Better Health/shield Visibility

[Wiegraf]

Hello DE!

 

I don't know for how many I speak on this matter (though a few of my friends have been noticing it the more they play) but I think there might be a place for a small improvement to the ingame HUD.

 

For one, while the screen flashes detailing if damage is done to shields or health (through blue or red flashes), the fact that our Health and Shield levels are displayed as a number is not inherently very useful while in a heated firefight. I actually have 2 ideas to improve our awareness of our shields and health.

 

Note that both ideas would also add an option in the "game" section to disable/enable it, just so people who don't want such feedback can turn it off.

 

 

1) Add "GoldenEye" like popup displays

 

If any of you played GoldenEye on the N64, you might know what I'm on about : two arcs would show whenever you took damage, one for armor and the other for actual health. Taking damage would show by how much either decreased.

 

I think this would provide much needed feedback by having two such similar 'arcs' pop up when taking any decreasing changes to shields or health. Either have one on each side of the screen show up, perhaps at 50% transparency for what remains and 10-20% transparency for what's missing or simply display two arcs, one atop another similar to the display in Mass Effect 2 where the 'shield' overlaps the health at the bottom of the screen.

 

Both would fade out after taking no damage after a second or 2. Increase in shield or health would only display if you picked up an health orb, recovered from a warframe's ability (Trinity's Well of Life or Blessing, for example) or if the shield's regeneration kicks in. Both could be separately triggered (in case of a change in one or another) or the full display shown at once (if either changes).

 

Could even add another arc at the bottom of the screen for Energy display when used and recovered from orbs.

 

 

2) Change the crosshair's branches to display Health and Shield

 

I've noticed that the crosshair used is a dot with 2 branches underneath. Perhaps it could be possible to make those branches actual display for Health and Shield, the left one for Health and the right one for Shield.

 

This one is actually less invasive than the prior "GoldenEye" style of display while making use of an asset already onscreen. Best comparison I can make is the crosshair display of Health and Energy in Half-Life 2, only adapted to Warframe's current crosshair.

 

An arch over the center dot could show up when using an ability to show the remaining energy as well.

 

---

 

Of course, neither suggestion would require to remove the display in the top right corner of the screen (as it's more detailed); it's merely for convenience where it's sometime hard ot be aware of your Health and Shields in a heated firefight (like in a Defense mission)

 

I'll try to provide mockup pictures of the ideas in a reply later.

[DanPaul7]

As long as it's a toggle option, sounds good. I don't want health and shield bars all up in my face when i'm playing, but to each their own.

[Krotalon]

+1

There should be a "Continuity" indicator aswell, one that tells you for how much time your ability is active (ex. Link, Snow Globe, Bastille etc).

As long as it's a toggle option, sounds good. I don't want health and shield bars all up in my face when i'm playing, but to each their own.

Those bars are already there, around the crosshair. Edited August 9, 2013 by Krotalon

[DanPaul7]

+1

There should be a "Continuity" indicator aswell, one that tells you for how much time your ability is active (ex. Link, Snow Globe, Bastille etc).

+1 for that! That is something we really need.

The bars are around the crosshair but if they had big health and shield bars it would be obtrusive.

Edited August 9, 2013 by DanPaul7

[Sophista]

Never tought of it, but now you mentioned it, it seems like great idea.

+ For Toggle-able additional hp/shield bars

+for continuity/power duration meter (already couple threads about it) 

[raiden1337]

Not the baddest idea...

 

but a true Tenno knows when the sh*t is getting pretty serious

and has to withdraw from battle...no need for a HUD ;-)

 

[Zhika]

Hello Wiegraf!

Your idea is stupendous. Many might not realize that upon zooming in with a weapon, the minimap and the Warframe status bar recedes and fades out. This is actually pretty awesome UI design, but perhaps detrimental in a frantic firefight.Your idea can save many Tenno lives!

But do note that removing UI clutter is a step taken by a lot of modern games. I feel that having that feedback where you pick up an Energy orb might actually distract players. Personally speaking, I feel that the pickup text is not very well executed, and having an Energy Bar at that position might actually break the cohesion all together, making it worse.

I lean more towards your second idea, where important information is also where you will be focusing your attention on anyways. Be aware that zooming in actually reduces your reticule by a small degree. Should the bars be decreased in size too? Should they fade out but still retain enough transparency?

I look forward to an official reply as much as you do.

[Wiegraf]

I feel that the pickup text is not very well executed, and having an Energy Bar at that position might actually break the cohesion all together, making it worse.

 

Yeah, personally, I'd see the "pickup log" (and multi-line, on top of that) on the right side, above the weapon information if a "Mass Effect"-like HUD would be implemented.

 

I also think the second application would make more sense since the branches ARE already there; it would merely using an asset that's already there and making it interactive.

[Krotalon]

Here's a mockup of my point of view about how the reticule should be and behave.

 

[DanPaul7]

Here's a mockup of my point of view about how the reticule should be and behave.

 

 

That's a really tidy mockup... would use that

[Wiegraf]

Here's a mockup of my point of view about how the reticule should be and behave.

 

(pics)

 

That's exactly what I had in mind for type 2); simple, shows what you need and doesn't impede your visibility.

[Krotalon]

Cool. And thanks for the feedback, guys. Maybe I'll start a new thread about this element or, more likely, a whole new in-game "minimal" GUI. Work is in progress.

[Wiegraf]

Bump for greater justice of better health/shield visibility!

Edited August 22, 2013 by Wiegraf

[G3m1n1]

Personally, I'd have to disagree with a change like that because I have always been a fan of a minimalist reticle. In most FPS games I pick the dot for my reticle if possible. If we could have options for the reticle, health/shield bars or not, etc. that would be cool.

 

I do think the warframe status box at the top right could be improved in a few ways. The stamina bar and the energy bars are a bit thin to me; I think if they were even a few pixels wider they would be much more visible. The skill icons are ok, but they also suffer from a visibility problem. There might just be too much going on in that one status info box. Breaking out some of the info displayed there into a new area might help the most.

 

Probably not possible, but I think if we could move the various pieces of the UI around to fit our own ideal arrangement the UI would be perfect.