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TFTV Community HUD Proposal
posted in Customization
1
#1
0 Frags +

So, as Valve continues to release updates and ruin HUD elements, there are fewer and fewer HUD developers who are actually keeping their HUDs up to date. I am certainly a member of this group as I have not updated ZimHUD in over a year, with many other popular HUDs left ignored as well. Basically the result of this is fewer and fewer customization and HUD options which frankly sucks for everyone. This is certainly not to say that the HUDs available now are bad (shoutout to rays and omni and watterson and flatline and a bunch of you other guys I'm sorry if I forgot you), but the lack of options is. Because of this and my relatively flexible current schedule, I figured I would propose to allow members of the forum here to essentially build a HUD with me from the ground up. My idea was to simply present you all with a few mockups of possible designs and post a strawpoll and allow you to vote for your favorite design, which would then be implemented into the final product. If this is something that would interest you, please let me know on this thread. Also, if you have a better idea of how to accomplish this, let me know as well. If you think this is a terrible idea and you hate me, please feel free to let me know that, too. Thanks fellas <3

So, as Valve continues to release updates and ruin HUD elements, there are fewer and fewer HUD developers who are actually keeping their HUDs up to date. I am certainly a member of this group as I have not updated ZimHUD in over a year, with many other popular HUDs left ignored as well. Basically the result of this is fewer and fewer customization and HUD options which frankly sucks for everyone. This is certainly not to say that the HUDs available now are bad (shoutout to rays and omni and watterson and flatline and a bunch of you other guys I'm sorry if I forgot you), but the lack of options is. Because of this and my relatively flexible current schedule, I figured I would propose to allow members of the forum here to essentially build a HUD with me from the ground up. My idea was to simply present you all with a few mockups of possible designs and post a strawpoll and allow you to vote for your favorite design, which would then be implemented into the final product. If this is something that would interest you, please let me know on this thread. Also, if you have a better idea of how to accomplish this, let me know as well. If you think this is a terrible idea and you hate me, please feel free to let me know that, too. Thanks fellas <3
2
#2
2 Frags +

http://www.teamfortress.tv/thread/26750/new-hud-idea-request this would be a cool design

http://www.teamfortress.tv/thread/26750/new-hud-idea-request this would be a cool design
3
#3
2 Frags +

I would love to see a simple hud without any custom materials. Post your mockup!

I would love to see a simple hud without any custom materials. Post your mockup!
4
#4
1 Frags +

I cannot support this idea enough. Maybe stylistically similar to the TFTV spectator HUD but optimized (visually speaking) for gameplay rather than spectating? I would be so down for that I would switch from takyahud in a heartbeat.

I cannot support this idea enough. Maybe stylistically similar to the TFTV spectator HUD but optimized (visually speaking) for gameplay rather than spectating? I would be so down for that I would switch from takyahud in a heartbeat.
5
#5
1 Frags +

I can get behind this. I'd like to see the progression of what the potential outcome can be based off of what the community wants/likes.

I can get behind this. I'd like to see the progression of what the potential outcome can be based off of what the community wants/likes.
6
#6
0 Frags +

I totally agree when you say there is not too many huds to choose from, there never was before and right now there is even fewer huds. I know its a bit early to talk but I think that this would be a great idea.

Whenever I look for a hud I look at the heatlh and ammo buffed and low and then the main menu. Most huds offer the health and ammo option like in this picture

http://gyazo.com/dc282c31e17b9901fd4edff8ab1a9c4e

http://gyazo.com/dc282c31e17b9901fd4edff8ab1a9c4e wich is a bit too simplistic for me. The only other huds that do not offer that are rayshud and flathud and both huds have fantasic menus but rayshuds hp and ammo fonts are too big and flathuds are too small.
The only hud at the moment that has the perfect size and color for hp and ammo is m0rehud but the rest of the hud like the menus feel "incomplete" and outdated.

I totally agree when you say there is not too many huds to choose from, there never was before and right now there is even fewer huds. I know its a bit early to talk but I think that this would be a great idea.

Whenever I look for a hud I look at the heatlh and ammo buffed and low and then the main menu. Most huds offer the health and ammo option like in this picture [img]http://gyazo.com/dc282c31e17b9901fd4edff8ab1a9c4e[/img] http://gyazo.com/dc282c31e17b9901fd4edff8ab1a9c4e wich is a bit too simplistic for me. The only other huds that do not offer that are rayshud and flathud and both huds have fantasic menus but rayshuds hp and ammo fonts are too big and flathuds are too small.
The only hud at the moment that has the perfect size and color for hp and ammo is m0rehud but the rest of the hud like the menus feel "incomplete" and outdated.
7
#7
1 Frags +

I'm a big fan of yahud and knhud so something simplistic like that with a couple of functioning scoreboard choices would be excellent

I like square item borders
I assume this will have cross hair support
A nice main menu with a demoui button
Small pain markers
Included surfaceproperties.txt to make things better for the people that don't know it exists
Included guide for color customization and cross hair customization to make it more accessible to scrubs
Health cross behind numeric health that can be turned on and off
Medic ubercharge percentage under the crosshair
Outlines for health and ammo to make them more visible

I'm a big fan of yahud and knhud so something simplistic like that with a couple of functioning scoreboard choices would be excellent

I like square item borders
I assume this will have cross hair support
A nice main menu with a demoui button
Small pain markers
Included surfaceproperties.txt to make things better for the people that don't know it exists
Included guide for color customization and cross hair customization to make it more accessible to scrubs
Health cross behind numeric health that can be turned on and off
Medic ubercharge percentage under the crosshair
Outlines for health and ammo to make them more visible
8
#8
0 Frags +

Okay, well I wasn't all that great at explaining my intentions in the original post, but I guess I'll attribute that to the fact I wrote it at 4 AM. I appreciate your input so far, but the true goal of this is to literally build a HUD for/with you all step-by-step. To better illustrate, my first thought was to come up with a font to be used in the HUD. I think the best way to do this is to give you all 24ish hours to post a link to a font you like, and whichever has the most votes or +frags (I'll try to figure out the best way to do it, maybe take the top 3 or 4 results and move it to a strawpoll for a second round of voting) will be the font that is used. In addition to this, I was also going to ask whether or not you all wanted the HUD to use custom materials, so I guess you can vote on that here. Also, I was thinking about possibly streaming the creation of this HUD if you think that would be at all enjoyable. Thanks again and please share any input you have!

Okay, well I wasn't all that great at explaining my intentions in the original post, but I guess I'll attribute that to the fact I wrote it at 4 AM. I appreciate your input so far, but the true goal of this is to literally build a HUD for/with you all step-by-step. To better illustrate, my first thought was to come up with a font to be used in the HUD. I think the best way to do this is to give you all 24ish hours to post a link to a font you like, and whichever has the most votes or +frags (I'll try to figure out the best way to do it, maybe take the top 3 or 4 results and move it to a strawpoll for a second round of voting) will be the font that is used. In addition to this, I was also going to ask whether or not you all wanted the HUD to use custom materials, so I guess you can vote on that [url=http://strawpoll.me/4852872]here[/url]. Also, I was thinking about possibly streaming the creation of this HUD if you think that would be at all enjoyable. Thanks again and please share any input you have!
9
#9
1 Frags +

https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Russo+One

https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Russo+One
10
#10
8 Frags +

One idea I've been thinking about was a hud installer that mods the base files directly, so that it for the most part works after updates and has the potential to be incredibly customizable. Give options like font usage, health/ammo positioning, backgrounds or shadows, etc. to the user rather than the hud maker, you know? In a way just make an easy to edit hud system rather than a single custom hud.

I'll help out with this for sure, but I'm wondering if a hodgepodge of people's favorites in one hud with little/no customization will really fix the issue of not enough good huds. There are just way too many personal preferences that go into it to have just one hud, unless we're talking about including a ridiculous amount of customization options.

One idea I've been thinking about was a hud installer that mods the base files directly, so that it for the most part works after updates and has the potential to be incredibly customizable. Give options like font usage, health/ammo positioning, backgrounds or shadows, etc. to the user rather than the hud maker, you know? In a way just make an easy to edit hud system rather than a single custom hud.

I'll help out with this for sure, but I'm wondering if a hodgepodge of people's favorites in one hud with little/no customization will really fix the issue of not enough good huds. There are just way too many personal preferences that go into it to have just one hud, unless we're talking about including a ridiculous amount of customization options.
11
#11
0 Frags +

this sounds incredible and i can definitely get behind this idea.

this sounds incredible and i can definitely get behind this idea.
12
#12
1 Frags +
JarateKingOne idea I've been thinking about was a hud installer that mods the base files directly, so that it for the most part works after updates and has the potential to be incredibly customizable. Give options like font usage, health/ammo positioning, backgrounds or shadows, etc. to the user rather than the hud maker, you know? In a way just make an easy to edit hud system rather than a single custom hud.

I'll help out with this for sure, but I'm wondering if a hodgepodge of people's favorites in one hud with little/no customization will really fix the issue of not enough good huds. There are just way too many personal preferences that go into it to have just one hud, unless we're talking about including a ridiculous amount of customization options.

What would be cool if in this new community HUD, if the options that you had in PrismHUD could be implemented. Specifically I mean the ones where you had console commands that would reposition the main hud elements.

[quote=JarateKing]One idea I've been thinking about was a hud installer that mods the base files directly, so that it for the most part works after updates and has the potential to be incredibly customizable. Give options like font usage, health/ammo positioning, backgrounds or shadows, etc. to the user rather than the hud maker, you know? In a way just make an easy to edit hud system rather than a single custom hud.

I'll help out with this for sure, but I'm wondering if a hodgepodge of people's favorites in one hud with little/no customization will really fix the issue of not enough good huds. There are just way too many personal preferences that go into it to have just one hud, unless we're talking about including a ridiculous amount of customization options.[/quote]

What would be cool if in this new community HUD, if the options that you had in PrismHUD could be implemented. Specifically I mean the ones where you had console commands that would reposition the main hud elements.
13
#13
1 Frags +

This font would be cool.

http://www.dafont.com/neou.font?text=1234567890

This font would be cool.

http://www.dafont.com/neou.font?text=1234567890
14
#14
0 Frags +
JarateKingOne idea I've been thinking about was a hud installer that mods the base files directly, so that it for the most part works after updates and has the potential to be incredibly customizable. Give options like font usage, health/ammo positioning, backgrounds or shadows, etc. to the user rather than the hud maker, you know? In a way just make an easy to edit hud system rather than a single custom hud.

I'll help out with this for sure, but I'm wondering if a hodgepodge of people's favorites in one hud with little/no customization will really fix the issue of not enough good huds. There are just way too many personal preferences that go into it to have just one hud, unless we're talking about including a ridiculous amount of customization options.

MixHUD by tommy was one of the coolest things i've ever seen a hud creator do and is a similar idea to that except instead of modding the base hud with lots of choices its a custom hud with lots of choices. If you can do what you're saying that would be so good. One thing that i think would be a must is the option to chose any font on your pc as a hud font. see: ToonHUD for a great implementation of this.

[quote=JarateKing]One idea I've been thinking about was a hud installer that mods the base files directly, so that it for the most part works after updates and has the potential to be incredibly customizable. Give options like font usage, health/ammo positioning, backgrounds or shadows, etc. to the user rather than the hud maker, you know? In a way just make an easy to edit hud system rather than a single custom hud.

I'll help out with this for sure, but I'm wondering if a hodgepodge of people's favorites in one hud with little/no customization will really fix the issue of not enough good huds. There are just way too many personal preferences that go into it to have just one hud, unless we're talking about including a ridiculous amount of customization options.[/quote]


MixHUD by tommy was one of the coolest things i've ever seen a hud creator do and is a similar idea to that except instead of modding the base hud with lots of choices its a custom hud with lots of choices. If you can do what you're saying that would be so good. One thing that i think would be a must is the option to chose any font on your pc as a hud font. see: ToonHUD for a great implementation of this.
15
#15
0 Frags +

Make a transparent scoreboard, simple, yet easy to gather info quickly about my and other team info. I think if you could make something nice, clean and clear like the custom yahud evl tv uses, this would be me dream hud come true...here is an example https://youtu.be/QrC9WykBnUo

Make a transparent scoreboard, simple, yet easy to gather info quickly about my and other team info. I think if you could make something nice, clean and clear like the custom yahud evl tv uses, this would be me dream hud come true...here is an example https://youtu.be/QrC9WykBnUo
16
#16
0 Frags +
JarateKingOne idea I've been thinking about was a hud installer that mods the base files directly, so that it for the most part works after updates and has the potential to be incredibly customizable. Give options like font usage, health/ammo positioning, backgrounds or shadows, etc. to the user rather than the hud maker, you know? In a way just make an easy to edit hud system rather than a single custom hud.

I'll help out with this for sure, but I'm wondering if a hodgepodge of people's favorites in one hud with little/no customization will really fix the issue of not enough good huds. There are just way too many personal preferences that go into it to have just one hud, unless we're talking about including a ridiculous amount of customization options.

We need to make a common Hud modifier/updater (preferably huds.tf official program) that has Github support which allows specific 'line code' edits and compatible with other hud's modification rather than common hud. As for rephoria's opinion, all the players have different visual taste which I think you can't satisfy everyone with a single custom hud maybe except the default tf2 hud).

[quote=JarateKing]One idea I've been thinking about was a hud installer that mods the base files directly, so that it for the most part works after updates and has the potential to be incredibly customizable. Give options like font usage, health/ammo positioning, backgrounds or shadows, etc. to the user rather than the hud maker, you know? In a way just make an easy to edit hud system rather than a single custom hud.

I'll help out with this for sure, but I'm wondering if a hodgepodge of people's favorites in one hud with little/no customization will really fix the issue of not enough good huds. There are just way too many personal preferences that go into it to have just one hud, unless we're talking about including a ridiculous amount of customization options.[/quote]

We need to make a common Hud modifier/updater (preferably huds.tf official program) that has Github support which allows specific 'line code' edits and compatible with other hud's modification rather than common hud. As for rephoria's opinion, all the players have different visual taste which I think you can't satisfy everyone with a single custom hud maybe except the default tf2 hud).
17
#17
-1 Frags +

Quick update: broke my tailbone. Didn't forget about you guys. Hopefully I can get this thing started soon. Not many votes on the fonts, but here are the options to pick from. Here's the strawpoll

Neou
Russo
Roboto 2014
Century Gothic
League Spartan

Quick update: broke my tailbone. Didn't forget about you guys. Hopefully I can get this thing started soon. Not many votes on the fonts, but here are the options to pick from. Here's the [url=http://strawpoll.me/4886223]strawpoll[/url]

[url=http://www.dafont.com/neou.font?text=1234567890]Neou[/url]
[url=https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Russo+One]Russo[/url]
[url=http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/roboto-2014?q%255Bterm%255D=roboto&q%255Bsearch_check%255D=Y]Roboto 2014[/url]
[url=http://www.identifont.com/samples/monotype/CenturyGothicBold.gif]Century Gothic[/url]
[url=http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/league-spartan]League Spartan[/url]
18
#18
0 Frags +

https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Source+Sans+Pro
https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Acme
https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Kreon

And a vote against everything that doesn't have an open license

https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Source+Sans+Pro
https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Acme
https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Kreon

And a vote against everything that doesn't have an open license
19
#19
1 Frags +
nickleThis font would be cool.

http://www.dafont.com/neou.font?text=1234567890
tnmhttps://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Russo+OnerephoriaQuick update: broke my tailbone. Didn't forget about you guys. Hopefully I can get this thing started soon. Not many votes on the fonts, but here are the options to pick from. Here's the strawpoll

Neou
Russo
Roboto 2014
Century Gothic
League Spartan

I just personally want to say, that to me it looks like you're all going about debating over the fonts in the wrong way.

Good-Looking Fonts ≠ Fonts that are good in TF2.

After experimenting with at least 15 Fonts in my custom HUD (All in the course of a day), it took me about 5 fonts to realize that there are so many important aspects of a font that you can't judge its usefulness in TF2 by simply looking at it on a white background. What we need to do is actually implement the fonts into an absolutely basic HUD like broeselHUD so we can judge if it looks right with a basic menu, if the numbers are visible without directly looking at them (a characteristic of only certain, very good fonts), if they're legible, and if the spacing is right.

I think its a better plan to give an example of the fonts usage in a HUD so we can accurately judge it based on how practical it is rather than how good it looks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exo Bold 2: https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Exo+2

Screenshots (These are of Exo Bold V1, but the differences are near unnoticable without looking up close and Exo Bold 2 improves visibility and legibility at smaller text sizes):

Gameplay: http://i.imgur.com/8OpHNZa.jpg
Menu: http://i.imgur.com/oCqwKAf.jpg

Basically, its edgy enough to look futuristic, but not so edgy that its illegible.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right now, I it looks like ya_hud is the golden standard for TF2 HUDs today because of its simplicity, legibility, and darn good looks. To back that up, look how many ripoffs there are of it.

Random boxes, even transparent ones are frowned upon by lots of players that like minimalistic HUDs, and there are lots of them. Its not a good idea to go too wild and throw boxes all over the place like in Hudas Isacriote, despite how good-looking they may be.

I tried to get some opinions on things that should be included in HUDs listed here: http://www.teamfortress.tv/thread/26033/things-you-wish-you-saw-more-often-in-huds

The number 1 thing people wanted was better 4:3 support, so if there's a community hud we're gonna have to support all the resolutions and not just 16:9 which is the norm.

A more abstract concept that I've tried out and loved was keeping the top half of the screen open, since you usually don't find things on the ground, but there are "all sorts of things flying through the air." Some things you can consider moving are timers and the Killfeed, but it takes a while to adjust to, so its a debatable topic.

It seems like double shadows are a very subtle yet elegant thing that can be included. This way, you can have a stylish color, AND have a black shadow for improved visibility.

You can see it in Termo's edit of m0rehud here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7on3tTjqWG8

Another thing I think looks amazing but haven't tried out (because I don't know how to) is a circular health meter. I saw this in the "show off your hud edits" thread, when someone fixed one of colly's old huds. They had the health number at the same size as the big ammo number, but inside the circular health cross. I don't know how well this would go over with minimalists, but I think it looks fabulous. Maybe decreasing the text + ammo circle size would make it look more minimalistic.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pretty much sums up my opinions on HUDs in general. Congratulations if you survived reading the insane wall of text I have here.

[quote=nickle]This font would be cool.

http://www.dafont.com/neou.font?text=1234567890[/quote]

[quote=tnm]https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Russo+One[/quote]

[quote=rephoria]Quick update: broke my tailbone. Didn't forget about you guys. Hopefully I can get this thing started soon. Not many votes on the fonts, but here are the options to pick from. Here's the [url=http://strawpoll.me/4886223]strawpoll[/url]

[url=http://www.dafont.com/neou.font?text=1234567890]Neou[/url]
[url=https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Russo+One]Russo[/url]
[url=http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/roboto-2014?q%255Bterm%255D=roboto&q%255Bsearch_check%255D=Y]Roboto 2014[/url]
[url=http://www.identifont.com/samples/monotype/CenturyGothicBold.gif]Century Gothic[/url]
[url=http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/league-spartan]League Spartan[/url][/quote]

I just personally want to say, that to me it looks like you're all going about debating over the fonts in the wrong way.

Good-Looking Fonts ≠ Fonts that are good in TF2.

After experimenting with at least 15 Fonts in my custom HUD (All in the course of a day), it took me about 5 fonts to realize that there are so many important aspects of a font that you can't judge its usefulness in TF2 by simply looking at it on a white background. What we need to do is actually implement the fonts into an absolutely basic HUD like broeselHUD so we can judge if it looks right with a basic menu, if the numbers are visible without directly looking at them (a characteristic of only certain, very good fonts), if they're legible, and if the spacing is right.

I think its a better plan to give an example of the fonts usage in a HUD so we can accurately judge it based on how practical it is rather than how good it looks.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Exo Bold 2: https://www.google.com/fonts/specimen/Exo+2

Screenshots (These are of Exo Bold V1, but the differences are near unnoticable without looking up close and Exo Bold 2 improves visibility and legibility at smaller text sizes):

Gameplay: http://i.imgur.com/8OpHNZa.jpg
Menu: http://i.imgur.com/oCqwKAf.jpg

Basically, its edgy enough to look futuristic, but not so edgy that its illegible.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right now, I it looks like ya_hud is the golden standard for TF2 HUDs today because of its simplicity, legibility, and darn good looks. To back that up, look how many ripoffs there are of it.

Random boxes, even transparent ones are frowned upon by lots of players that like minimalistic HUDs, and there are lots of them. Its not a good idea to go too wild and throw boxes all over the place like in Hudas Isacriote, despite how good-looking they may be.

I tried to get some opinions on things that should be included in HUDs listed here: http://www.teamfortress.tv/thread/26033/things-you-wish-you-saw-more-often-in-huds

The number 1 thing people wanted was better 4:3 support, so if there's a community hud we're gonna have to support all the resolutions and not just 16:9 which is the norm.

A more abstract concept that I've tried out and loved was keeping the top half of the screen open, since you usually don't find things on the ground, but there are "all sorts of things flying through the air." Some things you can consider moving are timers and the Killfeed, but it takes a while to adjust to, so its a debatable topic.

It seems like double shadows are a very subtle yet elegant thing that can be included. This way, you can have a stylish color, AND have a black shadow for improved visibility.

You can see it in Termo's edit of m0rehud here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7on3tTjqWG8


Another thing I think looks amazing but haven't tried out (because I don't know how to) is a circular health meter. I saw this in the "show off your hud edits" thread, when someone fixed one of colly's old huds. They had the health number at the same size as the big ammo number, but inside the circular health cross. I don't know how well this would go over with minimalists, but I think it looks fabulous. Maybe decreasing the text + ammo circle size would make it look more minimalistic.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pretty much sums up my opinions on HUDs in general. Congratulations if you survived reading the insane wall of text I have here.
20
#20
4 Frags +

If you're making a updater/installer, just include like 10 good fonts, and let us choose which to use, there will be a whole lot less of a hassle

If you're making a updater/installer, just include like 10 good fonts, and let us choose which to use, there will be a whole lot less of a hassle
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