Visual elements can make or break a game. They keep the players informed and allow for the game to communicate information to the player directly. However, doing so in a way that does not distract the player or break away from player immersion can be difficult. When developing the interfaces below, conscious effort was put into keeping each element simple, and only showing it to players when they needed to know it, rather than flood the screen with excess information.
Health Bars are a common visual way to denote the current state of a player or characters health. Health bars are available on all player or enemy objects. Every game object which has the "CharacterController" component added have a health bar by default which is hooked up through the CharacterControllers method that is invoked on taking damage.
CharacterControllers communicate with their appropriate HealthBar through the MessageManager messaging system, allowing for decoupled communication.
The HealthBar.cpp class is a ComplexSprite game object, which means it is a game object which utilizes a sprite sheet. On creation, its setTrackingPlayer method is invoked, notifying it which player to track. Tracked players are following on the HealthBars update method, and have the HealthBar subscribe for events regarding that player being hurt.
HealthBars only become visible when damage is inflicted on a character, telling a player that their health has been updated to the now-visible amount. After a few seconds of not taking damage, healthbars disappear, clearing the screen of excess clutter.
Position based pop ups are HUD elements which selectively appear when a player approaches an interactable object in the world. These pop ups will appear when a player approaches, and disappear when they leave the range. Objects which create PopUp messages will be objects such as doors, which will tell the player to open/close the doors, or weapons which will tell a player how to pick them up. Future invokable objects will also use the system, such as the end game Throne.
The PositionBasedPopup.cpp class is a SimpleSprite game object, which means it uses a single sprite with no animations. On creation, it is given an object to track and a max distance that object can be from the given x/y position. onUpdate, the object checks if the distance between the objects has reached the limit. Once it has, the popup destroys itself.
Menu dialogues to confirm ending a game session is a simply but important task. Rather than exiting with a simple key stroke, confirming the users intentions is important. Rather than create a game object for this, the logic is handled by the scene itself.
The NetworkedGameScene.cpp file in the onUpdate method now handles a proper end game prompt. If a user presses the escape key, a prompt appears telling the user to press Enter to confirm quitting or Escape to close the message. As the prompt image itself needs no customized logic, it is simply a MiscSquare game object with a given sprite to display. The scene handles the creation and deletion of this menu prompt.
NetworkedGameScene.cpp
