Sportacus
Intermediate OT User
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2008
- Messages
- 718
- Reaction score
- 104
This is a game design topic that I often think about, and wish to hear what others think of about it.
I firmly believe that health bars drastically alter the behavior of a player, and the play style they use.
There are 4 major systems health bars are present in games, and they are : Always Visible, Never Visible, Unlockable Viability, Challenge Only
Always Visible:
This is when health bars are always present in a game.
Players either see a precise representation of the enemy HP, be it in numbers, or some sort of meter.
This allows for players to know how close they are to killing an enemy, and can time their abilities in accordance.
It also allows players to make judgement calls on if they can kill something or not, just by looking at a health bar.
Players often look at another players health bar to decide if they can PK them, or not.
example: In Tibia, if you walk around in red health, there is a much higher chance someone will randomly PK you, because they think they can finish you off.
On the flip side, this allows players to try to ''bait'' people into trying to kill them, only to spam heals after the fight starts.
It allows for more economic killing of monsters, as players won't waste more costly supplies/longer cooldowns if they know a monster is close to death.
Example: On Tibia, I won't SD a demon in low black health, because I know I can just wait a second a kill it with either melees, or a cheaper spell, no need to waste money, mana, or cooldowns.
It allows players to enter a ''safe period'' that they know they will win a fight, due to how close they are in killing a monster, and thus can take much more risks due to the safe nature:
Example: In Megaman, when I have a robot master almost dead, I can safely take damage because I don't have to worry about dying, as I know I will win before I die.
Never Visible:
This is when health bars are never present in a game.
When no health bars are visible, it forces players to look for clues that are either visible in the appearance of a monster, or their appearance. You have to find the 'tell''.
Examples of this are:
Enemies turning different colors, or losing parts as they become closer to death.
Enemies acting in a more ''enraged' state to signify that the battle is becoming closer to it's end.
However, not every enemy may have a tell, and you have to rely on your on memory on if you are getting closer to the end of a battle.
With no health bars, players never really know if another player is close to death, so if they wish to PK someone, they have to make the judgement call on other information besides their current health. This can drastically cut down on random PK, as the risk factor of how ''healthy'' an enemy is never known.
Furthermore, when killing monsters, and they don't know if the end is coming soon or not, so the player never enters the ''safe zone'', and must play to their full ability from start to finish.
In economics, players will not be able to time their abilities as precise, and thus are forced to spend more money/time when hunting as they are more likely to use higher costing abilities even if the enemy is close to death, as they don't know any better.
Unlockable Visibility:
This is when a player has to do some action to reveal a health bar.
This style unlocks ability to create spells, passives, and items to grant visibility to health bars.
Spells like ''scan'' allow players to pick a monster, and learn of it's current health.
The scan spell can either be a one shot at the moment deal, or act as a debuff and creating a visible health bar above the enemy for a time, for either all to see, or the caster to see, based off the specifics of the spell.
Passives can be made such as ''true sight'' that allows a player to always see health bars, while others can not.
When players have the access to unlock health bars, or rather ''pay'' for the information, it creates a depth of strategy of when it is most appropriate to time the cast of spells like ''scan'', or if it is economic for you to spend mana/runes/money on scanning enemy.
As far as ''safe zones' go, players don't know if they are safe to win a battle, but can use a resource to gain that information.
Same as with PKing, the PKer must spend some sort of resource to learn the information he needs to attack someone or not.
Challenge Only:
This is a style that only shows health bars on the most challenging of enemies in a game, such as boss fights and other players.
Typically this found in single player games when the dev believes that normal monsters in the game are minor threats, but bosses are a big enough challenge that they require the additional information to fairly take on the task.
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Long post, but I find it an interesting topic, and wish to hear the opinions of other players.
My personal opinion is Unlockable health bars is the best choice, as it creates additional strategies and items that the player could use in the game. It also moves the choice to the players end on if they want to do access information or not.
It's the best compromise.
Now, I said my piece, and I've informed you as well as I can on the topic, I want to hear everyone else's opinions!
I firmly believe that health bars drastically alter the behavior of a player, and the play style they use.
There are 4 major systems health bars are present in games, and they are : Always Visible, Never Visible, Unlockable Viability, Challenge Only
Always Visible:
This is when health bars are always present in a game.
Players either see a precise representation of the enemy HP, be it in numbers, or some sort of meter.
This allows for players to know how close they are to killing an enemy, and can time their abilities in accordance.
It also allows players to make judgement calls on if they can kill something or not, just by looking at a health bar.
Players often look at another players health bar to decide if they can PK them, or not.
example: In Tibia, if you walk around in red health, there is a much higher chance someone will randomly PK you, because they think they can finish you off.
On the flip side, this allows players to try to ''bait'' people into trying to kill them, only to spam heals after the fight starts.
It allows for more economic killing of monsters, as players won't waste more costly supplies/longer cooldowns if they know a monster is close to death.
Example: On Tibia, I won't SD a demon in low black health, because I know I can just wait a second a kill it with either melees, or a cheaper spell, no need to waste money, mana, or cooldowns.
It allows players to enter a ''safe period'' that they know they will win a fight, due to how close they are in killing a monster, and thus can take much more risks due to the safe nature:
Example: In Megaman, when I have a robot master almost dead, I can safely take damage because I don't have to worry about dying, as I know I will win before I die.
Never Visible:
This is when health bars are never present in a game.
When no health bars are visible, it forces players to look for clues that are either visible in the appearance of a monster, or their appearance. You have to find the 'tell''.
Examples of this are:
Enemies turning different colors, or losing parts as they become closer to death.
Enemies acting in a more ''enraged' state to signify that the battle is becoming closer to it's end.
However, not every enemy may have a tell, and you have to rely on your on memory on if you are getting closer to the end of a battle.
With no health bars, players never really know if another player is close to death, so if they wish to PK someone, they have to make the judgement call on other information besides their current health. This can drastically cut down on random PK, as the risk factor of how ''healthy'' an enemy is never known.
Furthermore, when killing monsters, and they don't know if the end is coming soon or not, so the player never enters the ''safe zone'', and must play to their full ability from start to finish.
In economics, players will not be able to time their abilities as precise, and thus are forced to spend more money/time when hunting as they are more likely to use higher costing abilities even if the enemy is close to death, as they don't know any better.
Unlockable Visibility:
This is when a player has to do some action to reveal a health bar.
This style unlocks ability to create spells, passives, and items to grant visibility to health bars.
Spells like ''scan'' allow players to pick a monster, and learn of it's current health.
The scan spell can either be a one shot at the moment deal, or act as a debuff and creating a visible health bar above the enemy for a time, for either all to see, or the caster to see, based off the specifics of the spell.
Passives can be made such as ''true sight'' that allows a player to always see health bars, while others can not.
When players have the access to unlock health bars, or rather ''pay'' for the information, it creates a depth of strategy of when it is most appropriate to time the cast of spells like ''scan'', or if it is economic for you to spend mana/runes/money on scanning enemy.
As far as ''safe zones' go, players don't know if they are safe to win a battle, but can use a resource to gain that information.
Same as with PKing, the PKer must spend some sort of resource to learn the information he needs to attack someone or not.
Challenge Only:
This is a style that only shows health bars on the most challenging of enemies in a game, such as boss fights and other players.
Typically this found in single player games when the dev believes that normal monsters in the game are minor threats, but bosses are a big enough challenge that they require the additional information to fairly take on the task.
-------------------
Long post, but I find it an interesting topic, and wish to hear the opinions of other players.
My personal opinion is Unlockable health bars is the best choice, as it creates additional strategies and items that the player could use in the game. It also moves the choice to the players end on if they want to do access information or not.
It's the best compromise.
Now, I said my piece, and I've informed you as well as I can on the topic, I want to hear everyone else's opinions!
