Blood icon --> blood/health bar

[ScottyTheEngineer 47]

I've searched the suggestions forum and I was surprised that no one has suggestet this before.

Since the debug monitor will be removed in future releases and the status indicators (blood, hunger...) are bugged when the debug monitor is active, there are two ways to determine your health:

1. by the colour of the blood indicator

2. by the fading of the colours (in daytime)

This is manageable for most people, but it becomes rather difficult for people wit a colour vision deficiency. There are many types of those, but they are quite common: about 8% of all men and 0,5% of all women are affected. I have difficulties to distingutsh between green and red tones, which is a pretty bad premise if you want to determine your health/hunger/etc. level.

Since the blood level is critical to the gameplay, I suggest to replace the current blood indicator with a blood bar. It should not show your precise blood level, but you should be able to tell if you have 9000 or 10000 blood for example. This would not change gameplay in any way.

The other indicators could be changed in the same way, but since they are not that critical, I'm fine with their current state.

Your opinion, please!

[ImCptCrunch 17]

I actually really like your reasoning for this, and it is a valid point, and I do like this suggestion, I think that bar, would feel a bit too arcade like. But maybe there is another way to implement this.

Take my beans good sir.

[duat 12]

I'm torn on this subject really. On one hand, I like the current format where all we have is a color bar and we do not know exactly what level our health is at. This, for me, creates a sense of "urgency" if not outright "panic" when playing if I find myself with a blinking red health bar. I know my goose is cooking... but do I have enough time to reach a hospital... to get help... to extract myself from virtual peril.

On the remaining hand, I miss the old statistics "health bar". This was convenient to have as we knew exactly where our health level stood and thus knew exactly when shock/unconsciousness/death would manifest themselves.

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

I agree with both, the OP and Wosret.

Yes, people with color-blindness of sorts will have a hard time with the original red/green shades for the icon.

But on the other hand, a health bar would completely remove the worry of your blood level while you play.

Simple solution would be some sort of a color-blindness mode, like some AAA games have done.

(First thing that comes to mind is BF3. Then again, I never used it so I don't know if it's any good/how it works.)

[ImCptCrunch 17]

I agree with both, the OP and Wosret.

Yes, people with color-blindness of sorts will have a hard time with the original red/green shades for the icon.

But on the other hand, a health bar would completely remove the worry of your blood level while you play.

Simple solution would be some sort of a color-blindness mode, like some AAA games have done.

(First thing that comes to mind is BF3. Then again, I never used it so I don't know if it's any good/how it works.)

The BF3 color blind mode was very useful, both for those color blind and those not

[ScottyTheEngineer 47]

But on the other hand, a health bar would completely remove the worry of your blood level while you play.

But why? You should be always worried if you're not at max. health. Having 11000 blood instead of 12000 means that you'll die instantly if you are hit by 3 stanag rounds instead of the regular 4. This difference can mean a lot in DayZ.

I've just watched some videos of BF3 and the color blind mode. Health is displayed in % in BF3 and I don't think that the numerical blood count will return in DayZ.

However, the health bar could still change it's colour and blink when blood is low for the immersion.

[Rastamaus 323]

^{I think as in real life blood should slowly replenish naturally assuming you're eating and drinking regularly, being a chef I've cut myself hundreds of times, sometimes badly but i've never had cause to seek a blood transfusion.}

^{Having said that, for massive blood loss say 40%+ then transfusions of course are the way to go.}

[ScottyTheEngineer 47]

Guetapens, I agree with you, but that's a different topic. There are separate threads discussing blood regeneration.

[E. Heskey 11]

I'd prefer if the debug monitor stays.

Who keeps their own count of people and bandits they kill?

Ain't nobody got time for that.

[Stubbies 67]

I like your reasoning behind the topic, now we all know about vision/hearing/mobility being impaired in the current engine when dealing with blood-loss? Rocket has said he wants to get rid of the UI, so I ask the @OP can you use the current mechanics (which I'm sure will be more refined in the standalone) to assess your current state of health?

This is my thought provoking reply to you, if the current mechanics are difficult for your sight to pick up I'm confident a colour blind mode will be available in the stand-alone.

What do you guys think?

>No UI (Yes)

>Using these factors to assess your health. (Hell Yes!)

[TimBob 2]

I am colour blind and am finding it difficult at times to tell when I have low blood withouth the debug monitor. I also had problems at first understanding when i have low food or drink, but i am good enough at the game now where that isnt a problem as i am usually well stocked for food/drink pretty quick and just wait for the blinking.

I remember rocket making a post a while back that he understood the issue of colour blind players face and was working on it.

I like your reasoning behind the topic, now we all know about vision/hearing/mobility being impaired in the current engine when dealing with blood-loss? Rocket has said he wants to get rid of the UI, so I ask the @OP can you use the current mechanics (which I'm sure will be more refined in the standalone) to assess your current state of health?

I find it pretty easy to know when i'm low on blood as the colour and vision fade, I just wonder if the non colour blind have and easier time of it with the colour change of the drop. Sometimes i do wonder, is my blood lower? or is it getting dark, or is it my shitty x chromosome?

I did rely on the numbered blood for the check points of "okay i'm below xxxx blood, this means this... if i eat a tin of beans i can avoid that for a bit because it gets me above that threshold". The lack of numbers removes that, but i think thats what the devs want anyway. Which is fine, it its intuitive.

The colour blind mode in BF:BC2 was alright. I still got confused at times.

SC2 minimap does my head in in team games.

Edited September 11, 2012 by TimBob

[ScottyTheEngineer 47]

Some background first: I can distinguish between saturated red and green colours pretty well, but it's difficult for me to determine the intermediate shades. There are people out there with much more limited colour perception, but right now, I'm speaking for myself.

Rocket has said he wants to get rid of the UI, so I ask the @OP can you use the current mechanics (which I'm sure will be more refined in the standalone) to assess your current state of health?

I can tell whether my blood level is high, medium, or low, but I could have anything from 3000 to 10000 blood without being able to tell the difference. From what I've read in the 1.7.2.6 forums, many people are able to determine their health pretty precisely just by the colour of the blood indicator. That's just impossible for me.

As for the removal of the HUD: I doubt that it will be removed completely. The HUD in DayZ simulates the feedback from your body. In real life, you can determine your condition very well because you're constantly receiving sensory input (pain, hunger, thirst,...). But you can't provide all of this information simply by fading the colours of your display.

The problem with the colour fading is: your eyes adapt pretty fast to the loss of colour. If I lose 350 blood after being hit by a zombie, I don't notice any difference in the colours. If this happens like 10 times (if you're looting a town for example), you have lost 3500 blood, but the eyes have adapted 10 times to the loss of colour. So no, I can't really assess my condition by the fading of the colours.

However, what about a colour blind mode in the options menu? I would appreciate a fourth HUD option (in addition to none/default/debug) to display the HUD indicators as bars. I think everyboby would be happy with that.

- edited for typos

Edited September 11, 2012 by ScottyTheEngineer

[Frozen (DayZ) 144]

i`m not color blind but it`s quite annoying to track if i`m above 9k or not with current ui, and thus i`m alway looking for debug monitor. and i`m all up for a blood bar.

[MasterBlaster (DayZ) 21]

Health-bar or the good old Doom stile :P

Edited September 11, 2012 by MasterBlaster

[00dlez 22]

Health-bar or the good old Doom stile :P

This... is actually not a terrible idea. Beans.

[Slavinkje 16]

As a colorblind person of the same deficiency-type (red/green) I can attest to this. I don't think we need to have an option of health bars though, this might be slightly too 'gamey'. A different method can be found like using different colors but I'll leave that to the developer(s).

[Spekter 3]

I think the HUD should be different depending on the server type. If it's a hardcore server then you get the very basics, but for servers that encourage new players to join and learn the ropes there should be a more helpful way to determine if you are knocking on death's door.

[Benderz of Hell 3]

I'd prefer if the debug monitor stays.

Who keeps their own count of people and bandits they kill?

Ain't nobody got time for that.

I've got to agree with that. Even though the game is supposed to be realistic, I think it should have that one thing from keeping it at that point (besides certain world reactions/actions you perform that already are unrealistic). I've also grown pretty attached to the debug, it lets me confirm headshots so I know when to yell "BOOM HEADSHOT" :P

Edited September 11, 2012 by Dr. Do You In