Heads Up Display(HUD)
What is a HUD?
The HUD is the area of the screen where the essential game information is delivered to the player e.g. shooters have ammo, map, health and shields. Racing games have speed and distance.
It is very important to understand where the best places are for the parts of the HUD to be displayed as it makes it easier for the player. The type of game can also be a deciding factor for the HUD placement; the target audience must also be taken into account as newcomers to the game will be put off if their screen is filled with symbols and information because it can be overwhelming. A HUD should be designed so that enough information is being displayed in a friendly way but not too much that the player is confused and can’t see what is happening.
Hints and tips are given to the player through the Human-Computer-Interface (HCI), this can be accessed through the pause menu or will appear somewhere on the screen. The HCI should be designed in the style of the game and easy to access with the information being clearly displayed so the player isn’t lead on a pointless chase because the information wasn’t displayed clearly enough.
Tactical
The HUD of a tactical based game are a bit different because you have the map and the objectives, but it also has the amount of resources you have collected and the number of units you command.
The example I have used is HALO wars, everything we need to know is in the top right. We have the map with a compass, and three other pieces of information, at the top we have the unit population count, in the middle is the technology level, and at the bottom is the recourse count. At the very bottom are the selected units and the number of that unit type.
Advantages:
1) It’s a fun game to play with friends
2) It encourages strategic and tactical play styles
3) Upgrades are costly so recourses must be spent wisely
Disadvantages:
1) it takes a while to understand how the game works
2) the artificial intelligence (AI) will leader rush the player giving him/her no tine to prepare
3) tactical games take a long time to learn
How controllers have changed gaming
We started out with a stick and a button, then a directional pad and two buttons, then the general controller shape we know today. With the implication of two thumb sticks and multiple buttons gaming could become more, gaming has become more.
As controllers have evolved the way we play games has also evolved, for instance if you want to play guitar hero or rock band then you can get a plug-in guitar/drum kit. While the same guitar/drum kit will not work for a first person shooter or other games other than the intended game.
The console controller has had some drastic changes over the course of gaming history, from the joystick and single button of the Atari 2600 to the next-gen controllers for the Xbox one and the PlayStation 4.
The Atari 2600 was the most basic controller system, it consisted of a joystick and a single button, this meant that the games would have to be designed and built around the current system, also the joystick was not terribly ergonomically friendly and put strain on the players wrist.
But if we look at the Sony PlayStation 2 controller which had a d-pad and thumb sticks, it also had a lot more buttons than the Atari. This meant that more complex games could be developed due to the fact that they had a better controller system to work around. The addition of the analogue sticks gave developers new ways to present more inventive styles of gameplay.
Issues surrounding HCI’s
Age: The title of a game can give an indication of what the game might be about and if it is suitable for the intended audience. Another problem surrounding age would be that a young persons mind might not be able to comprehend how some more complex HCI works, they would struggle to navigate through the game features and would not be able to find what they are looking for. On the other hand an older more developed mind wants things to be more complex because there is more room for options, more things can be on the screen at once (to an extent) and a more complex interaction menu can be used.
Familiarity: HCI’s should be very user friendly and easy to navigate as newcomers to the series or genre may have no idea how to work some features like the basic control scheme, they may have problems finding simple things in the pause/interaction menu like the ability to save, load games and settings.
jpinnington 