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hudfreegamer: You don't. That's the point.
This discussion has finally happened! Horray!

Anyway, I absolutely get why would one want to play an FPS games without a HUD. Some are not designed with that in mind, FEAR games including, but what the hell, if you've played enough games in your life, you're able to just guess a lot of what's happenning, just as aim roughly in the centre of your screen even without iron sights. I wouldn't try it as I tend to play games as designers intended me to play them, but that's besides the point. Anyway, at one point or another, I've seen you comment on an indie RTS games, asking whether they're preparing a HUD-free version. So first of all, let us define what exactly hud-free means:

Is it a game which doesn't provide any on-screen information at all, regardless of how immersively is that information provided? For instance, in Star Wars: Republic Commando, all the in-game HUD is actually information your visor provides you with, and is integrated as such into the game. A lot of racing games and simulators show you all the necessary info in cockpit mode on the ... well, cockpit, and then there are other approaches which explain HUD as in-lore gimmick your character got at one point or another. Where does uneeded HUD start and stop? What are the requirements?

Now, to the RTS bit: How would you propose an RTS to be designed in such a way that it would not need a HUD, and most importantly, why? RTS games are not focused on immersion, never were really. You were always the commander who sat somewhere "out there", with the game providing you all the necessary information - and games like StarCraft could never work without a HUD, you can't micro nor macro efficiently. The requirement for pretty much any RTS are:
- Health and status displays for your units and buildings. For buildings, this could be gotten around by visually showind destruction of one. For units, same could be used, however in the midst of battle, HP bars are just far clearer and, more importantly, would give a massive micro advantage to whomever has them enabled
- Resource status. Command and Conquer games uded a system where silos were slowly filling up as you were gaining more resources. This, could, however, never overcome a clear display of how many resources do you have. I could imagine a Supreme Commander-like system working, where the only thing you'd need to keep your eye on would be, let'e say, color of your base, where it would use green lights if your income is in positives and red lights if it's in the negatives.
- Minimap. Well, here I'm screwed. I've never seen RTS game working well without one. Would Supreme Commander's solution be considered as HUD-free one, where you get to scroll all the way out of the battlefield and all units get replaced by their representation in little icons?

Yup, just a bunch of questions. Yup, I'm just trying to understand an obsession which has been bugging me for the longest time.
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Fenixp: Where does unneeded HUD start and stop? What are the requirements?
I don't personally feel a hud is necessary at all unless the game becomes impossible to play without it. In cases like that, Huds are a by-product of lazy game design (for the most part).

For example, Dead Space integrated the health on your character's back. That was fine.

Another option is to just use regenerating health.

As an alternative to mini-maps, I like subtlety superimposing a highlight onto in-game objects (with the ability to turn each option on/off). For example, street signs that light up in the direction I need to turn to reach a waypoint I've set.

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Fenixp: Now, to the RTS bit: How would you propose an RTS to be designed in such a way that it would not need a HUD, and most importantly, why?
Short answer: Myth
Longer answer: Create a sub-genre to the RTS game that focuses on one or two aspects that can all be controlled using keypress and does't require an interface. For example, Myth focused solely on combat.

Why? To reach a larger audience. RTS games often feel less like strategy games and more like micro-management games. They require a greater investment of time.

As RTS games exist right now, it wouldn't be possible to make one that was hud-less. But, you could remove the hud from constant view and instead have hotkeys. Press button "x", "y", or "z" to display part of the hud, make your choice, then it goes away until you need it again. The point is just to get it out of view until absolutely needed.

Hud elements could easily be made optional and even incorporate transparency or fading (again, optionally). That way each person can play the way he/she wants. If you want/need healthbars, a mini-map, or whatever, then, you can have them all the time, some of the time, only when you press a button to see it, or never.

The issue boils down to forethought about the atheistic of the interface, naturally incorporating information into the gameplay, and ultimately giving players the choice.
Post edited February 27, 2015 by hudfreegamer