Spiral Knights - My concerns about the enemy health bars in the new HUD

My concerns about the enemy health bars in the new HUD

9 replies [Last post]

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 14:54

Gametrekker

I'll cut right to the chase: It's my opinion that individual health bars appearing above enemies should not be implemented. They clutter the playing field and make the Spiral Knights look more like a generic RPG and less like a free-flowing action game. They also make the game even easier, which is not what is needed at this point. Adding an option to turn them off won't help, because players who disable them will lose a tactical advantage. It's like Detective Mode in the Arkham games; the game looks better with it off, but players will typically miss tons of helpful information if they don't keep it on.

The health bar in the corner of the screen for the last enemy the player attacked is a decent addition. My main concern about it is that it looks like a case of dumbing down the game by basically shoving enemy health, type and weakness in the player's face. I'd make it significantly smaller and take out the weakness part. That way it could actually be a cool addition to the HUD.

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 15:14

Klipik

You will be able to turn them off.

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 15:18

Firefistace

Did you read?

He's saying if you turn it off you're at a disadvantage from other knights, which only really matters in LD

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 15:28

Little-Juances

But their screen will clutter right? you said it... ;D
There you go, the problem solves itself. Advantage with drawbacks.

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 17:28

Gametrekker

I said it, and you misunderstood it.

No, the only drawback of the clutter is that the game doesn't look as good; there's no tactical disadvantage. Again, it's like Detective Mode in the Arkham games. I take it you've never played those.

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 17:37

Klipik

Either way, it's still your choice if you want to sacrifice aesthetics for usefulness/performance. And unless someone from the Test Server will confirm, we don't know if player HP bars will even be visible - damage numbers already aren't.

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 17:43

Zenmaiser

YEs

How about only making the health bars on mosters visible when you hover your mouse over them?

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 17:50

Klipik

As an option, of course.

...right?

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 20:50

Blaknt

correct me if im wrong but

correct me if im wrong but isnt there a help button at the top of the current UI screen that tells u what each monster is strong/neutral/weak against. all this update is doing is slightly changing the way players go about the same thing.

The New Health Bar:
In the current UI there are 2 health bars for no reason, then main one at the bottom and one of to the left that when goes up to some number of health( ive never really counted) just stops showing. so the new one main health bar at the top with the new silver/gold overlap makes since. (could it look a little better ehh mabye)

The Enemy Health Bar:
as i stated above (but i also agree with Zenmaiser and his idea)

CE/cr's:
as for the whole ce/crowns not on the main screen but in inventory. tell me u havent played a game where it wasnt like this and did u complain about it so bad that u quit, come on people. i could see if they completely hid ce and crs then yeah that would be a problem, but seriously its 1 click/button press away (oh and tell me u havent gotten on the elevator and realized u didnt have enough ce or mist to go down on current UI, if u have then seeing your ce and crowns on the main screen is of no point and the new ui shouldnt be a problem)

like nick said(this is not what nick said but what i assume he was getting at) this update is to change the feel of the game play from mindlessly(dont take this in a bad way) going up and down an elevator getting money to craft items to a slightly still mindlessly(again dont take this in a bad way or literally)going up and down elevators and crafting items but in a more rpg-ish way.

The concept of the game hasnt changed at all, it just looks different and not by much that u wouldnt know what to do. could it use some changes yeah mabye but so badly that it would warrant the non release of this update "NO" those minor things could be patched down the road if they're just that horrible. i say give it a shot

Tue, 04/02/2013 - 21:14

Klipik

@Blaknt

SK isn't a third-person RPG. It's an isometric hackandslash ARPG/dungeon crawler, and those have the classic "Diablo" UI with the HP at the bottom and no portrait- why have a portrait, when you regularly turn your character to face you?

The old UI might have that (never checked), but it doesn't tell you what monsters are in what families. I thought silkwings and greavers were beasts for the longest time.

Hiding the CE/cr won't cause people to quit the game by any means, but it's completely unnecessary. Yes, I have played games where you couldn't see your money at every second. It wasn't gamebreaking. But SK has it there already, for convenience - why would they take it out?

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My concerns about the enemy health bars in the new HUD