Denny (DayZ)

I'm probably not the first or the last to puzzle over a clean way to organize icons and info in DayZ (in a natural way) but here's my best rough shot at it :) It dawned on me that the GUI is striving to represent the human form and its basic functions/problems, so why not get literal with that theme? So with that I started working out a happy little sidebar dude with organs and systemic functions where they should be. * Loudspeaker: Your noise level (an ear is for listening but since this is about making noise...well you get the idea.) * Head: Standard emoticon type changes * Heart: Fill rate 1-10 with numeric and graphic value shown. * Stomach (food): Fill rate 1-10 with numeric and graphic value shown. * Hydration (Water): Fill rate 1-10 with numeric and graphic value shown. * Temp: numeric and graphic value shown. * Bone: General bone to show fractures and breaks. * Infection: Turns red when infected. * Digestive: In contrast to the others, this meter FILLS UP over time. Eventually you have to find a place to squat and do your business. If you don't? the shakes, potentially infection and if left long enough a complete loss of motor control and or conciousness. To me this is an important function which adds all sorts of fun consequences to the game. Its a meter that would fly under the radar for the most part until you forget about it in the middle of a firefight. Doing your business takes a bit of time leaving you vulnerable, would also attract flies, give a scent to zombies (zombies just love poo, didn't you know that?) and it would allow other players to potentially track you (unless you have time to bury it). I can think of dozens of potentially very funny AND very dangerous scenarios happening with the inclusion of this one simple mechanic. * Body Outline: The main body outline can change to show 3 unique states; hidden, partially hidden and revealed. This would be handled by a simple opacity change depending on the players stance.

I actually think the opposite will be true in this case. From a purely viral marketing perspective, I think an operational digestive system (and the consequences of having to take a virtual dump) will draw additional players to the game. And really, the hardcore Arma realists can't really discount how real this would make things :)

Thanks for the feedback all! This is really a great community! Let me just say that this was a very quick rough comp (I was slacking at my real job: www.worldworksgames.com and had a few minutes). So yes, it absolutely needs some spit and shine to bring it from raw concept to an attractive GUI. You could go for minimalist treatments or something more realistic. GUI Size: A few of you said that it was "too big" but if you click through to the full screenshot, its actually not much bigger than the original GUI (and it would be scalable too) http://dayzmod.com/forum/attachment.php?aid=609 . Pogoman brought up a hidden GUI that comes up when there's a contextual need for it (or by clicking an icon), I actually REALLY like that idea! Body Outline: The body outline changes opacity to show your visibility. It could also be creatively repurposed to show temperature (color shift) or even general well being. I mean, the parts are all there, you may as well represent it as what it is; an operating human system (hence my reference to the game operation...lol). To Poo or Not to Poo: Honestly, whether people like or hate the GUI concept itself, I think the digestive system is the real winner here. Adding it to the game would probably be fairly trivial but the consequences would be both engaging and entertaining (in terms of shakes, detrimental physical consequences to holding it too long, giving a scent to zombies, having players track you, or finding safe places to do your business while you are fairly vulnerable). What other game forces you to use the bathroom with regularity? No other game even has a context for that but here it makes perfect sense! Really like Friend-or-Pho's idea about having adrenaline exerting an influence here to. I can't help but to picture firefights having all kinds of quite funny consequences if someone neglected to find a safe place to squat earlier. Anyway, wish I could work on this more and WILL if people like it. I'd crank out a professional set of icons (animated even) for Rocket if he liked what he saw but I also realize that Bohemia has final say here in terms of look & feel.