I'd like to talk about FPS HUDs

[OurJud]

I'll start by admitting I'm in the minority here - in fact I don't know anyone who's obsessed with HUDs in first-person games as much as I am. The vast majority accept them as part and parcel of computer games, but am I really the only one who's as irritated by HUDs (and even more so, unnecessary HUDs) to this degree?

 

There are so many elements in almost every FPS that simply aren't needed.

 

Button prompts for performing an action: Why in the name of all that is holy do I need a little square/circle/triangle/X icon popping up each and every time I approach a door? Tell me which button it is the first time and I'll remember! Some will argue it's so you know if a door can be entered, but a little sound clip of a door rattling will tell me it's locked.

 

If there's something that can be picked up, again, why do I need a damn button prompt every single time?

 

Why is there so often a little dot in the centre of the screen?? I know where I'm looking!!!!

 

Why do I need little icons telling me if I'm standing/crouching/prone? I know what position I'm in because of my surroundings.

 

Happily the game manufacturers appear to be very slowly coming round to this way of thinking. It wasn't long ago that racing games with cockpit views didn't have the option to disable all HUD. Now it's tough to find one that doesn't have the option. From BF4 there's been a HUD off option, and even as far back as Killzone 3 it was an option (and I had no problems playing through either of these games)

 

But it's a slow process and an option that is overlooked more often than not in first-person games.

 

And herein lies my biggest gripe. Whatever your feelings on this, there is never any justification for not, at least, including it as an option. Not for one second am I suggesting people should be forced to play without a HUD, but by the same token I'm constantly forced to play with a HUD.

Edited April 28, 2017 by OurJud

[dudclub55]

FPS games have dots in the center? I thought only TPSs did that, and in those games it's to allow you to know where you'll aim when you transition from non-aimed to aimed mode.

[OurJud]

Admittedly the dot thing may not be a common HUD element, but I noticed while watching some Outlast 2 gameplay.

 

The thing about FPS HUDs is this. The first-person view in games has been developing for a long time now, and is only really there to add immersion for those of us who get off on that. Fans of the first-person view like the view because it puts us in the game. I'm sure the developers recognise this fact, so why do they then go and ruin that immersion with a HUD?

 

The usual response when people start talking about realism and immersion in games (especially FPS) is to say things like 'Go join the army if you want realism!', but this is missing the point entirely.

Edited April 28, 2017 by OurJud

[Mister Pink]

Yeah lots of HUD clutter really bothers me. The way I see it that game developers put out the games with all the help you can get to appeal to anyone and everyone who might play it. It's almost like a way to display "what's in the box" if you know what I mean. Kind of like the stickers you might get on a new laptop relating to your processor or graphics card and you just need to peel them off.

 

First thing I do with games is try minimize screen clutter and find the balance between genuine screen-aid versus healthy challenge. Then I adjust the difficulty to higher or at least proportionately to the level of challenge I want and the type of game it is etc.

 

Some developers are being smart about it and have the option of disappearing HUD options. I know Deus Ex: Mankind Divided had this. When you weren't using certain functions, the HUD representing that function disappears off the screen. It's quite handy when you like taking lots of screenshots like I do.

Edited April 28, 2017 by Mister Pink

[OurJud]

First thing I do with games is try minimize screen clutter and find the balance between genuine screen-aid versus healthy challenge

 

Some developers are being smart about it and have the option of disappearing HUD options. I know Deus Ex: Mankind Divided had this. When you weren't using certain functions, the HUD representing that function disappears off the screen.

 

But this is where my obsession kicks in. The first thing I do when I load up a new FPS game is not just try to minimize, but to remove it completely. If I can't - which is the case most of the time - it's a major disappointment and my desire and excitement for the game immediately dissipates.

 

It should be a default for every game and every developer, to include an option to disable all the HUD. Then everyone's happy.

 

Currently playing through the BF1 campaign and thankfully DICE, as they did with BF4, include an option to hide all the HUD, and my love of these games doubled because of it.

[Mister Pink]

Ah.. I see. Yeah that would be frustrating in for people in your position if it wasn't an option.

[OurJud]

I think it's impossible for a game to please everybody to be fair. I'm playing through the BF1 campaign with HUD disabled, but the semi-sandbox design of the levels mean I keep having to switch the minimap back on to get my bearings when it becomes unclear where I'm supposed to be going.

 

A button hold to bring up the map would be ideal in this case.

[Furry_Monkey]

I don't feel them feels as much as you clearly do, but I do feel them. I'm a software developer by trade and I consider it absolute downright f*cking lazy *and* insulting to the customers when games don't have options to turn all that sh*t off. In a perfect world we'd be able to customise everything to do with HUDs and popup info throughout the game, but at least give some options. GTA isn't the worst in the world, but it irks me (understatement) that after three and a half years I'm still being told how to do things, as if I'm a day 1 player. It shouldn't only tell us once - some people need to be told more times than others, but let US decide for ourselves.

 

Ghost Recon Wildlands has got it quite nice. You can turn everything off individually, or use a "show all/hide all" type option. It's pretty sweet and nice to see the designers & developers considering the end user for a change, rather than their bank balance.

 

Yes, I'm cynical, but I've been doing it a looooooong time. I'm allowed to be

[Mister Pink]

Ghost Recon Wildlands has got it quite nice. You can turn everything off individually, or use a "show all/hide all" type option. It's pretty sweet and nice to see the designers & developers considering the end user for a change, rather than their bank balance.

 

Yes, I'm cynical, but I've been doing it a looooooong time. I'm allowed to be

 

Yes, the "show all/hide all" option is very thoughtful. Some games force me to individually switch each item off, most likely wrongly assuming that nobody will have all things turned off at once. Which I do for screenshots.

 

Fallout 4 does it nice too. You have a slider/fader for the show all/hide all function.

[DEALUX]

Button prompts for performing an action: Why in the name of all that is holy do I need a little square/circle/triangle/X icon popping up each and every time I approach a door? Tell me which button it is the first time and I'll remember! Some will argue it's so you know if a door can be entered, but a little sound clip of a door rattling will tell me it's locked.

 

If there's something that can be picked up, again, why do I need a damn button prompt every single time?

 

Why is there so often a little dot in the centre of the screen?? I know where I'm looking!!!!

 

Why do I need little icons telling me if I'm standing/crouching/prone? I know what position I'm in because of my surroundings.

It's because there is no standard control scheme for these games. I mean if I play a few games at the same time I tend to forget some of the controls when I switch to a different game. It doesn't bother me. Having to look up the controls would bother me more.

 

Same reason as above. It's not a big deal in my opinion.

 

That's actually kinda dumb, I agree. Isn't that mostly in older games though?

[OurJud]

GTA isn't the worst in the world, but it irks me (understatement) that after three and a half years I'm still being told how to do things, as if I'm a day 1 player. It shouldn't only tell us once - some people need to be told more times than others, but let US decide for ourselves.

This is interesting. Are you referring to the story mode here? I love GTA V because of the ability to disable all HUD. Yes, you get the reminders while playing through the story, but once you finish the game all that stops. When I play now I don't get any pop-ups or anything. Please don't tell me they've patched all that crap back in for some bizarre reason.

 

You PC or console?

 

 

Fallout 4 does it nice too. You have a slider/fader for the show all/hide all function.

I've just bought Fallout 4 for this very reason. It's my type of game, of course, but the HUD off option was the clincher. Edited April 29, 2017 by OurJud

[Kiffster]

Personally I think that little dot in the centre of the screen in any fps is a necessity. Not only do I want to know where I'm aiming but believe it or not it's also partly there to help prevent motion sickness. Can't remember if the game was Mirror's Edge where a lot of people got really sick while playing the game so they added a tiny dot to the centre of the screen which greatly reduced the number of players who got motion sickness.

I know I got really sick while playing Duke Nukem in the 90s and as far as I remember it didn't have any dot or crosshair for me to focus on.

[OurJud]

That may well be the case for many people but it's still no justification for not including an option to disable it.

 

This thread is nothing to do with forcing HUDless games on people, just that the option to disable all HUD should be a default for all games.

 

It was like when Metro Last Light was in development and they told us it was going to be a HUDless game, but then months before release announced that certain mechanics and gameplay meant it would be impossible to go completely HUDless. Well how about you still give us that option and let us decide for ourselves instead of forcing it on us?

 

Most people seem to require a button icon popping up every time they approach a door - you know because they may have forgotten what button it is since the last door ten seconds ago, but I don't and I'd like the option to disable such prompts etc.

 

Far Cry 4 did this to a level that completely ruined the game for me.

Edited April 30, 2017 by OurJud

[RogerWho]

I'm always for more settable options in games so it's great if a game allows to disable this stuff.

 

That said, when it comes to me...

Why in the name of all that is holy do I need a little square/circle/triangle/X icon popping up each and every time I approach a door?

I often appreciate it's there. Yea a rattling sound can tell you a door is locked, but if you have 3 doors in a room, that takes a while if multiplied by all the rooms in the game. And then if you need to go back to a room and use a different door this time...

 

Same goes for picking up items. Which one of these things on the cluttered desk are the documents I need, exactly?

 

I remember how in games from the late 90's I used to run around a room and press E on EVERYTHING (I guess it makes sense why it was always the E button back then) to find that one item/door that I need. Heck just recently SOMA made me do exactly that and it was annoying as f*ck.

 

Plus believe it or not I often forget which button is the use button in a game. It's far from consistent between games and if I play several games simultaneously, or pick one up after a longer hiatus, prompts help a bit.

 

Why do I need little icons telling me if I'm standing/crouching/prone? I know what position I'm in because of my surroundings.

Um do you? I get often confused or forget. I don't play a lot of games where going prone is an option but I certainly had instances in, say, Crysis and other games where I wasn't sure what my position really is because I was in the middle of a bush.

 

Overall I do want HUDs and a lack of one doesn't enhance my immersion in any way. If the game doesn't make me forget I'm looking at a picture on a screen, disabling a HUD won't help that. But I guess I get it that for some people it may be different.

[OurJud]

But there are always other ways, Roger. It's just that developers are either too lazy or lack the imagination to implement them.

 

Yes, I can tell if I'm standing / crouching / prone. Prone is obvious, and while the crouching / standing one is a little more difficult to spot randomly, your character often moves much slower when crouching, indicating you're in crouch mode.

 

But I return to my point that we're simply asking for the option - that's all.

 

My other argument, though, (told you I was passionate about this subject) is that a HUD to me is contradictory.

 

I have no problems with HUDs in third-person games. A third-person game says, "This is a computer game - you are playing the character you can see and can control his actions."

 

But a first-person game says, "Try to forget this is a computer game - you are IN the world you see before you." Add to this that the developers go to great lengths to create this illusion as realistically as possible, but then totally ruin that illusion by cluttering the screen with floating graphics that simply have no place being there.

Edited April 30, 2017 by OurJud

[RogerWho]

Still can't agree on the prone/crouch/standing situation. Prone/crouch doesn't need to be obvious at first sight especially if the terrain is uneven and while speed of movement is certainly an indicator, THAT's something that actually breaks my immersion.

 

I mean IRL you know whether you're standing or crouching, you don't need to move first, do you?

 

It depends on the game I guess. In most games I just use crouch for short periods or (if possible) I have it set as 'hold button to crouch', not toggle. But in a game where I often have to spend long periods of time crouching and overall need to get creative with movement (again Crysis comes to mind) it's easy to forget for a moment. Again especially if the terrain is uneven.

 

Whether it's possible to make these things differently... Maybe. Games quite often experiment with HUDs actually and sometimes it blows up in their faces. I remember how everyone was praising Dead Space for having an 'innovative' holographic HUD but it was just annoying the sh*t out of me.

 

I mean hell, if I'm supposed to be immersed, then don't require me to turn my character around to see the screen directly in front of his face.

 

Or something else. Ammo counters placed directly on weapons. I still think they don't work because every weapon obviously has a different-looking counter, the positioning has to be slightly different, it jerks around while firing and not all weapons can have it. So I still want to have the ammo counter one one static spot.

 

Yea again obviously having these things settable would be great but we're talking about games where in 95% you can't even set your custom control set (on console) so what can we expect from such devs...

[Daz]

Depending on the game, in most basic FPS shooters you don't need jack sh*t on screen except possibly a very small ammo counter and what fire select mode you are in. Maybe a transparent minimap, but that is about it. Games are WAY more immersive once most of the unnecessary hud is removed.

 

I love playing The Crew and turn off every hud element aside from the minimap and it is perfect. Why would I care about my speedometer? Why do I care what other chumps are doing in the game world online? I am there just to drive and get into a trance.

 

Call of Duty often f*cked us for most things. A lot of things can be blamed on it for the way games are these days. It is just lazy programming. Instead of thinking up ways to have audio cues and visual feedback for intel as opposed to sh*t all over your hud.

 

The less, the better. However I always want a crosshair, unless it is a game where hipfiring is ultimately useless. But crosshairs should always be customizable anyway. Same goes with hud elements and SFX and Music. It is criminal not to add customization options for these things.

[DEALUX]

But crosshairs should always be customizable anyway.

Amen. I played a lot of Doom recently and the "dot" crosshair is perfect because it's not intrusive and it provides the best accuracy. Now I want that option in every shooter. The rest of the HUD doesn't really matter to me as long as it isn't super intrusive.