Hi.
I would like to share some thoughts about the HUD in general, and discuss about what kind of HUD we would like to see in Dishonored.

I believe having no HUD at all would be the best thing for Dishonored because it would help us to feel more immersed, but I also know that we will need to have clues, clues about the stamina, ammo count, mana/magic, etc...
So what to do?
Well, in my opinion Arkane could either choose to use visual clues on the character rather than a proper HUD, like in The Darkness 1, or coudl sill rely on the classic HUD but add some tweaks so to make it less stale, like make it wobble or make it disappear after some time.

What do you think guys, what it's you ideal HUD for Dishonored?

I'd like close to no hud at all. It'd be cool to have something like the Darkness.

I think the mark of the Outsider (I think that's his name) will be used for the purposes of knowing how much mana you have and stamina. That mark could easily grow over time, perhaps spread beyond the back of the hand as you become more versed in the powers. That combined with a visual cue ala the Darkness as mentioned should be ample. The only thing that wouldn't be covered in such a scenario would be inventory for something like arrows. Corvo could pull the quiver in front of him (using the arrows strictly for this example) and you could count by sight how many are left. That would not only cut down on the HUD but how one would make selections for what items to use. Corvo could produce them and then place them back after a selection has been made.

Does that make sense?

I agree
That would be cool

Well to get a clue of how much ammo/arrows you have left I believe a small, non-intrusive counter would not hurt
As for the map/inventory I found that Dead Space and Far Cry did a really good job with them: Dead Space in-game inventory is functional and Far Cry 2 map is excellent because your character actually pulls out a map in real time (you can even move around with it) and doesn't go to a pause screen.
Having some sort of "Spell book" would also be great in my opinion; not a big 1000 pages book but more likely a notebook with few pages like Drake's dairy (Uncharted) that Corvo can consult in-game as if it was a real thing.
I believe heath won't be regenerative, we will have an healing spell, so we would need a way to tell how much we have left but, frankly, I have no idea of how to make an health indicator not intrusive and functional without a fixed HUD

Health is not regenerative. You can heal using a http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Healing or a http://dishonored.wikia.com/wiki/Health_Elixir.

A fixed HUD wouldn't bother me too much, considering that Corvo will be wearing a highly technical mask in any case. A few meters indicating health and power wouldn't strike me as overly intrusive.

Good point. I forgot about the mask. That could be useful. I wonder how 1st person would look from behind a mask?

I forgot about the mask as well, and it indeed changes things,and makes them easier.
If a fixed HUD (the mask) is already in the game then I would really love if it could "wobble" like the HUD in Crysis 2, Syndicate, Battlefield 3, etc...
Wobbling HUD is better than static HUD in my opinion because it moves with the character and so it feels like is something the character himself is wearing: being a mask in this case a wobbling HUD would be perfect.

I'm in favor of a working HUD that gives all important information at a glance. I wouldn't want something like Skyrim where you have no idea what effects you have on you or their duration without going into the menu. It was a great game, but the lack of a good interface detracted from it IMO.

No HUD would be preferable but I'd want to know my health/mana or other primary stats without too much hassle.

What is annoying is that no preview at today cared to tell us something about the HUD, or the control scheme.
This is stupid because these kind of information really tell a lot about a game, about its mechanics, and indeed help us to understand it better.

when do we get more dishonored news?

E3 in all likelihood.

I'd be very surprised if Bethesda didn't show a demo at E3. Maybe something like Skyrim's?

Bethesda is already showing the Skyrim expansion that'd take awhile (at E3)

I'm sure Warren Spector is well aware that http://www.vossey.com/gallery2/d/41530-1/0000001648_1024x768.jpg isn't the way to go this time.

Warren Spector has nothing to do with this project.

.. uhuh, then hinting at the screen shot? I don't get it..

Lol, of course I get it! Some fetish people have. I think if it doesn't take too much coding, the devs could provide the settings menu with various HUD options. In Dark Messiah you can hide the quick slot 'belt' so only health and stamina bars are visible.. made by Arcane Studios.
Personally I too love the faint effects from FarCry2 and how it's HUD only comes into view when you press reload key. In any case, for a hardcoe mode ala Mirror's Edge where one bullet should kill you, I think most players adjust and learn their damage cap and inventory by heart, even without a HUD. Dishonored will be slick for sure.

Yep, Dishonored will be slick.

You're right, I'm confusing him with Harvey Smith, one of the other Deus Ex devs. Still, that guy worked on Invisible War as well.

But it's more of a joke than anything else, his job wasn't HUD design obviously.

Whoever was responsible for the HUD though, after reading these responses---I'd avoid woodsheds. Happiness is not abound.

Add a HUD and an option to remove it. That's it.

Correct, and you will be able to see this information.





Correct. Harvey Smith and others at Arkane have worked with Warren in the past, but he's not part of the Dishonored team.

Hey, did anyone play Alan Wake on PC? After I turned off the HUD it was still very easy to track everything. Weapon info only pops up when you switch weapons, HUD is based on the distortion of the screen, etc. They did have mechanic where light turned into the waypoint though, so there was no need for a radar.

I hope Dishonored doesn't have a waypoint system, or its kept very vague, like go north, or something.