[Idea for mutator] Health/ArmorBar over players.

[SilverSound]

Something like this could also be made to work with Monsters. I've always hated the small text numbers servers have but it would look amazing if this was used instead.

[wallabra]

I think a "layered" bar would do nicely. Mass Effect style. Shieldbelt, Powershield and the like, completely blocking all damage - blue bar. Armors - orange. And health bars... hm, the mod should check max health (usually 100) and upon having more, another lifebar with a different tint of red would appear over the main one.

Imo layered bars get cluttered fast. My dude, you have an entire Cartesian plane at the palm of your hands, and you're content with bunched up little rectangles that make dyslexic players get fragged more often? Be more geometric about it, use concentric rings or something!

[TigerTheGreat]

I didn't see such layered bars cluttered in the source of inspiration - Mass Effect 2 and 3. Neither did I see any dyslexic players complaining about it. So it's safe to say your argument doesn't hold water at all.

[wallabra]

Yes, but this isn't Mass Effect. Consider that players are going to be moving around and possibly 'fly' across the screen (particularly e.g. in close quarters combat) – not a lot of time or focus to see the bars of your teammates around you.

More than anything else, this kind of display must provide information as instantly as possible. You should be able to tell one's status at a glance.

Anyway, I just had another idea. What if the health bar was actually a circle, which was filled at 100%, but then gradually hollowed out as more damage is taken? Then armour could be seen as a tint on the colour of the circle (representing damage resistance, rather than 'extra health'), and the shield belt would be a thick, but hollow square, around the circle, that gradually thins and rounds down into the circle's shape, until it vanishes.

Here is a quick and dirty mockup I whipped up in GIMP. Rows are, from top to bottom, unarmoured, armoured, and shielded (i.e. Shield Belt). Columns represent progressive damage taken.