays, you hold down the trigger, the empty sleeves are falling to the ground and u can see your tray is getting empty.
I know our software (in general) is too primitive still, our games won't let us interact with the virtual objects directly. No doubt, making a HUD and putting stuff there is so much easier, but... i still want this! :)
About minimal HUD i did read this article once, i all for intractable mimimal HUD, like being it displayed on your wrist or on your helm vizier.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/who-needs-a-hud-metro-last-light-and-the-return-to-realism/ (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/who-needs-a-hud-metro-last-light-and-the-return-to-realism/)
-
[url]http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/who-needs-a-hud-metro-last-light-and-the-return-to-realism/[/url] ([url]http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/who-needs-a-hud-metro-last-light-and-the-return-to-realism/[/url])
Yes, this!
In Metro, you know when the filters on your gas mask need changing because water starts collecting on the visor or the goggles start fogging up. Your breathing gets shallower and faster as the surrounding poison clogs the only thing between your lungs and the long nuclear winter. The ever-ticking watch on your left wrist counts down the seconds to your expiration, too, but you have to actively push a button to look at it; it isn’t constantly displayed in a corner of the screen, just as a watch isn’t constantly in the corner of your vision.
;)
With the recent trend toward more realism in games, you’d think more designers would be opting for this kind of minimal-HUD approach. But according to Prokhorov, developers often simply don’t have the time to integrate all this information in a natural way. :(
-
Nice article from Ars Technica. I agree that the HUD-free style of design for a post-apocalyptic game like AWS is the way to go! I realize it's probably impossible to get rid of it completely in a game as complex as AWS is, but in many ways its design could make removing some elements even easier.
In fact, I'd like to see an option to have all HUD elements turned off unless pressing down the key that normally shows/hides it. For example, if I want to see the in-game help I should have to hold down F1 for as long as I want to see it, then release it when I'm done. This would make it much easier to become immersed in the game world and it would even give the devs a good excuse for making the HUD elements as simple and nondescript as possible, especially if this option was on by default. And even if it wasn't, the HUD is pretty gaudy for a world where we're supposed to be rebuilding after the complete shut-down of nearly all technology.
-
HUDless game play already implemented - if you do not want the HUD - press B.
-
So, the HUD concept is there, and is in pretty much every MMO, but AWS does allow those that don't want to see it to turn off components, or the whole enchilada.
Zen
-
Hush now, u 2. Turning off entirely isn't really an option until there's no alternate system.
I can only speak for myself here anyway, while the vast majority (most likely) either:
- don't want any changes ("don't fix it if it's not broken"), or
- at least no change in the general principle how things are done ("yea ok dreaming is nice. now, where's my HUD?"),
- or didn't understand squat ("and all this fuss was about, what exactly?")
Add here the available development resources and complexity of HUD-less design Vs. the classical HUD in an indie game... Let's say this shift in paradigm requires at least a medium-sized miracle to happen.
-
I wouldn't mind if it went to the new paradigm, but until it does I will make suggestions effecting the current HUD ;)
Zen
-
Let's remember that this IS in the Ideas and Features section of the forum rather than the Knowledgebase section. 8-)
The discussion has certainly turned the corner from the path it started on, but we're saying what improvements we'd all like to see for the HUD. Some are much easier to implement than others but I don't see any reason why we can't all dream alongside each other in the same thread! 8-D
-
According to the posts above we have reached a clear consensus:
1) we could use weight indicator on the HUD
2) it should be kept to minimal (bar or dot-style instead digits)
Maybe the shift in the paradigm has already started? ;)
-
I think the flow and discussion in this thread has been good, collaborative ideas are usually some of the best :)
Zen
-
I think that collaborative ideas are almost always the best ideas as long as everyone involved is open-minded and honest and I agree that this thread has resulted in some good ones. Besides, collaborative ideas are the result of the opinions of all of the participants so it ends up being a good indicator of the group's overall view.
It's too bad we don't have more participants, but I think this shows that we have grown as a community. 8-)