Why games can't abandon the HUD
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Date: 2023-12-10
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Comments and reviews: 30
polygon
I still think my favorite use of UI, or lack of UI is the metro series. Instead of giving the player a bunch of mini maps, navigations points, health bar, item numbers, etc. it instead gives the player items within the game to help with this. At most the player will know how many bullets they have, and are in the chamber, but that-s only 1 of the many many things that game has to offer.
The game has a light detection system, a navigation system, a filter timer system, mission journal, bullet tracking, and health kit tracking all without using the HUD to tell you this. In the game you have a watch that both tells you how much time you have before you need to change filters, and it has a light detector to tell if you-re in direct light. There is both a compass on your journal which tells you the current objective, but also if you pull out your lighter the smoke trial leads to your next objective. Excluding a select few almost all of the guns has an open design magazine which allows for the player to see roughly how much ammo they have left, and when the player uses a health kit they get to see how many they have left with a cool little animation.
All of the above examples show off incredible melding of the UI into gameplay since they-re all still there, and are all still things you-re reading off. It-s just the fact that they-re built into objects instead of built into the screen. I do wish more games would take notes from the metro series on this integration of UI instead of deletion of it.
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I still think my favorite use of UI, or lack of UI is the metro series. Instead of giving the player a bunch of mini maps, navigations points, health bar, item numbers, etc. it instead gives the player items within the game to help with this. At most the player will know how many bullets they have, and are in the chamber, but that-s only 1 of the many many things that game has to offer.
The game has a light detection system, a navigation system, a filter timer system, mission journal, bullet tracking, and health kit tracking all without using the HUD to tell you this. In the game you have a watch that both tells you how much time you have before you need to change filters, and it has a light detector to tell if you-re in direct light. There is both a compass on your journal which tells you the current objective, but also if you pull out your lighter the smoke trial leads to your next objective. Excluding a select few almost all of the guns has an open design magazine which allows for the player to see roughly how much ammo they have left, and when the player uses a health kit they get to see how many they have left with a cool little animation.
All of the above examples show off incredible melding of the UI into gameplay since they-re all still there, and are all still things you-re reading off. It-s just the fact that they-re built into objects instead of built into the screen. I do wish more games would take notes from the metro series on this integration of UI instead of deletion of it.
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polygon
I still think my favorite use of UI, or lack of UI is the metro series. Instead of giving the player a bunch of mini maps, navigations points, health bar, item numbers, etc. it instead gives the player items within the game to help with this. At most the player will know how many bullets they have, and are in the chamber, but that-s only 1 of the many many things that game has to offer.
The game has a light detection system, a navigation system, a filter timer system, mission journal, bullet tracking, and health kit tracking all without using the HUD to tell you this. In the game you have a watch that both tells you how much time you have before you need to change filters, and it has a light detector to tell if you-re in direct light. There is both a compass on your journal which tells you the current objective, but also if you pull out your lighter the smoke trial leads to your next objective. Excluding a select few almost all of the guns has an open design magazine which allows for the player to see roughly how much ammo they have left, and when the player uses a health kit they get to see how many they have left with a cool little animation.
All of the above examples show off incredible melding of the UI into gameplay since they-re all still there, and are all still things you-re reading off. It-s just the fact that they-re built into objects instead of built into the screen. I do wish more games would take notes from the metro series on this integration of UI instead of deletion of it.
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I still think my favorite use of UI, or lack of UI is the metro series. Instead of giving the player a bunch of mini maps, navigations points, health bar, item numbers, etc. it instead gives the player items within the game to help with this. At most the player will know how many bullets they have, and are in the chamber, but that-s only 1 of the many many things that game has to offer.
The game has a light detection system, a navigation system, a filter timer system, mission journal, bullet tracking, and health kit tracking all without using the HUD to tell you this. In the game you have a watch that both tells you how much time you have before you need to change filters, and it has a light detector to tell if you-re in direct light. There is both a compass on your journal which tells you the current objective, but also if you pull out your lighter the smoke trial leads to your next objective. Excluding a select few almost all of the guns has an open design magazine which allows for the player to see roughly how much ammo they have left, and when the player uses a health kit they get to see how many they have left with a cool little animation.
All of the above examples show off incredible melding of the UI into gameplay since they-re all still there, and are all still things you-re reading off. It-s just the fact that they-re built into objects instead of built into the screen. I do wish more games would take notes from the metro series on this integration of UI instead of deletion of it.
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polygon
This! I felt a certain way playing a few games recently but didnt know how to put it into words.
I was playing God of War and would put down my controller during cut scenes only to be told to MASH SQUARE. At other times, I would remind myself not to put down the controller when Atreus was about to shoot some arrows in a cutscene but not being given the button prompt. It was frustrating and distracting and on more than one occasion I found myself thinking -wait, what happened during that cutscene? - I also felt like the design of the menu screen was ugly and copy/paste-ish. It reminded me of something from a free to play mobile game; I was half expecting one of the menus to be a -buy currency here to spend on skins and trinkets-.
Another aspect to this is audio cues in many games but most recently for me in Control. I would be immediately aware when all the enemies in an area were clear by the change from combat music to exploration music - how does Jesse know? I sure as hell don't know that. This is fine when you don't notice it, but there were a few times where I would clear out a room but the tense combat music would continue to play while I was solving the room puzzle only to randomly stumble upon the last enemy who was hiding in a corner 5 minutes later.
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This! I felt a certain way playing a few games recently but didnt know how to put it into words.
I was playing God of War and would put down my controller during cut scenes only to be told to MASH SQUARE. At other times, I would remind myself not to put down the controller when Atreus was about to shoot some arrows in a cutscene but not being given the button prompt. It was frustrating and distracting and on more than one occasion I found myself thinking -wait, what happened during that cutscene? - I also felt like the design of the menu screen was ugly and copy/paste-ish. It reminded me of something from a free to play mobile game; I was half expecting one of the menus to be a -buy currency here to spend on skins and trinkets-.
Another aspect to this is audio cues in many games but most recently for me in Control. I would be immediately aware when all the enemies in an area were clear by the change from combat music to exploration music - how does Jesse know? I sure as hell don't know that. This is fine when you don't notice it, but there were a few times where I would clear out a room but the tense combat music would continue to play while I was solving the room puzzle only to randomly stumble upon the last enemy who was hiding in a corner 5 minutes later.
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-vitriolicAmaranth
Thinking you need a cookbook to tell how to cook things with certain effects in botw just means the game did a poor job of conveying the mechanics.
They follow simple rules:
Ingredients' descriptions tell you their effects
Trying to add more than one effect cancels all effects out and makes food that only restores health
Combining food with non-food (like monster parts and small animals) makes dubious food
Combining monster parts and small animals with no food makes potions
To make food/potions stronger, add more ingredients with the same effect (or dragon parts, which don't count as a monster part)
Specific ingredients don't matter much (though some are better than others, in a way that's usually intuitive, and there are a few -monster parts- you can add to regular food that can maximise their effects and durations.
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Thinking you need a cookbook to tell how to cook things with certain effects in botw just means the game did a poor job of conveying the mechanics.
They follow simple rules:
Ingredients' descriptions tell you their effects
Trying to add more than one effect cancels all effects out and makes food that only restores health
Combining food with non-food (like monster parts and small animals) makes dubious food
Combining monster parts and small animals with no food makes potions
To make food/potions stronger, add more ingredients with the same effect (or dragon parts, which don't count as a monster part)
Specific ingredients don't matter much (though some are better than others, in a way that's usually intuitive, and there are a few -monster parts- you can add to regular food that can maximise their effects and durations.
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-QuiroLeonarth
I can not understand the love for impersonal flat designs everywhere, and I hate this purely utilitarian approach even more in video game. Sometimes you got immersed not because you forgot that you're in a video game but specifically because you know you are and that the way the game tell you, you're playing, is made to give a distinct identity to your experience and what better way to characterized visually a game but with something you'll see most of the time so the UI. Hell if I know and am immersed in a Zelda game, among other things is because there is hearts and not some random health bar or a diegetic trick, you could be immersed by knowing precisely that you are somewhere else distinct from your usual sensations, giving you more attachment, making you more emotionally involved, and so more immersed.
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I can not understand the love for impersonal flat designs everywhere, and I hate this purely utilitarian approach even more in video game. Sometimes you got immersed not because you forgot that you're in a video game but specifically because you know you are and that the way the game tell you, you're playing, is made to give a distinct identity to your experience and what better way to characterized visually a game but with something you'll see most of the time so the UI. Hell if I know and am immersed in a Zelda game, among other things is because there is hearts and not some random health bar or a diegetic trick, you could be immersed by knowing precisely that you are somewhere else distinct from your usual sensations, giving you more attachment, making you more emotionally involved, and so more immersed.
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-Ninjat126
I'm just going to be That Guy for a minute here, but I love the explanation for the Dead Space UI. It feels really authentic to me.
After a Space Accident, being able to bring up a glowing visual display to tell your team -I'm injured, I've got 3 minutes of oxygen supply remaining, and the closest airlock is THAT way- is pretty handy.
Imagine how convenient that would be for real-life first responders. Sure, you'd still have to CHECK everyone and diagnose them personally, in case of computer error, but a big glowy sign saying -this person has a spine injury do not move them- might save lives!
. possibly not worth the invasive surgery required to graft the thing to your spine, or the privacy invasion of having a neon billboard on your back telling everyone about your digestive problems.
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I'm just going to be That Guy for a minute here, but I love the explanation for the Dead Space UI. It feels really authentic to me.
After a Space Accident, being able to bring up a glowing visual display to tell your team -I'm injured, I've got 3 minutes of oxygen supply remaining, and the closest airlock is THAT way- is pretty handy.
Imagine how convenient that would be for real-life first responders. Sure, you'd still have to CHECK everyone and diagnose them personally, in case of computer error, but a big glowy sign saying -this person has a spine injury do not move them- might save lives!
. possibly not worth the invasive surgery required to graft the thing to your spine, or the privacy invasion of having a neon billboard on your back telling everyone about your digestive problems.
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-AzizidarkReborn
I fundamentally disagree with Mr. Lyon on the homogenous nature of today's game design not being a bad thing. If I wanted to be immersed to the point of not ever seeing a Heads Up Display, I'd WATCH A MOVIE. Without a cool UI to keep track of my stats and completion, I don't get invested in games. I think this is the reason I don't get invested in triple A games anymore and constantly look for retro games I haven't played before. I feel that something has been lost as more and more of the game information I want to see is in the pause menus. I shouldn't need to pause to know I don't have enough magic for a cool attack. This was never an issue during the golden age of UI's with games like God of War, and to modern Zelda's credit it still hasn't lost that UI spirit for the most part.
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I fundamentally disagree with Mr. Lyon on the homogenous nature of today's game design not being a bad thing. If I wanted to be immersed to the point of not ever seeing a Heads Up Display, I'd WATCH A MOVIE. Without a cool UI to keep track of my stats and completion, I don't get invested in games. I think this is the reason I don't get invested in triple A games anymore and constantly look for retro games I haven't played before. I feel that something has been lost as more and more of the game information I want to see is in the pause menus. I shouldn't need to pause to know I don't have enough magic for a cool attack. This was never an issue during the golden age of UI's with games like God of War, and to modern Zelda's credit it still hasn't lost that UI spirit for the most part.
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-ImSimmin
i rememeber playing hardcore mode in cod4 online, the fact that the game was simple enough that the -cognitive load- of remembering if you used your grenade yet, or if you have an airstrike available, was part of what made the mode challenging, but in modern cod games, where you have 20 killstreaks to chose from, and 8 different equipment, means that that mode in modern times wouldnt be too hard for the player to keep track of everything. (i havent played a cod game since. blops 2 i think, dont know long ago that was lol
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i rememeber playing hardcore mode in cod4 online, the fact that the game was simple enough that the -cognitive load- of remembering if you used your grenade yet, or if you have an airstrike available, was part of what made the mode challenging, but in modern cod games, where you have 20 killstreaks to chose from, and 8 different equipment, means that that mode in modern times wouldnt be too hard for the player to keep track of everything. (i havent played a cod game since. blops 2 i think, dont know long ago that was lol
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-ZexionII
Hmm, Challenge-Based Immersion sounds like it might explain why I sometimes am dismissive of games that are too easy.
I simply don't buy the setting when it's too easy. Like a survival horror where I don't feel like I am at risk of dying, then it's just jumpscares.
Or Dark Souls, the difficulty helps me buy into the bleakness of the world, and understand the concept of hollowing.
How can I buy that my character is heroic, if the feats I accomplish do not feel like a mythical feat to overcome?
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Hmm, Challenge-Based Immersion sounds like it might explain why I sometimes am dismissive of games that are too easy.
I simply don't buy the setting when it's too easy. Like a survival horror where I don't feel like I am at risk of dying, then it's just jumpscares.
Or Dark Souls, the difficulty helps me buy into the bleakness of the world, and understand the concept of hollowing.
How can I buy that my character is heroic, if the feats I accomplish do not feel like a mythical feat to overcome?
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-Drstrange3000
I feel like VR will improve with HUD elements in the future, as it already has done a great job with some titles. Some games have you flip your wrist over to see your health and stamina/mana and all your weapons can be stored on your body and you can see them. It has reduced the number of menus you have to flip through to get to certain kinds of information. Inventory, like I said is on your body and menus become physical like opening and reading a book with recipes in A Township Tale.
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I feel like VR will improve with HUD elements in the future, as it already has done a great job with some titles. Some games have you flip your wrist over to see your health and stamina/mana and all your weapons can be stored on your body and you can see them. It has reduced the number of menus you have to flip through to get to certain kinds of information. Inventory, like I said is on your body and menus become physical like opening and reading a book with recipes in A Township Tale.
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-MrOllyroberts
I used to love hardcore mode battlefield 3. You had to keep track of your ammo and gear, and you didn't need to know about health cause you had basically none. Great video but I feel it missed a few points. Metro's clever weapon design where you could see the rounds in the mag, and that the master chiefs hud is projected inside his helmet, so you always have the funny creases in the glass across the screen. In doom eternal you see the reflection of the doom guys face iirc?
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I used to love hardcore mode battlefield 3. You had to keep track of your ammo and gear, and you didn't need to know about health cause you had basically none. Great video but I feel it missed a few points. Metro's clever weapon design where you could see the rounds in the mag, and that the master chiefs hud is projected inside his helmet, so you always have the funny creases in the glass across the screen. In doom eternal you see the reflection of the doom guys face iirc?
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-MercuryEclipse54
i'm always baffled looking at the HUD for MMOs like FFXIV, which i think is an interesting problem-with how much information games like that have to communicate, can/do they achieve a state of flow? with how much time and effort people invest in them, i feel like they have to
anyways i'm looking forward the brechtian game design revolution where breaking immersion is gonna be the hot new thing (it's not gonna be the hot new thing)
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i'm always baffled looking at the HUD for MMOs like FFXIV, which i think is an interesting problem-with how much information games like that have to communicate, can/do they achieve a state of flow? with how much time and effort people invest in them, i feel like they have to
anyways i'm looking forward the brechtian game design revolution where breaking immersion is gonna be the hot new thing (it's not gonna be the hot new thing)
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-yellaturd
Best experience with this issue I had was with Modern Warfare. You lose your hud if you play on the hardest difficulty which in theory is fine but the game gives you no alternative to find out the missing information. You, as a player are not briefed before the mission to know which equipment you will have on your person, you are not trained to know how many rounds can fit in your gun and how to keep track of it, etc.
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Best experience with this issue I had was with Modern Warfare. You lose your hud if you play on the hardest difficulty which in theory is fine but the game gives you no alternative to find out the missing information. You, as a player are not briefed before the mission to know which equipment you will have on your person, you are not trained to know how many rounds can fit in your gun and how to keep track of it, etc.
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-syd5380
I honestly find super minimalist HUDs more distracting, they seem so much more out of place than more elaborate HUDs
edit: Also, as someone with ADHD, the segment about lack of sufficient on screen information resulting in a larger -cognitive load- explains a lot. Nothing kills immersion more for me than trying to remember a bunch of stuff as opposed to just enjoying the gameplay
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I honestly find super minimalist HUDs more distracting, they seem so much more out of place than more elaborate HUDs
edit: Also, as someone with ADHD, the segment about lack of sufficient on screen information resulting in a larger -cognitive load- explains a lot. Nothing kills immersion more for me than trying to remember a bunch of stuff as opposed to just enjoying the gameplay
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-LeoFieTv
As someone who's very bad at games, I really appreciate UI and HUD. When all of the items I can interact with shimmer or the game reminds me which button lets my companion take care of the enemy or the music changing to signal that a battle is about to start/end. Accessability-wise UI and HUD are really good. You can still have an option to turn it off in the menu or something.
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As someone who's very bad at games, I really appreciate UI and HUD. When all of the items I can interact with shimmer or the game reminds me which button lets my companion take care of the enemy or the music changing to signal that a battle is about to start/end. Accessability-wise UI and HUD are really good. You can still have an option to turn it off in the menu or something.
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polygon
Now I understand why I never really likes the minimap in rdr2 it took away from the immersion, I did try playing without it and I could explore the world fine enough because there-s actually signs that tell you where to go but the combat was more difficult because the game relies pretty decently on you always knowing where to go with a yellow marker or the enemies red dots
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Now I understand why I never really likes the minimap in rdr2 it took away from the immersion, I did try playing without it and I could explore the world fine enough because there-s actually signs that tell you where to go but the combat was more difficult because the game relies pretty decently on you always knowing where to go with a yellow marker or the enemies red dots
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-SlayerSeraph
I was glad this video mentioned Dead Space immersive in-game holographic HUD. Strange they didn't explain it's basically a holograma projector of all UI elements. You can even view the inventory inverted if you flip the camera, text looks, inverted or tilted- how crazy is that? Good stuff.
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I was glad this video mentioned Dead Space immersive in-game holographic HUD. Strange they didn't explain it's basically a holograma projector of all UI elements. You can even view the inventory inverted if you flip the camera, text looks, inverted or tilted- how crazy is that? Good stuff.
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-PaulThePunySteak
I always found it interesting that -f- was the button that would become the meme and not -x- or -square. - Who the hell plays cod on pc in 2014? The only reason people played cod on pc was for modding zombies, yet the pc button prompt was the one that we all collectively went with.
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I always found it interesting that -f- was the button that would become the meme and not -x- or -square. - Who the hell plays cod on pc in 2014? The only reason people played cod on pc was for modding zombies, yet the pc button prompt was the one that we all collectively went with.
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-prettyred8554
Personally I think audio is vastly underutilized as part of HUD. Music, cues, chirps, and alarms are very effective in relaying and recalling info. Horizon did this well with machine sounds: I can tell what kind of machine is gearing up to attack me, how, and when by sound alone.
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Personally I think audio is vastly underutilized as part of HUD. Music, cues, chirps, and alarms are very effective in relaying and recalling info. Horizon did this well with machine sounds: I can tell what kind of machine is gearing up to attack me, how, and when by sound alone.
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-RikuSqueeku
I really miss HUD graphics, nothing made me notice it as much as I missed it in AC: Odessey tho. Maybe it was just cause I played it back to back with some of the earlier AC games but I found myself constantly having to open myself map just to make sure I was on the right land mass
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I really miss HUD graphics, nothing made me notice it as much as I missed it in AC: Odessey tho. Maybe it was just cause I played it back to back with some of the earlier AC games but I found myself constantly having to open myself map just to make sure I was on the right land mass
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-Dr. Boring
i think a big part of breath of the wild was learning and coming up with new recipes, and then recalling them. It really made me feel more immersed in the world. Otherwise, really love the video and you made fantastic arguments. Awesome as always!
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i think a big part of breath of the wild was learning and coming up with new recipes, and then recalling them. It really made me feel more immersed in the world. Otherwise, really love the video and you made fantastic arguments. Awesome as always!
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-Jeffjesaja
The definition of 'skeuomorphism' given in this video is wrong. Something is skeuomorph when it imitates physical/structural properties of the 'real world' (original) object. What you refer to is simply iconography or visual metaphors.
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The definition of 'skeuomorphism' given in this video is wrong. Something is skeuomorph when it imitates physical/structural properties of the 'real world' (original) object. What you refer to is simply iconography or visual metaphors.
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-coaxill4059
Actually the dead space thing makes perfect sense. What's the point of a health readout for yourself? Its so if you're injured, people will see the blinking red bar on your back. You know how much pain your in, but other people don't.
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Actually the dead space thing makes perfect sense. What's the point of a health readout for yourself? Its so if you're injured, people will see the blinking red bar on your back. You know how much pain your in, but other people don't.
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polygon
The -press X to pay respect- meme is so annoying. I didn't find it funny. I found that part of the game odd and even disrespectful. So anyway, I'd rather have a HUD than not having one. If someone wants immersion, why not just go outside?
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The -press X to pay respect- meme is so annoying. I didn't find it funny. I found that part of the game odd and even disrespectful. So anyway, I'd rather have a HUD than not having one. If someone wants immersion, why not just go outside?
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-popnpeaceprincess
ui can also function as an accessibility feature! as a person with short-term memory problems I find it really charming that lots of indie games will remind me what different buttons do because I do forget that a lot of time.
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ui can also function as an accessibility feature! as a person with short-term memory problems I find it really charming that lots of indie games will remind me what different buttons do because I do forget that a lot of time.
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-logon-oe6un
I think Assassin's Creed showing all the buttons feels pretty good because it gives you 4 potential context actions and desensitizes you to them.
It could tell you to press circle to pay respects and you wouldn't notice.
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I think Assassin's Creed showing all the buttons feels pretty good because it gives you 4 potential context actions and desensitizes you to them.
It could tell you to press circle to pay respects and you wouldn't notice.
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-daxdleader719
I love Overwatch to death but I can't keep track of all the info on my screen for the life of me. I have to consciously remind myself to check my health or ammo or memorize the number and count as I'm shooting.
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I love Overwatch to death but I can't keep track of all the info on my screen for the life of me. I have to consciously remind myself to check my health or ammo or memorize the number and count as I'm shooting.
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-reinathefox6600
Its because modern gamers are weak and pampered who never knew the struggle of running back and forth in loading areas hoping to find where to go, because kotr hates you and loves log updates.
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Its because modern gamers are weak and pampered who never knew the struggle of running back and forth in loading areas hoping to find where to go, because kotr hates you and loves log updates.
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-sentane8031
I always thought that Isaac-s health was on his back so medics could tell his condition without removing his suit, this would be amazing for the hazardous environment known as outer space
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I always thought that Isaac-s health was on his back so medics could tell his condition without removing his suit, this would be amazing for the hazardous environment known as outer space
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polygon
It's so simple. why its complicated like idk why. Just get rid of the bud for when your not supposed to need it. Bring the hud up when you have no choice but to use it. Bot very hard to do.
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It's so simple. why its complicated like idk why. Just get rid of the bud for when your not supposed to need it. Bring the hud up when you have no choice but to use it. Bot very hard to do.
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