I thought of this as more of a jumping off point. (Destiny)

by iconicbanana, C2-H5-OH + NAD, Portland, OR, Wednesday, May 06, 2015, 14:03 (3734 days ago) @ CruelLEGACEY
edited by iconicbanana, Wednesday, May 06, 2015, 14:06

Specifically the Sparrow sequence, that's the kind of visual clutter games need to avoid.

I think the best example I know is when Nevin was discussing Watch Dogs on his podcast, where there was tons of UI clutter, to the point that you didn't even notice the actual city you were walking around in (I think there's a point about us all being glued to our phones in real life somewhere in there).

Guess what my eyes were drawn to during the sparrow bit? The shifting lines all over the place. Even being aware of it happening while I was watching, I couldn't easily focus on the landscape. Same with the enemy dots and lines, but not as extreme.

My thoughts exactly, Pete. No disrespect to the video creator (it is very well done), but this is the kind of thing that looks great while watching a video, but is actually quite harmful to a real gameplay experience IMO.

The targeting ability... I could see that having some potential. Perhaps if it was optional; something that could be activated and deactivated at will. It might be useful in low-light situations, or at times when visibility is compromised (such as standing inside the burning shrine and facing outdoors into the sunset). But in general, it is just a bunch of clutter.

ps

Here's the article I wrote about how Watch Dog's HUD causes a lot of problems, if anyone is interested.

I actually thought that this MIDA video was extremely low on content; all it had was the targeting mode and the flight mode. The idea was really interesting though.

Here's something to think back to. How did you feel about the VISR system in ODST? There could certainly be ways to implement something like that with specific gear. As long as it's limited to one or two pieces of gear, and well applied, it wouldn't necessarily break immersion.