New HUD: what is it good, what's bad and how to fix it?
Preface: I am a player from Russia, I know very little English and used a translator to translate this article. You can find the original post at the link.
It's worth saying right away that I love changes. Whether they are good or bad — they change something, this refreshes the game, the gameplay becomes at least a little more diverse. My opinion about the new interface: the developers have not learned to understand their game, they did not understand what to focus on in the new interface and tried to make everything beautiful. It turned out, of course, beautifully, but... non-functional and inconvenient. I will try to review every aspect of the updated HUD and comment on the changes. I'll start with, in my opinion, the most problematic.
An area of the interface showing the states of the survivors
- The idea of replacing it with portraits is a good one, it looks prettier than it was before, of course. But I would like to say that the developers did not realize their potential at all. From what is immediately surprising: why is it not shown that the survivor is in pursuit, illuminating his portrait with a red glow? On the PTB in general, it turns out to show a wound (I honestly thought it showed a chase, and at that time I really praised the idea). Also, the non-unified icons of the survivors ' states are disappointing: there is a portrait on the healthy and wounded, but not on everything else. Why? And in the current state, the icon showing the survivor's injury looks very strange. Also from the category of whimsy: it is disappointing that the portraits do not display the real appearance of the players, it would be really cool.
- About the hanging counter for each Survivor: trash. This idea was offered to the developers from the release of the game, so that they added the same lines to the Survivors as on the Perks.
- The problem with the progress bar of death from blood loss/on the hook: it is not visible, it is too inconspicuous, low-contrast, small. Also, why can't the deep wound timer be implemented in some way more interesting? Well, is a stripe of a different color the best that the developers could come up with?
- On top of everything else, all this stuff moved up, which made it uncomfortable to control the position of the match. As for me, players are used to receiving important information in the lower left corner, but on the other hand, it is a matter of habit.
Interface area showing the number of remaining generators
I understand the reasons why the generator counter moved up in the center. They wanted to add all sorts of accompanying inscriptions. The main complaint at the moment to this area: too small and low-contrast. I'm now about a second too stupid to find the number of remaining generators on the screen. It's really too shallow.
The area of the interface showing the equipped item
- On the Killer: looks great. Very convenient, large and clear displays the most important information for the Killer, namely-his strength.
- On the Survivors: it looks strange. Focus on the object in your hands... Far from the most important aspect of the game.
The area of the interface that shows the accrual of blood points
I can't find any reason why it was moved to the upper-right corner. This is not a kill list, this area looks quite stupid and out of place there. I would very much like to see it returned to its former place. I sincerely hope that this change was not made to please the streamers.
An area of the interface that shows the currently applied status effects
I am surprised that when applying any status effect, this information is duplicated in the interface area showing the blood points accrual. Why not show it immediately is convenient to the left of the effect. It really looks weird. For a better understanding of what I mean, I attach a screenshot:
Also, the progress bar is too weakly visible and, again, not contrasting. I mean the progress bar on status effects that have a timer (exhaustion, for example).
How do i propose to fix and supplement the interface
An area of the interface showing the states of the survivors
It needs to be supplemented. Add a red glow for portraits if the player is in pursuit. Change the icon that displays the wound: now it looks like a blow from Freddie. In principle, it is desirable to unify the icons so that each state has a portrait of the survivor, but I do not know how to implement this, and the developers, apparently, too. Make this area more contrasting. Make the progress bars of death on the ground/on the hook larger, do not darken them (let only healthy, injured and deceased Survivors be darkened, and let the Survivors in the states of death or on the hook always glow brightly, as requiring attention). The hang counter should not be placed to the right above the player's nickname, but in the upper-right corner of the portrait, thereby freeing up space for increasing the size of the nickname and the death progress bar. Make sure that the portraits display the actual current appearance of the character.
Interface area showing the number of remaining generators
JUST MAKE IT BIGGER! I don't understand why the generator counter is SO small. Oh yeah, and remove that stupid frame around the generators and escape icons, it looks awful.
The area of the interface that shows the accrual of blood points
It is advisable to return it to the place where it was before: that is, to the left in the center. And remove the information about the superimposed effects from there, make it appear directly to the left of the effect itself (as I showed in the screenshot).
New interface element: TAB menu
This is what came to my mind the moment I saw the new interface. When you press the TAB button, new items appear on the screen. For example, the portraits of Survivors provide additional information about the Perks, Offerings, and Items they took into the game (as in the post-match screen) and their ping. If any status effects are applied to you, then information about their name and the Perk that caused them will appear next to them. In the TAB menu, you can click on any Perk and read what it does and what effect it has on you. Also, information about the current task from the archive and its progress in real time will be available. That is, a complete replacement of the ESC menu, in a more convenient form. And when you click on the ESC button, a dialog box will immediately appear about exiting the match.
Result
The main problems with the new interface are as follows: the necessary information is too small and low-contrast (such as the generator counter, the death progress bars on portraits, and the progress on status effects) and the information is scattered across the screen. Of course, most of the negativity is due to the fact that people are not used to it, but still there is a share of constructive criticism in this. I hope that I did not waste my time and was able to convey my thoughts to all of you.