Tuesday, March 1, 2011

TOGGLE HUD / DRONE VIEW CONCEPT FOR A MILITARY FIRST PERSON SHOOTER

It is becoming an increasingly common tendency for "next gen" games to remove as much UI from the players view during a game as possible. Games like Dead Space, Dead Space 2, the Silent Hill series, and Farcry 2 all manage to play out without any real HUD intrusion. This is a very positive thing for most users most of the time, but it can also become a burden. Disorientation, and confusion can result. A toggle HUD, or a HUD that can be called up when needed then removed again, is a possible solution. This is a "toggle HUD" I dreamed up while at Red Storm Entertainment, and was intended for a present day military shooter. The style took its cues from modern military displays as seen in planes, tanks, and the like.





This second image is another way to remove a lot of persistent information from the HUD freeing more screen space and yielding player immersion. Its a "drone" view, which gives the player a concept of their location and helps with wayfinding within the game space. Neither possible solution should be viewed as persistent, but would instead be called up by the user when they are confused or unsure.

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