AG-wolf
7th June 2009, 06:34 PM
In the interest of not raping users' bandwidth, I've compressed these as much as aesthetically possible while still retaining decent image quality. if mods feel it necessary that images be smaller, be removed, replaced with direct links, whatever then please let me know beforehand because this took forEVer to sit and do.
I understand there's a color scheme for powerups in HD:
Red - offensive
blue - defensive
green - passive
It doesn't translate well into the XL hud; after +ten years, those icons are burned into everyone's brain. The new colors and icon inaccuracies are so unfamiliar that i actually have to stop and think about what weapon I just picked up, at which point it interrupts my racing and I make a mistake or accidentally fire/absorb something I didn't mean to; for example, the quake and leech beam icons are almost indiscernible at a glance.
icon comparison; extra icons on bottom:
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/162/iconsw.png
Aside from the colors to be changed, the little LCD-esq segments aren't correct on every icon either;
Shield - missing the horizontal segment of the icon
Bomb - bomb may operate differently between the two games but it makes no sense to change the icon
Cannon - XL had a machine gun; albeit you needed a code. It was also Feisar's special weapon in WO64
Homing Missile - Vertical segment is too long in HD.
Energy drain/leech beam - e-pak is a good idea, but it's not really accurate since the e-pak doesn't fire anything in XL. At least fix the horizontal part of the "e." You could use AG-System's special weapon from WO64, since it actually fired a weapon. Maybe the Electro-Bolt icon since leech-beam now hinders the victim ship.
Quake - the orange icon is from the Saturn version
The four bottom icons are the WO64 special weapons for Auricom, Qirex, and Piranha II, and the Electro-Bolt from XL. Special weapon icons have no icon border, all unused segments are darkened so the icon is markedly different when you're racing.
icon transparency in XL seems random... but that's not quite a big deal, one or the other doesn't matter. Whatever icon you have, though, always has a dull/transparent green border that is less saturated than the weapon icon itself. With no power-up, all segments are blank, except for a faint yellow/green outline of each segment.
I know it's almost petty to complain about, but I was so excited to see an XL/2097 HUD option and then immediately disappointed when used it :/ I did like that someone actually put a red accelerator bar behind the regular speed bar, even if HD's physics aren't anywhere near XL's. Those icons are really a big part of the style of the game, and changing them so much kills the nostalgia effect :( This can't be a complicated fix, and I think anyone who actually uses the XL HUD would actually welcome the change anyway...
XL hud in WOHD:
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/7243/xlhd.jpg
XL on Playstation:
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/5811/xlpsx.jpg
XL on Saturn:
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/852/xlsat.jpg
In no particular order, I will point out the differences which I think disrupt the feel of the hud enough that it detracts from its usefulness and appearance.
- "Position X of Y" Is too small in HD, too difficult to read peripherally when racing. Numbers seem apx the same size, but with the tiny "POS" and "OF," the numbers don't stand out like in the original HUD.
- "Lap X of Y" suffers the same problem as the position counter, but it's also placed differently. In the original HUD, a brief glance at one corner of the screen will tell you both your position and lap, in HD, you have to look two totally different places.
- Current lap counter is okay, but the display for previous laps 1 through 4 are way too small and crowded to even serve a purpose.
- In HD, the color of the yellow text is a solid yellow which gets lost in the speed/movement of the track behind it. In the original HUD, the text is textured/shaded with a highlight and shadow so it looks embossed and is easier to read on top of the background.
- the speed/shield graph wireframes in the HD version are a solid, highly-saturated yellow which drowns out the slider underneath them. In the original HUD, the wireframes of the graphs are "embossed" like the yellow text, but their color is duller in comparison and the shadows more pronounced so the slider of each graph stands out better at a quick glance.
- While the speed/shield graphs differ slightly between the PSX and Saturn versions, BOTH have 11 segments where the HD version only has 9.
--- The "ENERGY" and "THRUST" text in the original hud stands out better because the font is slightly larger.
--- In the original hud, the "KPH" label is outlined in the same wireframe style as the speed/shield graphs
--- In the original hud, the KPH label also pushes the speed counter to the left enough that your speed extends PAST the graph, and is easier to read.
original PSX XL graph parts:
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9237/graphs.gif
- All large white numbers are "embossed" in the original HUD just like the original yellow text.
- the font in HD is radically different. I don't know if Designers Republic has a specific copyright on the original font used in the Playstation version or something, but even the Saturn version's modified font was still similar enough that it felt the same. Every number form in the HD version is completely wrong, and the text is awkward, too.
aside from the differences above, these are just some of my own personal suggestions
- Re-implement song and artist display at the beginning of each race. In the original game, the song info would raise up from the bottom of the screen for about 5 or 6 seconds and then lower back off-screen:
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5716/xlsong.jpg
- Display damage and absorb amount for each weapon to the right of the weapon icon... a simple XX and XX would probably be fine.
- the +/- times that tell you how far ahead/behind another racer are distracting being at the bottom of the screen; you can't read them because the font is too small plus they're out of your immediate line of sight. Make the font a little larger and maybe place them below the weapon icon area or perhaps keep a constant counter in the empty upper-left corner of the screen.
- the auto pilot timer in the HD version is way too small. It used to be much more obvious, and it would VISUALLY alert you when it was going to end as well as the audible "disengaging" voice:
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2890/xlauto.jpg
EDIT:
WIPEOUT 3 HUD POST HERE (http://wipeoutzone.com/forum/showpost.php?p=130363&postcount=14)
I understand there's a color scheme for powerups in HD:
Red - offensive
blue - defensive
green - passive
It doesn't translate well into the XL hud; after +ten years, those icons are burned into everyone's brain. The new colors and icon inaccuracies are so unfamiliar that i actually have to stop and think about what weapon I just picked up, at which point it interrupts my racing and I make a mistake or accidentally fire/absorb something I didn't mean to; for example, the quake and leech beam icons are almost indiscernible at a glance.
icon comparison; extra icons on bottom:
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/162/iconsw.png
Aside from the colors to be changed, the little LCD-esq segments aren't correct on every icon either;
Shield - missing the horizontal segment of the icon
Bomb - bomb may operate differently between the two games but it makes no sense to change the icon
Cannon - XL had a machine gun; albeit you needed a code. It was also Feisar's special weapon in WO64
Homing Missile - Vertical segment is too long in HD.
Energy drain/leech beam - e-pak is a good idea, but it's not really accurate since the e-pak doesn't fire anything in XL. At least fix the horizontal part of the "e." You could use AG-System's special weapon from WO64, since it actually fired a weapon. Maybe the Electro-Bolt icon since leech-beam now hinders the victim ship.
Quake - the orange icon is from the Saturn version
The four bottom icons are the WO64 special weapons for Auricom, Qirex, and Piranha II, and the Electro-Bolt from XL. Special weapon icons have no icon border, all unused segments are darkened so the icon is markedly different when you're racing.
icon transparency in XL seems random... but that's not quite a big deal, one or the other doesn't matter. Whatever icon you have, though, always has a dull/transparent green border that is less saturated than the weapon icon itself. With no power-up, all segments are blank, except for a faint yellow/green outline of each segment.
I know it's almost petty to complain about, but I was so excited to see an XL/2097 HUD option and then immediately disappointed when used it :/ I did like that someone actually put a red accelerator bar behind the regular speed bar, even if HD's physics aren't anywhere near XL's. Those icons are really a big part of the style of the game, and changing them so much kills the nostalgia effect :( This can't be a complicated fix, and I think anyone who actually uses the XL HUD would actually welcome the change anyway...
XL hud in WOHD:
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/7243/xlhd.jpg
XL on Playstation:
http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/5811/xlpsx.jpg
XL on Saturn:
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/852/xlsat.jpg
In no particular order, I will point out the differences which I think disrupt the feel of the hud enough that it detracts from its usefulness and appearance.
- "Position X of Y" Is too small in HD, too difficult to read peripherally when racing. Numbers seem apx the same size, but with the tiny "POS" and "OF," the numbers don't stand out like in the original HUD.
- "Lap X of Y" suffers the same problem as the position counter, but it's also placed differently. In the original HUD, a brief glance at one corner of the screen will tell you both your position and lap, in HD, you have to look two totally different places.
- Current lap counter is okay, but the display for previous laps 1 through 4 are way too small and crowded to even serve a purpose.
- In HD, the color of the yellow text is a solid yellow which gets lost in the speed/movement of the track behind it. In the original HUD, the text is textured/shaded with a highlight and shadow so it looks embossed and is easier to read on top of the background.
- the speed/shield graph wireframes in the HD version are a solid, highly-saturated yellow which drowns out the slider underneath them. In the original HUD, the wireframes of the graphs are "embossed" like the yellow text, but their color is duller in comparison and the shadows more pronounced so the slider of each graph stands out better at a quick glance.
- While the speed/shield graphs differ slightly between the PSX and Saturn versions, BOTH have 11 segments where the HD version only has 9.
--- The "ENERGY" and "THRUST" text in the original hud stands out better because the font is slightly larger.
--- In the original hud, the "KPH" label is outlined in the same wireframe style as the speed/shield graphs
--- In the original hud, the KPH label also pushes the speed counter to the left enough that your speed extends PAST the graph, and is easier to read.
original PSX XL graph parts:
http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9237/graphs.gif
- All large white numbers are "embossed" in the original HUD just like the original yellow text.
- the font in HD is radically different. I don't know if Designers Republic has a specific copyright on the original font used in the Playstation version or something, but even the Saturn version's modified font was still similar enough that it felt the same. Every number form in the HD version is completely wrong, and the text is awkward, too.
aside from the differences above, these are just some of my own personal suggestions
- Re-implement song and artist display at the beginning of each race. In the original game, the song info would raise up from the bottom of the screen for about 5 or 6 seconds and then lower back off-screen:
http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5716/xlsong.jpg
- Display damage and absorb amount for each weapon to the right of the weapon icon... a simple XX and XX would probably be fine.
- the +/- times that tell you how far ahead/behind another racer are distracting being at the bottom of the screen; you can't read them because the font is too small plus they're out of your immediate line of sight. Make the font a little larger and maybe place them below the weapon icon area or perhaps keep a constant counter in the empty upper-left corner of the screen.
- the auto pilot timer in the HD version is way too small. It used to be much more obvious, and it would VISUALLY alert you when it was going to end as well as the audible "disengaging" voice:
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/2890/xlauto.jpg
EDIT:
WIPEOUT 3 HUD POST HERE (http://wipeoutzone.com/forum/showpost.php?p=130363&postcount=14)