Hey guys!
When getting damaged (or healed) there is usually a number that pops up or floats away showing the amount of damage you took (the heal you received).
If you have shield mechanic, there is a number that says how much of your shield you lost and how much damage you took afterward.
How would you go about designing feedback when you just flat out block the damage or some amount from it. Here is an example:
You have 1 "block" and you take 1 damage, what should happen?
Does a "-0" number pop up, because you took 0 damage or there should be no popup at all, because you blocked it or should there also be something to show the 1 damage blocked?
Another example where you take 2 damage:
Now the "-1" popup seems reasonable, but again there is the question of showing the blocked amount.
If the player sees 3 damage coming should they be expected to calculate in their head that they took 2 damage because they had 1 "block", or should the game tell them that.
One approach is (what I believe dota2 does with blocks) to show the amount blocked simultaneously with the damage popup, so there will be 2 numbers appearing at the same time (but there is still the 0 damage question).
PS.: My question is more about dealing with small numbers (0-10)
PS2.: The reason I'm asking this is because I am making an online CCG.