Request:Constructive Criticism Regarding Interface

Hello all,

as you may have seen a short while ago I am putting together a simple game similar to one I made some time ago involving characters running around dimly lit 'dungeons' collecting treasure and killing monsters.

Below is a simple screenshot. As you may notice there is not much in the way of an 'HUD'.

I would like to only show a small amount of information on the HUD for each character/player in the game. This is the following:

1.Their score (as you can see it is zero so far)
2.Their health (the green squares above their avatar)
3.A portrait or other identifier linking these details to the players' avatars.

There are a small number of other messages/information which is displayed at times such as the effects of picking up items or treasure (ie "+1 Damage" "+1 Armour", "Level Complete", "Game Over") - these are displayed as floating text as needed.

I would like to hear from you how this small amount of information could be better presented, perhaps made to look more professional.

Thanks again.

Hello.

First off, I'd replace the woody background texture in the portraits with something else, it's not too good-looking. Perhaps just a weak gradient colour with a slight glow to highlight the characters (easily done in PSP, Gimp etc..). The font is in need of some anti-aliasing and maybe a slight bevel and/or shadow beneath it to take away the homemade look. It looks a bit large too. Why are the squares in two rows for two of the characters and just one for the guy on the right? How does it look when they get hurt? Do the squares go black or disappear or what? Not sure how I feel about the squares but it's hard to tell without knowing how they work.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: Oh, and the colours.. less is better IMO. Less saturation and less no# of colours if possible. Try turning down saturation on the portraits and give them all a little bit of a bluish hue (or purple or green or whatever you like). That usually helps to separate a HUD from what's going on behind it and makes it less distracting.

Thanks T-Rek - the squares disappear and also change color from green - yellow - red in proportion to how many are left - ie if there are only a small number left they are red, mostly healthy green and in between is yellow. The single row for one of the characters is a bug, it should not do that and I will have to get it fixed - it should be like the others, two rows - however it will be pretty easily fixed I think.

I'll play around with the saturation, replace the woody texture with something like a gradient, see how that looks. Thanks.