[PATCH] Tactical health bar changes color based on health

[magelike]

Patched against b34 as usual - UPDATE: Added Mithril's suggestion

Patch: http://pastebin.com/GcbL2bSS

This patch changes the behavior of actors' health bars (the ones that appear on the map, not the status pane) as follows:

Full Health/Mana/Stamina/Psi = Health bar is blue
Greater than 85% health = Health bar is green (like it is currently)
Greater than 60% health = Health bar is yellow
Greater than 35% health = Health bar is orange
Greater than 0% health = Health bar is red

Especially since health bars are often obscured by tactical borders or the actor's graphic, this patch allows players an immediate and much clearer understanding of how close they and their targets are to dying.

[Grey]

I'd personally prefer the limits to be 0/25/50/75. 35 and 85 are odd numbers to think about, whilst "half dead" or "quarter dead" are much simpler.

[Mithril]

A special color just for the player when 100% rested would be nice. This is order to quickly see when resting is needed. This would include not only having 100% health but also having 100% stamina and so on.

[magelike]

I'd personally prefer the limits to be 0/25/50/75. 35 and 85 are odd numbers to think about, whilst "half dead" or "quarter dead" are much simpler.

I tried that, but due to the way health bars are drawn on the player, you almost can't see when you go red at 25% health. Also, a green bar at 76% health is a little bit deceptive, because that implies (close to) perfect health in the new system. I found it to be much more intuitive with the way it is currently.

[magelike]

A special color just for the player when 100% rested would be nice. This is order to quickly see when resting is needed. This would include not only having 100% health but also having 100% stamina and so on.

I like that. Maybe your health bar takes on some sort of blue color when all of the resources you regenerate by resting are at full capacity.

[magelike]

Added your suggestion, Mithril. Now when a party member's health and his applicable mana/stamina/psi bars are full, his health bar will turn blue.

[bricks]

I tried that, but due to the way health bars are drawn on the player, you almost can't see when you go red at 25% health. Also, a green bar at 76% health is a little bit deceptive, because that implies (close to) perfect health in the new system. I found it to be much more intuitive with the way it is currently.

Perhaps a supplementary patch for drawing the health bars over the tactical borders? Except at very high tile sizes the health bars are already pretty much invisible.

[Mithril]

I tried that, but due to the way health bars are drawn on the player, you almost can't see when you go red at 25% health. Also, a green bar at 76% health is a little bit deceptive, because that implies (close to) perfect health in the new system. I found it to be much more intuitive with the way it is currently.

Perhaps a supplementary patch for drawing the health bars over the tactical borders? Except at very high tile sizes the health bars are already pretty much invisible.

The tactical borders take up a lot of real estate space at least when using tiles. Their main function is to indicate hostility or not? Maybe this could be achieved in way that takes up less space.

Drawing the health bar over the tactical borders seems like a good idea.