The Ultimate SOMA Discussion Thread

[Googolplex]

I dislike EVERY kind of HUD in general, because it makes you feel to play a GAME and breaks the immersion by ugly elements around the screen. Same with pop-ups. It's become to a typical game normality, but I want to play serious games which doesn't even represent itself to be a "game".

I want to concentrate on the world and when there are HUD elements, it looks just ugly overall. When I play a RPG, it should be very slim and only show a minimal of what is important.

In Risen you only see a very slim life-energy/ mana scale. You don't need any more or any greater elements!!!



Even better in the old Gothic.



While in The Witcher it looks extremely ugly. Not because of the bad sesign, it's just full of unimportant crap.



I played it with a transparency HUD modification "extreme immersion mod", and you will get a great plus of atmosphere.

[Kreekakon]

I dislike EVERY kind of HUD in general, because it makes you feel to play a GAME and breaks the immersion by ugly elements around the screen. Same with pop-ups. It's become to a typical game normality, but I want to play serious games which doesn't even represent itself to be a "game".

I feel some major deja vu going into asking this question but...

...what's wrong with a game being a game?

[Googolplex]

...what's wrong with a game being a game?

A game which is designed to be a game is not really serious, it's rather trimmed to be most of fun.

[DavidS]

Witchers HUD isn`t what I would call a victory for graphic design...

I will only repeat myself once now as this is not worth of a fight: HUDs are a tool to display information that we can`t access otherwise because a) we can`t pop into our protagonists/pawns head, b) it elevates some of the memory footprint and production costs as there is no need for dozen different models for an item or dozen different animations for a character status.

We can even use it to increase immersion as the HUD is logically implemented (FEAR2, DeadSpace, various racing games and flight simulators) or used as a shortcut to information wich would take time (that draws us out of faster paced games) to aquire. In the heat of a Vanquish battle, the last thing I want to do is to sit down and count the Ammo in my gun.

That said, there are definately a lot of games that only require a minimal HUD if anything at all. (That was why I was mentioning Condemned:CO).

tlDr: Like with all tools of design and information display, HUDS need to be used wisely. You don`t shun a screwdriver or hammer, don`t you?

[Ghieri]

...what's wrong with a game being a game?

A game which is designed to be a game is not really serious, it's rather trimmed to be most of fun.

"My entertainment is better than yours!"

HUDs are only unbelievable if they are distracting, or if you deliberately point it out. It's called suspension of Disbelief. We ignore details that are contradictory to reality if the game treats it like normal.

It's kind of like dreaming. No, I probably would never forget to wear pants to school, but my dream is sure as hell going to make me feel the shame...

*Ahem* just like in games, where I am so used to the concept of HUDs it's actually more noticable when a game DOESN'T have one.

EDIT: I just realized my first sentence was accidental circular logic. Fixed.

[Googolplex]

I will only repeat myself once now as this is not worth of a fight:

Right.

HUDs are a tool to display information that we can`t access otherwise because a) we can`t pop into our protagonists/pawns head, b) it elevates some of the memory footprint and production costs as there is no need for dozen different models for an item or dozen different animations for a character status.

about a): Most of the information the HUD shows are already logical and not really needed to show by an elementary symbol in middle of the experience. When my character is hurted, I not need to know how much life energy exactly remains. It felt more realistic when it's like Penumbra or Amnesia hidden in the inventory screen, or even completely removed like in AAMFP. Not every information should given to the player. Otherwise HUD can even more destroy a game by showing a "quest map" where arrows will let you to the goal or show the direction you have to go. The meaning of a quest is not to show the player its solution on a map or compass. Same for "Quick Bars" which should help the player to manage items easier. But this will only destroy the nice looking environment and impact of the atmosphere and in this case it harms the immersion.

about b): What has a HUD todo with different models or character animations?

We can even use it to increase immersion as the HUD is logically implemented (FEAR2, DeadSpace, various racing games and flight simulators) or used as a shortcut to information wich would take time (that draws us out of faster paced games) to aquire. In the heat of a Vanquish battle, the last thing I want to do is to sit down and count the Ammo in my gun.

Which racing game has logically HUD? I don't even need to know how fast I drive. I also think to implement HUD elements directly into the world like in Dead Space is even more worse, because this would extremely ruin the credibility of an environment. I played the ego shooter "Call of Cthulhu" where you doesn't even have a feedback on how much ammo in the gun remains. And it played very well this way.

tlDr: Like with all tools of design and information display, HUDS need to be used wisely. You don`t shun a screwdriver or hammer, don`t you?

HUDs are okay for an inventory or trade screen, but an absolutely no-go to be visible during gameplay.

"My entertainment is better than yours!"

"Entertainment" is not the key word of quality. It depends on the form of it, how it's made and what a game will tell to the player.

I don't need entertainment with explosions and blood splatter. I want entertainment with intellectual story in a believable world. The first is probably more fun, but not that what I want.

[Paddy™]

This is the funniest shit I've read since I got that letter from my estranged son.

Debating Googolplex is like trying to balance a spoon on its end. It can probably be done, but even if you succeed you'll quickly realise you've wasted your life.

[Ashtoreth]

A game which is designed to be a game is not really serious, it's rather trimmed to be most of fun.

[Ghieri]

This is the funniest shit I've read since I got that letter from my estranged son.

Debating Googolplex is like trying to balance a spoon on its end. It can probably be done, but even if you succeed you'll quickly realise you've wasted your life.

I know right? FML.

[DavidS]

Here, read that: http://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-bo...007&sr=1-1

It sure changed my view on a lot of things. Not saying you are wrong, but you don`t know all the facts that need to be considered during a production, and I don`t want to go into full Wall-o-text mode.

@Asthoreth
xD