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Original post by JasRonq Its rare that that is the focus of the game play so removing it means no interruption in the focus.

*bewilderment*

I'm all for removing a health bar. A while back, there was a discussion (can't remember whether it was here or on a blog) about removing the numbers in an RPG (online or otherwise). The relation was to a game of DnD where you had a guy in the corner doing all the math for you, and simply telling you the visual descriptions. I think the best way to go is having the numbers work under the scenes.

I think it would be much more fun.

Interesting subject..
Strange that there is so much emphasis on realistic graphics, and so little to the physical damage the 'hero' takes. This makes me ponder to make a realistic health approach for my next game.. Such as an image, where the player is hurt. And.. the player dies when vital parts are hit. And not when the bar is zero.

I really dislike inventive visual displays of simple gameplay ranges. A face that becomes damaged, colors that fade, etc. It feels like a game is trying to be different just for the sake of being different, and not for the sake of displaying things a better way. The result is the same as a health bar, just more invasive and less comprehensible.

If its badly done, yes it is. OTOH its just as bad to have a statistics lesson at the bottom of the screen because its badly done. For instance, the face at the bottom of DOOM was a good idea. You look like a raw hamburger when you are close to death, yet the duel function of showing the direction damage came from was fit in well by having him look in left and right when you get hit. the actual numbers to the left were unnecessary.

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Original post by JBourrie By the way, every time I open this thread I see "Aah, the Heath Bar. How do we love thee" and I think "Yeah, I like Heath Bars alot. They're delicious. Now I want candy." Then I realize it says "Health" and I am sad.

*sigh*

hmmm, the one hit one kill/realistic damage system isnt that bad. There are 3 ways to avoid damage.
* avoid detection - this means sneaking, there are good games completely based on sneaking so it shouldn't be that hard to implement
* avoid the source of the damage - parry the word attack, roll away from the heavy axe, block arrows/bullets with your shield, take cover, throw counter spells, take down the the projectiles
* block/reduce the damage - use armor


Here is my current health design, based on several action movies, designed for a linear (third person) shooter/beatem up:

sharp damage - getting hit from bullets, knifes or similar
* Ignore hits to arms and legs. They may make you stumble or fall(legs), or temporarily change your accuracy or drop your weapon(arms) but never for than a few seconds. The severeness is determined by the player reaction (quick time event).
* One hit the rest of the body(head and torso) will kill you.
* You can (and should) pick up armor. Getting shot at the armor either blocks it completely or works like cod4(blur and restored after some time). Depending on the power of the shot and/or your armor you may stumble, fall or completely ignore it. Some armors may only block from one side.
* Tougher characters carry more armor and take more cover than easier, more stormtrooper like characters.

blunt damage - punches and kicks
* show a consciousness level when less than 100%. This is regenerated over time.
* when 0 the character enters a groggy state until the consciousness is back to 100%
* in this state, any attack results in death
* special attacks may kill you at any time(such as the oni back breaker)

I think we're all missing a point here. If our character gets shot in the leg and falls to the ground and has to crawl to move and if he doesn't get to a hospital within a few hours he'll die and even if he DOES he'll still spend days possibly weeks recovering from this, people wont like to play the game. I think the old fashioned, get-shot-in-the-leg, pick-up-some-health method works too well to replace. Games aren't all supposed to be realistic.

Sorry about the ranting, I just like health bars.

I liked the way Die by the Sword (1998) did their health system, because your player model was your health bar. So, if you were hit by a sword, cuts would appear on your body, if the hit was powerful enough, you'd lose a limb. If you were hit too many times you'd die, if certain combinations of limbs were cut off you'd die, and if your head was cut off you'd die.

There was strategy in the fact that you could aim for whichever body part you wanted, and there were times where you could win the battle in two seconds because of a well-timed slash to the head. You could cut off someones sword arm and render them useless, you could cut off their leg or foot and they'd have to hop around which slowed them down, etc.

There was also a hot key that would highlight your body based on how much damage you had taken. So if your arm was hit really bad and you held down a certain key you'd see that your body is green except for your arm, which is red.

I was almost certain there'd be more games using this system, especially with all the fancy-pants animation and graphics we have these days. But here we are, still talking about run of the mill health bars.

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Original post by Badgerigar If our character gets shot in the leg and falls to the ground and has to crawl to move and if he doesn't get to a hospital within a few hours he'll die

That's what potions, medkits, medics, and bandaids are for.

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and even if he DOES he'll still spend days possibly weeks recovering from this, people wont like to play the game.

With regeneration or unlimited medkit use, you can do just about anything to the player character without being overly annoying. Broken limbs, reduced speed, limited sight, hearing loss, disabled abilities, etc. These things can be a load of fun when the player just needs to stay safe for a certain time to recover, rather than finish an entire stage in the condition. It also makes protection and targeting of certain parts a priority for specific strategies, creating a lot more depth than a generic hit-point bar.

If I may make a point, I believe any good game's systems were made to enhance completing your objective. In otherwords, every health bar system that was mentioned was designed the way it was to do something to the player.

So, if you wanted to make players take their time and think things out, you might want to make death only a few steps away from any mistake, but something worse awaits if you die, so as not to ask the player to kill himself. (America's Army)

If you want the player to focus on taking cover (or otherwise defending himself), make it so that if he gets hit hard within a short time span he will die, but otherwise he will regain his health.
(Gears of War)

I'll just leave my point at that.