HUD Design

Heoga

New member
Okay, this is a topic I've been playing with in my head and I could do with some other view points.

When it comes to designing the HUD, I'm considering the balance between FPS and the isometric viewpoint used in the original game.  Certain things, like the weapons icon, were neccesary on the original HUD as it was difficult to determine at a glance which weapon you were using.  Particularly the difference between RP-22 and RP-32 for example.  This is one feature which I consider could easily be scrapped as uneccesary since in the FPS view we will be able to see the actual weapon the player is holding.

The area I'm having difficulty with though it the inventory.  Certain items which were part of the original inventory would normally be classed as weapons in most other FPS.  Particularly the likes of the det-pacs and spider bombs.  Other items though, such as the Datalink, are obviously an accessory item and so an inventory would be needed.

I think it would beneficial to try and incorporate some of the more offensive inventory items into the weapon system.  To me this makes sense as the player would be holding these items when he needs to deploy them anyway.  Other items, like the datalink and energy cubes I imagine would be better off working in the background and so would need to remain in the inventory system.

So, what do people think about shifting the detpacs, landmines, spiderbombs and spidermines into the weapon system?
 
I think the HUD would be just like the original games. Except replacing the sprite-based things (weapons, items), with a 3D view of that item. Imagine the RP-32 image, but 3D, and about the same size. It'd look neat.
 
As for the weapons icon, i think we can go without it.
Of course we would loose some of that unique crusader look.

Personally i liked how explosives were handled in Crusader.
Switching weapons in FPS always breaks my concentration, and i liked the possibility to blow up my detpacks just with a keystroke.
But i think i can live with it. ^^
 
Blowing up det-pacs would still be a case of just hitting a key.  No change there.

What we could do is set it up so that when the inventory item (for example a det-pac) is used, the gun is lowered, the pac placed and the gun raised again.  It would just be a case of swinging it out of view as with when changing weapons, changing the viewmodel to the pac, and playing the lay animation.  Then returning to the weapon viewmodel.

My personal view is that it would be nice to add some animation, some life, to the inventory choices where possible.
 
Keenan Weaver link said:
I think the HUD would be just like the original games. Except replacing the sprite-based things (weapons, items), with a 3D view of that item.

For the HUD in general, this is how I always imagined it. Like the original in principle, with modern implementation.

As for the inventory and offensive items dilemma, I would go with moving spider bombs and the like to under the weapons system. Makes it less of a hassle to use them. I say we do that. :)

For the inventory HUD, I'd like a window that pops up for a second or two when the player cycles through inventory items. Here, I threw together a quick photoshop mockup:



I replaced the item icons with dummy images obviously. Anyway, I wonder if that's codeable?
 
Good thinking there Jupix.  Yea, I reckon that would be easy enough to implement, with the item currently selected being highlighted somehow I assume.
 
Isn't it possible to use the HL included menus?
Like in counterstrike the buy menu for example.
Should be a simple solution in the first step.
 
We'd use the VGUI system alright, but it would need a fair bit of customisation work.  In all honesty, it's faster to work from a simple base then to start hacking away at the buy menu.
 
Cool....
Simple/intuitive/effective in terms of use and implementation.

Maybe separate it into 2 sections
1.weapons      2.other items
1.weapons and explosives      2.other tech stuff

or keep it like hl2, same interface style (like in the picture) but on the top where it won't block Silencer's view much (and it also can be a single line with much smaller thumbnails/previews of the item).
 
I'd like no GUI for weapon selection, so that rolling the mousewheel just cycles through weapons and you can quickswitch with number keys.

The mockup I posted is only for inventory items.
 
Jupix link said:
I'd like no GUI for weapon selection, so that rolling the mousewheel just cycles through weapons and you can quickswitch with number keys.

The mockup I posted is only for inventory items.

ah..that would be better....
how about like I said before but only inventory items and at the bottom or top of the screen
 
I might like a wide, 1-row window similar in visuals to the mockup but I'm thinking in low resolutions it might not have enough space. To be honest, I prefer the larger one, even if it it a tad in the way. It only obstructs view for a second after inventory items are cycled.
 
yea that is true about low resolutions:
you could try: a scrolling method where the items scroll to display other items when a right or left button is clicked/hovered on.
or just like hl2 again (though this might be a bit more complicated): group the items: explosives-detpacks, spider bombs/mines..etc, communicators in another etc...
like u said the simple large interface might be for the best
 
Back
Top