Why HUDs Matter, Truly, Madly, And Deeply
Clive Thompson's latest column over at Wired News discusses the role of the HUD in modern video gaming, and actually acts as a partial rebuttal to a recent Gamasutra article that suggested minimizing on-screen icons and info was the way to go.
Au contraire, says Thompson: "I actually think our HUDs are a deeply impressive achievement -- gaming's contribution to the art of information delivery. The gaming HUD is not merely some ugly, artificial kluge. It's a triumph of data engineering. After all, a good HUD allows you to juggle a ridiculously huge amount of information."
He gives a good example of why HUDs matter, too: "Consider one of my favorite action-games, Ninja Gaiden. The HUD lets me monitor how much health I've got left, how relatively long my health bar is, how much ninja power I have left and how much health my boss-fight enemy has -- all while I'm frantically bouncing backward off the heads of my enemies. This is a superhuman feat of concentration, people; it's about four times as much information as I process at my work desk, even on a good day." So... HUDs - love 'em or leave 'em?
Comments
i just started playing fight night 360, and so far, i really love the lack of HUD on-screen during play. that said, it might just be a novelty right now, and i know it wouldn't work for all games. but it makes the overall game look impressively clean and crisp.
Posted by: kenji | March 14, 2006 9:46 AM
Last tuesday in my Gameplay and Gamedesign class we were just talking about the usage of HUD's. A lack of a HUD can help imemerse the player in your game and enhance their viewing area. Games like Abe's Oddysee, and Metroid Prime where great games that had no need for a HUD. So like Kenji stated it mostly depends on the type of game you are creating.
Posted by: UberNoCrono | March 14, 2006 10:09 AM
however flight sims seem to help the immersive experince with a HUD
Posted by: Rede | March 14, 2006 1:22 PM
HUDs should be customizable and allow people to see what they want. Personally I like to see as much as possible without it getting in the way. I hope all this No HUD gimicky stuff goes away.
Fight Night is nice with out a HUD and all but really, it could use all the information you see when you watch Boxing on TV.
Posted by: Damascus | March 15, 2006 10:08 AM