Modest feedback for the upcoming HUD redesign from the PTB

Ratio
Ratio Member Posts: 16
edited January 2021 in Feedback and Suggestions
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Hello,

I would like to submit some modest/conservative adjustments to the upcoming HUD revamp for the game. The main thing I factored into this design is to not deviate too far from the current PTB HUD design, with my thoughts being that small adjustments/placements would more likely be seriously considered.

What this new mockup does is:

  • It aims to keep most of the icons below the vertical midway point of the screen. This reduces eye movement to get all the visual information you need, while still trying to update the HUD as the developers want.

For survivor icons:

  • They are moved down to sit right above the item icon. If the player is not using an item, the player icons stay exactly where they're at for consistency's sake.
  • The survivor icons use the same monochromatic style as all the other icons on the HUD for a harmonistic presentation.
  • As always, survivor icons are dulled to 50% transparency if nothing is happening to them.
  • An injured survivor no longer flashes red like in the PTB. Instead, they have a blood splatter visual behind them so long as they stay injured. This was done as the subtle red flashing can not be immediately read by the player that another survivor is injured. At a quick glance, the permanent, static visual of splattered blood behind the survivor instantly conveys to you that they are injured.
  • Upon being injured, the injured survivor's icon lights up to 100% brightness for a short period of time, before fading back to 50%, as normal. An example of this is shown on Claudette.
  • This behavior (of 100% brightness fading to 50% brightness) remains the same for other events, like normal. Such as being hooked, dying, etc.
  • A downed survivor icon now has its blood splatter colored red, to help further convey to other players that they need help. Many years of evolution has taught us that red/blood = help!

For status effect icons:

  • They are moved down to sit right above the perk icon(s). If the player is not using any perks, the status effect icons stay exactly where they're at for consistency's sake.
  • The status effect icons are stacked from the bottom-up. Meaning, if a new status effect is introduced, it appears below the previous status effect icon.

For score events:

  • They are moved down to sit right above the perk icon(s) and to the left of the status effect icon(s). If the player is not using any perks, the score events stay exactly where they're at for consistency's sake.
  • The score events are stacked from the bottom-up. Meaning, if a new score event is introduced before the previous one(s) have yet to time out, the newer one appears below the previous score event(s).
  • The longer a score event has been on the screen, the more it fades out until being removed. The fading timer for each score event is independent from each other, regardless of how many are shown/stacked on the screen.
  • A faint, vertical white bar (in the same grunge style used elsewhere throughout the game) appears to the right of the score events when a score event populates the screen. This helps to visually separate the score events from the status event icons.
  • This faint, vertical bar grows/shrinks in accordance to how many score events are currently being displayed on the screen.
  • If no score events are displayed, the vertical bar does not show up.

The only HUD element that remains on the upper-half of the screen is the amount of generators remaining. Player actions prompts are still at the bottom-center of the screen as normal.

What is the biggest concern with this mockup?

The main thing that I can think of is that specific-survivor statuses (such as reverse bear trap timers, infection rate, Ghost Face expose timer, etc) could not be done as they currently are, as the new injured survivor icon now shows splattered blood in the background.

This could be rectified by using bars next to the survivor icons, similar to how the bleed-out timer works. To illustrate this, I placed bars beside the survivors, with Elodie's and Felix's bar already having progression on them. The bar can be universal: How close you are to max madness; how close you are to going into the Dream World; how much time you have left on your reverse bear trap; how close you are to being fully infected; etc.

I also placed a "cap" (small white tip) at the top of these bars to help the player know how close they are to reaching max.

This bar would not be displayed in the match if it is not required (such as going against a Trapper, Billy, Nurse, etc.)

And the bar could obviously be changed to look better (straight, not curved, or whatever else)... or not used at all. It's just a mockup!

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In any case, I wanted to make a mockup. While I appreciate and enjoy the intent behind the HUD's redesign--to keep things clean and minimal--I think keeping most of the HUD (especially the pertinent stuff) at the bottom-half of the screen is advisable.

Thank you for your time.