UI Damage Indication - Devs, please stop using shrinking HP lines

[Gray clouds]

A big gripe I have when it comes to player experience: weak visual feedback

Lots of VFX feedback: Overwatch and League of Legends

Even without sound you can see the damage happening with the enemy HP. You are destroying that HP bar segment by segment. Finally, you're rewarded with a popping execution.




Simple VFX feedback: Anything by Bioware, The Elder Scrolls, and many more including upcoming games like Outriders.

Red hp bar gets smaller. Sometimes flashes.




Developers, I think it adds a lot if you put a little more impact into this detail.

 

[Youngfossil]

Both seem fine to me *shrugs

 

[Video Games Are Dumb]

I agree and can we add "make the screen all red" to the list too? It's fucking counter-productive.

 

[Deleted member 54292]

Ideally design the characters in a way that allows there to be no health bar but good visual and behavioral changes based on damage. Probably better for PVE rather than PVP though

 

[nsilvias]

could be worse, could be numbers

 

[Fonst]

So they both show the bar going down but you just don't like how some companies do it? They both are fine but I'd argue the chunks disappearing feels arbitrary because how much do I need to do to knock off a chunk?

 

[Kaguya]

Edit: Should have read the op first

 

[Faenix1]

I dont really see a difference.

 

[Belthazar90]

The gradual HP line is way better, but both work.

 

[Cess007]

I honestly have no problem with your "bad" example

 

[Deleted member 11370]

I don't see the Overwatch thing. The ME example seems clear to me. Maybe because I've played ME but barely touched Overwatch?

 

[xxracerxx]

Both those gifs are doing the same thing, one just has a strobe effect to each hit.

Now if we want to talk audible feedback of a hit, that is something a lot of games need to improve.

 

[Deleted member 543]

Seems like a question of preference, not effort. I don't see anything wrong with the "bad" one as you describe it.

 

[Deleted member 58846]

I'm not sure what the problem with the second example is...

 

[Gundam]

I... Feel like I might know what you're talking about OP? But it's super not well explained and those examples kind of look the same

 

[Manu]

Both examples seem about the same as far as clarity goes.

I agree with your OP in principle but that's a bad bad example.

 

[Squirrel09]

From the two gifs provided, and from my perspective, both health bars are doing the same thing right? When damage is received the health bar flashes white for the amount of damage, and then when that white bar goes away only the red is left.

The difference isn't the health bar, but rather 2 things: 1)Design decisions 2)Polish.

Overwatch is much more animated in it's presentation than Andromeda was ever going to be. With Overwatch taking a more "Cartoon" (In comparison) feel than the realistic Andromeda. So naturally, normal enemies in Andromeda aren't going to "pop".

Second is polish. It's no secret that Andromeda was lacking polish, and Overwatch is overflowing with it. So I feel like it's an unfair comparison.

That being said, yes, games should give good visual feedback. But Good visual feedback can also take different forms. And some people prefer some to others.

 

[Chaos2Frozen]

"Corporate wants you to identify the difference between these two pictures..."

 

[XR.]

I can't tell the difference between the two examples. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Salty Catfish]

I might be dumb but those two examples look identical to me, just one is curved.

 

[TheYanger]

This seems likethe most minor difference in the world. OP, are you high?

 

[robotzombie]

this topic is the equivalent of vanilla ice explaining why his song is different than under pressure

 

[FinKL]

Overwatch's UX is definitely high up there, it's a reason I believe people loved it at first. The hit markers, the way you get a "kill" only if you assisted, the sound/plink of hitting enemies all rank up there

 

[Gray clouds]

Perhaps I shouldn't have called them "wrong", but boring? Edited the OP a bit.

Personally, I just think some games that are lacking with damage reaction. For example, in MMOs, I assume enemies just can't react to all sources of incoming damage for whatever reasons. I think UI fx could add more excitement.

 

[Nintendo]

That's fine. Not all games need a "punchy" HUD feedback.

Sometimes the less animated, the better for the HUD. I personally prefer a clean and subtle HUD.

 

[Cess007]

this topic is the equivalent of vanilla ice explaining why his song is different than under pressure

Click to shrink...

Perhaps I shouldn't have called them "wrong", but boring?

Personally, I just think some games that are lacking with damage reaction. For example, in MMOs, I assume enemies just can't react to all sources of incoming damage for whatever reasons. I think UI fx could add more excitement.

Click to shrink...

I think this goes back to the style of game. It's like, it wouldn't make sense for certain games if their enemies/HUD explodes in a more visible way, while this makes sense in Overwatch

 

[mikehaggar]

The two examples are virtually the same...? One has a curved HP bar and the other has a straight hp bar. And they flash different parts of the bar white (one flashes the part of the bar that has been removed and the other flashes the part of the bar remaining).

 

[Wulfram]

I think action video games should aim for not having HP bars at all

 

[Era of not Yakuza]

I was thinking about The Getaway and the lack of health bar before clicking on this thread. Shame.

 

[Gray clouds]

That's fine. Not all games need a "punchy" HUD feedback.

Sometimes the less animated, the better for the HUD. I personally prefer a clean and subtle HUD.

Click to shrink...

Punchy! That's a good way to explain it.

I do agree there's a point where HUD fx can be overwhelming (low hp - red borders, as mentioned by another user). One complaint I had with Disintegration's beta was it was easy to lose focus with all the smoke fx and everything going on at once.