heads up display in CP 2077

[vongo.859]

In GTA V when a character looks at their phone, you can see everything that character is doing over their shoulder. It's pretty neat and that video reminded me of it. Also when a character does physical activity for a long time you can actually see the sweat and dirt accumulate. It happened faster on Michael too, since he's more out of shape than the others. Less HUD and more a display of the character's condition, but still really cool. Something else I noticed in that video at the 3:20 mark was the enemy being disarmed after being hit in the hand. Does that happen often in most games? Because I don't see it often.

Sorry, back to the topic...

Simple, minimalist, and intuitive. That's the display I want to see. Also with the option to toggle it on and off. Customization would be nice, but it should be a low priority (anything beyond the general cybernetic modifications, at least).

 

[Suhiira]

Many games have some sort of "disarm" mechanic. That's not to say they work well or make a lot of sense.

 

[vongo.859]

Yeah, actually, you're right. I had an idea in my head, but when I started thinking about it I realized it's a feature in many games... I didn't quite mean the "disarm" mechanic though, but it's close enough.

Also, the Dead Space HUD is very nice.

 

[Odinsauge]

I also think that the Dead Space HUD is nice, but it's an action game which doesn't need much information. CP is a RPG where you'll have a lot of information and I want to see that information without clicking through hundreds of menus.
For example the Scyrim HUD, it was quit nice but the buffs and debuffs were listed under magic in the menu. So if you have a buff wich lasts only a few minutes or less you had to look in the menu to see if it's still active or not.

 

[Sardukhar]

I also think that the Dead Space HUD is nice, but it's an action game which doesn't need much information. CP is a RPG where you'll have a lot of information and I want to see that information without clicking through hundreds of menus..

I get that, but, well, the players had this:

So that's the RPG data.

In-game, what were you thinking? Targetting scope, if included in cybereye package? Sonar and/or radar, maybe? Audio feed to your TSM option? Biomonitor feed?

Really would depend on the options you were packing, but as for RPG data, character sheet worked fine for decades. High-tech version of that would suit me. Also, CDPR mentioned trying to make your 2077 charsheet downloadable and printable as a PnP sheet for Interlock. Nice fit there, too.

 

[Maelcom404]

In-game, what were you thinking? Targetting scope, if included in cybereye package? Sonar and/or radar, maybe? Audio feed to your TSM option? Biomonitor feed?

Really would depend on the options you were packing, but as for RPG data, character sheet worked fine for decades. High-tech version of that would suit me. Also, CDPR mentioned trying to make your 2077 charsheet downloadable and printable as a PnP sheet for Interlock. Nice fit there, too.

And this is just the "basic" character sheet, I had to make a new one, adding all the things that they forgot: martial art, driving licence, gun licence, drug addiction, home (yes or no, location), new skill from side-books, a second "armor" section so you have your "clothes armor" and "cybernetics" armor (cause if you wear an armored jacket, your cyberarm under it isn't supposed to be damaged directly by the impact), etc...

That's a lot of informations.

 

[Sardukhar]

And this is just the "basic" character sheet, I had to make a new one, adding all the things that they forgot: martial art, driving licence, gun licence, drug addiction, home (yes or no, location), new skill from side-books, a second "armor" section so you have your "clothes armor" and "cybernetics" armor (cause if you wear an armored jacket, your cyberarm under it isn't supposed to be damaged directly by the impact), etc...

That's a lot of informations.

Not...really. They have martial art, and you should know your own bonuses. Otherwise, put it under Weapons or Gear.

I guess you could have a notes sheet, but in years and years of gaming we never really needed to know whether you had a driving license or a home - don't really have stats. I would hope you would know if you had a drug addiction.

Your cyberarm has the same penetration rules as your flesh arm - also same armour stacking rules.

There are spaces for new skills on the skill sheets.

Like I said, I guess you could add a page, no big deal, for notes, but most of that stuff wasn't too game-numbers related. Some of it, like drug addictions, would go on Life Events.

Each to their own, though.

 

[Suhiira]

You don't even want to see the gear & equipment sheets I use in my campaign.
Let's just say I strongly encourage my players to go into detail about their clothing in particular since in a midevil society how you look is critical to how you're treated by the people you interact with. Yes, far, FAR more so then in modern society.

 

[Maelcom404]

Not...really. They have martial art, and you should know your own bonuses. Otherwise, put it under Weapons or Gear.

I guess you could have a notes sheet, but in years and years of gaming we never really needed to know whether you had a driving license or a home - don't really have stats. I would hope you would know if you had a drug addiction.

Your cyberarm has the same penetration rules as your flesh arm - also same armour stacking rules.

There are spaces for new skills on the skill sheets.

Like I said, I guess you could add a page, no big deal, for notes, but most of that stuff wasn't too game-numbers related. Some of it, like drug addictions, would go on Life Events.

Each to their own, though.

For the cybernetics I use the AP (arms / legs) since you can't really bleed to death by a bullet in your cyber arm but yeah I use the same rules, just with a light armor over, but it's helpful to separate under-skin armor plate from clothes, for example, just a way to make it simplier to everyone to understand, and about martial art and all it's mostly for comfort, not having your player asking you "what's my bonus for Aikido?", etc... same for drug addiction; if there are 2month between game you can easily forger stuff, etc... so it make the whole thing more easily readable (and I don't know about you, but some of my players have an awfull writing and aren't really "pnp" freaks so I tried to make it the simplier and the most understandable from a beginer to someone who knows a lil how a pnp works.

I didn't "reinvented" the wheel, just made it more "fluid" so our game are way less chaotic (and the driving licence, etc... is pretty usefull when it comes to police control, etc... I mean, I'm a GM but i'm not god, and sometime, it happend than I'd forgot that XXX has his ID paper stolen or he just don't have any driver licence, or that he was hooked to XXX drug there were three month and since he missed 3 games I didn't remember it, things like this

 

[Sardukhar]

. I mean, I'm a GM but i'm not god, and sometime, it happend than I'd forgot that XXX has his ID paper stolen or he just don't have any driver licence, or that he was hooked to XXX drug there were three month and since he missed 3 games I didn't remember it, things like this

Oh, yeah. I do this all the time. Then I retcon it..and punish the offending player for not keeping me updated.

Tonight's session I saved the botched perception check of my best roleplayer and most annoying player, ( he's both), until a more appropriate time.

"You can't do that!"

"Yes, yes I can."

I also tell my PCs to remind me about things like licenses and whatnot. I have a data sheet with player stuff on it, but these guys move quick.

I had a player crit succeed intimidating a Tech Priest Sub-Deacon and now he has a purity seal that permits him the use of his heretical cybernetics. Gonna have to keep remembering that, sigh.

It's an argument for a more organic HUD, anyway.

 

[Suhiira]

I'm just a bitch as a GM.
If I need to know something about a character I usually just ask for their character sheet and look it up (without of course telling them what I'm looking for). If it ain't on the sheet they don't have it. Simple, easy, and encourages them to keep their sheets up-to-date.

 

[Odinsauge]

I get that, but, well, the players had this:

So that's the RPG data.

In-game, what were you thinking? Targetting scope, if included in cybereye package? Sonar and/or radar, maybe? Audio feed to your TSM option? Biomonitor feed?

Really would depend on the options you were packing, but as for RPG data, character sheet worked fine for decades. High-tech version of that would suit me. Also, CDPR mentioned trying to make your 2077 charsheet downloadable and printable as a PnP sheet for Interlock. Nice fit there, too.

This character sheet has a good overview, I just saw sheets worse than this. And in an CRPG I like it when I have a menu where I can see all the information.
I don't need all the information in a HUD but I 'm not a fan of a minimum HUD or a HUD not shown during normal playtime.
I like HUDs that show me the most important infos permanently and other infos only then when they are important (like buffs etc).
Especially in a futuristic game where people had technical modifications, I like to see some infos onscreen.

 

[Maelcom404]

I also tell my PCs to remind me about things like licenses and whatnot. I have a data sheet with player stuff on it, but these guys move quick.
I had a player crit succeed intimidating a Tech Priest Sub-Deacon and now he has a purity seal that permits him the use of his heretical cybernetics. Gonna have to keep remembering that, sigh.

That's why I tried to re-organize the whole thing, that's how it's looking:

I removed the whole "bio" section (so it don't mess with the sheet once you erase the whole thing, the bio is on a side blank sheet, same for vehicules, contacts, cyberdeck, etc...)

Added the "athletism" skill which was forgotten on it, added a little guy so if one of your body part is ripped you can't "forget" it (it can happen that even the player can forgot a wound or whatever), also on the guy they add their cybernetics (arm, leg, cyberoptic, ears, sex, or whatever they implant), so everyone know what is where, added a "microship" thing, so you know how much you have, ect...
Added two different zone for your money, your bank account and your "cash", so if your bank account is hacked (what happened to two of my players), they still have some cash if they had any, no mess or "that's not what we told last time", everything is clear and written down, replaced the cybernetics by "quick dice roll" so you already have you skill and all (for the beginer player, and pretty helpfull when it's 3am and everyone is wasted), also initiative bonus and all, added new "role", the most "important" one, like panzer boy, street punk and a "other" so you still have place to create a role.
A place to put your penality (drug, stun, etc...), Places for your underskin armor / weaved skin too, so I know what kind they have, and what kind of roll I have to do to "perceive" them, all of this so it's the clearer possible for everyone, me as much as the player, or someone who'd be out of the game.

Made a wider Cybernetics / Items zone, with effect, legality, state (ok, broken, ect...), armor, etc...
Added the Martial Art zone from the book, just erased the stuff so it's up to each player to know what they're up to with their stuff.
Added a zone for tracked cybernetics, if you have a police file, contacts, if you have a mobile phone, etc...
Not only for me, but also to give the player the wider idea of "what can i do with what I have?", so they really feel immersed.

I'm just a bitch as a GM.
If I need to know something about a character I usually just ask for their character sheet and look it up (without of course telling them what I'm looking for). If it ain't on the sheet they don't have it. Simple, easy, and encourages them to keep their sheets up-to-date.

I do the same, but for police / security control, since i've added legality and all in the stuff, I take their sheets and look at it with the perception dice roll for their hidden stuff, I'm the GM, i'm not their baby sitter, It's up to them to do their thing with their illegal stuff and all, I'm here doing the story and playing the NPC, everything else is up to my players to do, and if they're too naive or "i don't give a shit", i'm here to punish them.

 

[Sardukhar]

That's why I tried to re-organize the whole thing, that's how it's looking:

That's..that's....pretty damn nice, actually. Got the cardboard cutout, the fonts...very nice.

 

[Maelcom404]

That's..that's....pretty damn nice, actually. Got the cardboard cutout, the fonts...very nice.

Thanks ^^
It took me a few days to think about everything usefull when you play a game, and tidying the sheet so it doesn't look like a mess.
Glad you like it! It confort me to think it was the right thing to do
Here are the original (I can traduce it eventually, if people would like to use it, or just if you want to do your own from mine, do as you please people)
FRONT
BACK

 

[Suhiira]

That's..that's....pretty damn nice, actually. Got the cardboard cutout, the fonts...very nice.

Agreed.

 

[thewarsend]

May i remind everyone about our very cool Cyberpunk HUD idea?

HUD should be gained by getting some kind of eye implant or wearing glasses, helmets etc. (Both should have their upsides and downsides. And having both should give you some sort of bonus) So you start the game without any HUD. Then in the beginning of the game you get your HUD glasses.

Like this one:

Some HUD glasses and implants can give you more detailed information about whats happening in your body (Like "A" model HUD glasses can give you information about your health and maybe your ammo, but "B" model is the better model, so it will give you information about weapons condition, information about enemies health etc.

And the implant should be able to do much more than that. It should show everything glasses capable of and should show you, where you are hurt, it should show you a minimap, while a high level implant can give you information about where the enemies are attacking from. (Like in Fallout 3 HUD) But the real diagnostic monitor should be something like a touchpad and both the implant and the glasses should be connected to that.

This system would work well enough in First Person mode, but i'm not sure how well it would look/work in Third Person.

please excuse the poor quality of this mock up, but I thought visual aids would be better than mere descriptions. A picture says a thousand words after all.


You see here a view of Night City, through the eyes of our protaganist. Without any hardware, he would see nothing of the HUD overlay. However, our friend has invested in some Russian 'Cyber Eyes' on the black market. He has yet to get either a skill chip for Russian Language or get a firmware update for English. He does, however, have a targeting reticule, Smartlink, Nav-Comp and personal organiser installed. He also has a Bio-Monitor linked and his armour has been upgraded with a new integrity detector.

As we can see, his vitals are good, his armour is pristine, (for now,) and he has a full 15 rounds in his weapon, with 7 mags spare. To top it all off, he has 2 messeges and he is recieving a call from a withheld number.

Opinions?

Right. I've had a wee play around this evening and come up with a slightly better 'Arasaka' based HUD concept for you guys to muse over.
Health bar - The Heart and Dragon are the health bar. They slowly turn green, then yellow and on to red as health drops. once beow a set percentage, (chosen by the player,) they will begin to flash. Our frind is currently in perfet health.

Armour Guage - Each segment of the stylised suit of armour on the right turns green, then yellow and on to red as your armour takes damage. Eventualy, the segment will turn black when all protection is lost. This only works if your armour contains electro reactive mesh, making it compatable with armour diagnostic software. As you can see, one of our friends arms has sustained damage.

Ammo Counter - The counter next to the stylised handgun counts how many magazines of the current type are being carried, as well as individual rounds left in the loaded magazine. The weapon is currently holstered. This is why the targeting reticule is not present, but the interaction reticule is.

Minimap - It is currently minimised, in the top left corner.

Contact List - Our friend here was going to call his fixer, "Twister"; probably to see if he had sent him the junk mail cluttering his inbox. However, before he had a chance, a mystery caller, (using a withheld number,) has called him and he is currently deciding whether to answer or not.

Aside from that, the Arasaka Logo is in the bottom-middle of the display.

What alterations would you guys make to this? (Please bear in mind the idea we are currently working on is that the HUD would be modular, as different hardware upgrades provide different styles of readouts and differeent options.)

ChrisWebb made some awesome points about this, you should be able to fully customize your hud to make it fit your needs. (You can adjust it for your class, skill set or just to your personal preferences)

I think it would be nice, if HUD had a basic firmware and software (app) system, where you can install (and uninstall) things to your HUD. So you could go and install tiny legal upgrades that doesn't really work all that better. Or you could go and buy illegal HUD firmware and software upgrades to enhance your HUD system in order to make it work whole a lot better!...

This would be a great way to implement HUD elements in CP 2077. Imagine if your HUD is susceptible to being hacked, that would make for some interesting combat scenarios.

In planetside 2, EMP grenades make your vison fuzzy and you lose all HUD elements.

So, I really like the ideas which developed in this thread, and I am going to summarize them here:

- modular, customizable HUD
- hardware and software components, download or install components of HUD onto your favorite hardware.
- HUD components can be bought or sold
- illegal software availability, e.g. HUD which helps you find caches to loot.
- software available is specific to role or skill, e.g. "find the mark" for Solos.
- it's possible to completely remove HUD, both hardware and software, i.e. ability to toggle what you can or can't see, or play with zero HUD.

Also, HUD can either be an eye implant or glasses. (Eye implant mostly being the better option, but it has its down sides as well.) Many companies produce and sell these implants/glasses and each of them give different bonuses. For instance, Arasaka makes and sells HUD glasses, they mostly sell their products to military. But a civilian can buy a "toned down" version of the glasses. Which can be corrected by illegal software, which makes it even better than the military version. Kiroshi produces eye implants, it is a lot more expensive, but it is worth it. Since it can be modified to work with other implants. (Which can give extra bonuses to accuracy, perception and reflexes) And both glasses and the implants are connected to players in-game datapad. Also, HUD language can change depending on manufacturer, for instance, a hud bought from the Russian arms, will be Russian in language. You can change the language by updating the firmware or getting Russian language chip.

I'm certainly forgetting something... Oh well..

Well, I honestly think that if you don't have Cyber, and don't have at least Smartshades (sunglasses with cyberoptic options), then you shouldn't have an HUD at all... the way you know you have suffered damage is that your arm hangs limply to your side, or you walk with a limp, o you are hunched over trying to hold your intestines in your body...

In the pen and paper game, every time a wound is received a hit location is rolled. You take wounds in specific parts of the body. And those wounds have effects... the worse the wound, the more detrimental the effect. That is how you immerse someone in the game.

You could also swap glasses, so that you can seveal 'preset' HUD's for different tasks.

Well, under this modular HUD system, each set of goggles or shades would have it's own HUD setup. You could of course simply copy each one and give it seperate 'add-ons' like IR, UV, Thermal, Teleoptics, Micro-optics, etc...

Personally, I like the idea of being able to wear a standard set of shades for everyday wear, but swapping to a set of goggles with a completely different layout for a heavy firefight. I woudn't want the same utilities and having a different layout and colour would probably focus me more on the task at hand.

Very cool indeed..

 

[braindancer12]

May i remind everyone about our very cool Cyberpunk HUD idea?























Very cool indeed..

 

[chriswebb2020.736]

I watched a short film the other day and it made me think. Facial/ID recognition software, it should be present and available to the player for some tasks.

However, it shouldn't be 100% reliable. A target should be able to have fake IDs that a computer would not catch, but if your actually looking at someone you should have to manually spot that their ID doesn't match their face/gender/age,etc...