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• 1 2023-12-08T15:46:02+00:00 HUDs and Overlays 7 (Reid Jaeger) plain 2023-12-09T02:47:15+00:00

       A common immersion braking aspect of video games is the overlay or HUD. These are things that exist for the benefit of the player in order to make playing the game more practical. An overlay can consist of many different elements. These could include crosshares, minimaps, tooltips, and more. All of the information is helpful for the player and creates a smoother gaming experience. However, it also comes with a major drawback. The existence of an overlay creates a disconnect between player and character knowledge. This ruins the pretense of the player being the character and cements the idea that the player is merely controlling them.

  
       The creator of The Spectrum Retreat recognized this issue and attempted to mitigate this. The attemots to do so follow the logic of the text, "Adventure Games: Playing the Outsider," which states that "...An emphasis on immersion is a more immediate touchstone between adventure games and walking sims. Games in both styles tend to share an “empty” UI..." (Reed, Et. Al. 119). As a part of this process, when possible instructions are delivered to the player through the character’s phone. This can be observed in the above image. That image shows an alert that might otherwise be an immersion breaking popup become part of the world. In cases where such integration is impossible, the UI is as unobtrusive as possible. There is a centering dot to make movement and aiming practical and pleasant, but it is small and does not stand out. Occasional tooltips will appear, but only when hovering over key items/objects. Other than those two overlay items, there is essentially no UI overlay. An example of these tooltips is pictured below. Note how bland and unobtrusive the font is. This is clearly intended to be subtle. It is informative but not distracting.
       The developers of Tacoma also recognized the overlay issue. However, unlike Dan Smith, Fulbright does not attempt to solve this issue by reducing the UI and making it unobtrusive. Fulbright instead sought to do the opposite by fleshing the UI out and integrating it into the world of Tacoma. In the game, the HUD is experienced by both the player and the character. The HUD is explained in game as an AR device used on the space station. This explanation “degamifies” the HUD, turning it from something that takes one out of the game world, and turns it into something that pulls the player further in.  Tacoma is not the only game to do this. Metroid Prime, for example, frames its overlay as being a feature of the character’s helmet. However, this idea if in universe integration for UIs is particularly well executed by Tacoma. Holographic interfaces matching the UI of the game are used by other characters. Every time another character activates their holograms, it cements within the player’s mind that this is not a game UI, but an aspect of the world they are exploring. Below is an image of another character using a holographic interface that mimics the HUD.