Interface HUD

In the video game the interface is also known as the HUD (Heads-Up-Display) which allows the player to see pieces of information about the character while playing the character simultaneously. It shows the characters information such as:

 

• Health/lives

 

• Items

 

• Time limit

 

• An indication of game progress level/score

 

• Weapons/ammunition

 

• Crosshairs

 

• Mini-map

 

So the interface art is designed to match the theme of the game while still displaying the clear information of the character’s status. Every game has its own unique interface to match the certain style of the game.

The image above is an example of the interface/HUD from World of Warcraft (well an old version of it but it’s still a good example). In the top left corner you can see the player’s character’s status with characters face, name, health bar, secondary bar and current level. Underneath that is the characters pet or sidekick with its own status display and at the right of the characters status bar is another player’s status bar but it only shows health, name and current level.

 

On the top right corner is the mini map which shows the name of the area and the exact location with the mini map that always pointing north. It also has the option to open up a full map of the world and to zoom in or out on the mini map.

 

At the bottom of the image when you see that blue line, that’s the indication of the character’s levelling system, also note that it is in a third person view allowing the player to see the world and his/her character.

 

The second example is a HUD from Battlefield 3 (the image is from http://media.pcgamer.com/files/2013/03/battlefield-3-end-game-4.jpg )

Note that it’s viewed in a first person view so that the player can see the world around him/her but the player cannot see his/her character (except for the hand and gun). On the bottom right corner you can see the status of the player such as the health with a 100% and with heart monitor and under that is the status of the weapon which shows the weapon has 20 bullets in the gun and has 108 bullets left.

On the bottom left corner is the mini map to show the player’s current location with a compass at the bottom indicating North to North/West. Just on top of the mini map is the status of the game that indicates the current status of the teams. I have played this game before from what I can tell that this a game of conquest were two teams must capture the most territory than the other team in order to win. The more territory you capture the other team will lose points. The blue colour represents the player’s team and the orange colour represents the enemy team (and from the looks of the score the blue is winning).

At the bottom centre you can see the player’s scores in the blue writing, it shows the number of points and why he/she have earn these points and under that is the statement of a kill with name of the player (green text), the name of the gun (white text) and the name of the victim (orange text). Also there is the crosshairs that helps the player to aim the gun but it’s hard to see it because the crosshairs is white and the map is a snowy terrain.