Comments on: You Know What I Love? Diegetic HUDs

By: pulviriza

pulviriza — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 02:48:02 +0000

It’s far from the full HUD, but I really like Splinter Cell Conviction’s projecting the current objective.

By: sathias

sathias — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:18:56 +0000

One game which comes to mind in this regard is Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth.

For the most part, there was a complete LACK of HUD, but when injured the screen would grey out and when the protagonist’s insanity “meter” was getting too high, the screen would start to swim/blur and you could hear him muttering insanities to himself.

Very effective.

By: steverogers42

steverogers42 — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:08:56 +0000

Glad you mentioned Dead Space, took me an hour to realize the suit’s colour was health… lulz great game.

Metro 2033 has a few small hidden gems with regard to ammo and gas masks, those kind of touches draw out the immersion.

By: lordezekiel

lordezekiel — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:27:28 +0000

HUDs are terrible, many games manage without using one at all… incorporating things normally relegate to the hud such as the armour in deadspace showing your health is genuinely a good idea.
I absolutely HATE how some games cram more and more crap on screen, the later halo games being a good example of how not to immerse the player – why waste 1/4 of my screen with crap? Surely we deserve to see all of the game world that has been meticulously constructed, instead of hiding it behind the hud.
And while we are on the subject of HUD elements, my other pet hate is just how many games make the screen go red from the edges when you are hurt, seriously, i do not need most of the screen going red and blurry to know my character has been hit – if i can’t figure that out from the bullets hitting me, the sound of my character being shot, the hit impacts registering on my body…. well, you just shouldn’t be playing games if you cant figure it out from all that.

By: jez

jez — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:24:07 +0000

Makes me think of the finale of Halo Reach where the player’s visor crackas as you take damage, it can really add to immersion.

By: Marcus Dunn

Marcus Dunn — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:19:02 +0000

The way Dead Space handled it was particularly awesome….and sucky when you were looking at something then OMG monster (ie you forget it’s not pausing the game).

By: timmytim

timmytim — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 09:41:35 +0000

Good article. I like.

By: vencha88

vencha88 — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 09:33:21 +0000

Metroid Prime is a great example. Especially the water drops that would sit on your visor, or the way a flash would cause a reflection on the visor and show your face.

By: rapidreload

rapidreload — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 08:40:47 +0000

Word for the day: diegetic

The problem with these type of HUDs is that some developers go a bit too far and they end up becoming, well, annoying and block out more than they should of the game world. One that comes to mind is F.E.A.R. 2 – the HUD appears like something that is being projected via your glasses, yet there’s this stupid blue frame around the edge of your display that serves no purpose but to remind you that, I guess, you’re wearing glasses. You get used to it after a while but it’s pointless and doesn’t make me feel any more ingrained into the game world than if it were not present.

By: bek

bek — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 08:05:18 +0000

“This gives the game a greater sense of embodiment, constantly reminding the player that they are not simply a floating camera with some data stuck to it, but actually inside of Jensen’s body and perceiving the world from within it.”

Too bad they had to force third person in some cases though.