How Health Should Be Done In Videogames?

I've been meaning to create this thread for a while and now that we've heard the news on CoD not going with regenerating health, I think it's the right time to have a swing at this topic.

Watch this first:

Personally, I'm not a fan of regenerating health, it seems like a lazy way to deal with the matter, it's not interesting and adds nothing profoundly challenging to the gameplay, and we've had a lotta action games going with the system that's become kinda boring for me.

I love the way the latest Doom did it, encouraging you to play differently depending on how much health you've got left, adding a sorta risk and reward mechanic to the gameplay. Overall, I crave getting health by attacking enemies, it invites an aggressive playstyle which is my favorite.

Obviously, different games require a different take, but I hope we get to see more creativity in this department with the upcoming games.

Btw, mention the games which you think have nailed this.

Like Resistance does or FarCry

I prefer resource based regeneration. (Materials in the world/potions/spells) For me that keeps the world more interesting. (Then again I like crafting an farming in games so that could just be me.)

I quite like the fact there are a few different way to approach health in games and different games can have different health mechanics.

Whether it's regen health or picking up a magic red cross box neither way is realistic or better than the other in my opinion.

I've never thought to myself 'hmm this game is boring because if the way the heath has been designed'.

Depends entirely on the game. Vanquish for instance has regenerating health, but it's a deeper game mechanically than any tps in terms of what it allows in its possibility space, and everything from its enemies, to the weapons they have, to how hard they hit is built around the fact that you have regenerating health.

Regen health was never really the problem, as much as it became one because all these FPS started playing the same, and it became more an excuse to keep the player to play conservatively than aggressively. Doom in practice still has a quick regen health when you think about it, it's really not likely that you will spend a shit ton of time in that game with low health like you could in OG Doom or older FPS games. They just made the regeneration a thing you had to earn through more aggressive play (by being more in the action, and needing to rip n tear). Fundamentally the likely hood of you spending a lot of time nursing a weak health bar are highly unlikely from what I've played of Doom 4, they just took the concept of regen health and made it something that was a reward for the player playing well, as opposed to a crutch that offsets the balance of the game.

Regen health made sense for Halo, it made sense for the type of game Bungie wanted to make out of Halo multiplayer. Albeit, yeah, the first game (arguably the only campaign I really like, but I might replay Halo 3) had sort of this tweener health system, but with a regenerating shield.

More often games have just been balanced poorly, a lot of these regen health games have decided on top of your low health pool (because your health pool is usually low)+the enemies have hitscan weapons,+all the very specific cover on the field+the sheer quantity of enemies thrown at you: force you to play less aggressively, and instead tank the system. Knowing that they don't have regen health, so as a result you can dish more damage if you play cautiously enough. Halo this wasn't really an issue, because it didn't throw as many enemies at you for one, and more importantly the covies didn't use hitscan weapons. They used projectiles, so you had more breathing room, and more room for error to eat up some shoots or even avoid getting rekt (albeit yes in the case of Halo on legendary automatic weapons are super doo-doo). Throw in the elites having a nice bob n weave, and Halo's overall play had a bit more of a dynamic flair by comparison to all the regen health shooters we've had since.

Like every element of a game, ever, it's not a bad mechanic. It's not necessarily a good mechanic, and on balance I like a proper health bar with potential for long term effect. But when used correctly it can be a logical part of the game design. Halo 2's multiplayer was excellent in 2004, and it would be excellent today. Vanquish is Resident Evil 4 not existing from being my favorite third person shooter. I'm sure there is another game that has really good gameplay with regen health.

The larger point of that video, and any time people are groaning about a mechanic, is that this medium needs to cut it out with the me 2 syndrome. Being different from each other is your real advantage, if you all have the same mechanics, of course I'm going to get tired.

Just like "linear games" weren't really the problem, it was shallow games that also happen to be linear to boot was our problem.

Everyone seems to be praising DOOM's health system but seriously, there is like an abundance of health in that game. If you are high health, mid health or low health, it really makes no difference... just do a melee attack and you get it back.

Med kits have their disadvantages, but I think regen health has way more disadvantages. Like sitting behind cover for half of the game.

I like how Wolfenstein: The New Order did it: just putting a dozen helmets of dead German soldiers on my head, that should protect me, right ?

I also like how a game like Sniper: Ghost Warrior let's YOU decide how you start a mission: how much ammo you craft or buy, how many medkits you take along. Like: let the player decide for himself how he is gonna tackle the mission. You expect heavy resistance ? Better bring some armor and medkits :)

Depends on the game to be honest. I personally prefer health pickups. Changes the way you approach every situation.

Never understand why some people deem this shit fun. It's especially obnoxious when screen effects are applied usually devolving into wack-a-mole.

Not much of a fan of the melee thing either, desperately avoiding projectiles/enemy-contact while hunting the immediate environment adds bursts of urgency. In the cool down moments after an arena fight, finding that sweet secret, going from 5% to 150% is always gratifying.

It's even worse when trying to play Call of Duty on higher difficulties.

Enemies have layer sight and as soon as you dare leave your cover... you'll last for about 5 seconds. So on harder difficulties 95% of the time is spent sitting behind cover or watching a bloody screen.

One of the major advantages of (most, if not all) health pack games: NO BLOODY SCREEN !!! Thank god !

same here. I lean away from health regen and think it takes some contextual significance away from from areas in some games - but it does depend on the game. In some games the focus and flow simply works with regen

This. One system is not better than then other. It all depends on the game design.

Edit: My main beef with most games that have regen is the the screen handicap. I blame Gears for this nonsense. Don't bloody up my screen when I am low on health, I need to freaking see what I am doing damnit.

In single player shooters I prefer a segmented health bar where each segment regens. The new Doom game also handled health refills brilliantly by incorporating it into the combat and forcing you to get in close to enemies. Games where you have to hunt down a health pack like OG Doom is lame and just isn't fun in 2017

I concur, its worse than hiding behind a wall waiting for your health to regen.

I like the way Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 deal with health. Auto-regeneration is limited to one health unit. Plus, it regenerates slowly. Self-healing (up to 3 health units at a time?) can be done by leveling up. Only med kits can restore full health. The med kits can be bought or made via green-leaf aloe plants.

Even with all the above, they don't last long if you like frontal assaults because of the massive damage the bad guys can do. Being chased by a pesky (and persistent) machine gun jeep in Far Cry 3 often forced me to use up all 12 med kits in less than a minute. Of course, by that point, the vehicle I'm driving would be in flames and ready to explode.

This is bullshit as well, not really any skill involved, just stagnate, then go. Rinse and repeat.

With older projectile games like Doom and MDK the flow generally isn't interrupted, the player moves at about the same speed as projectiles. You're both dodging and searching, mitigating your health loss until it's appropriate to go on the offensive.

As opposed to -

Sit.

It would be nice to see some realism in games. If for example you get shot in the back in an FPS, you should spend the next 6 months recovering and undergoing intense physio, and then go back and attempt the same level in a wheelchair.

Thats the realism I am looking forward to. :P

Depends on the game and genre. To take another, totally different genre: Sonic for example made it pretty clever with it's rings. The more you get, the bigger your chances of taking another blow. Get enough and you get a live (or can transform into a timed god mode). It gives you a reason to collect them and gives you a bad feeling when you run out of them (Sonic 2 endboss anyone?)

Agreed.

Haven't played the two games you mentioned (Halo and Vanquish), hopefully I'll get into Vanquish once it gets released on PC

Doom has that little twist of getting health from enemies which makes a big difference, now tbh I have only played the first 2 hours so I can't really say I agree with you on the "abundance of health"

And I'm in line with you on the whole sitting behind cover thing, it just breaks the flow of the game

Haven't played that game but it sounds promising.

True that, the little change on the regen system makes a big difference, I liked the way FC games handle it and I love the animation they've set for it.

lmao

That sounds interesting and creative.

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 doesn't hold your hand, so yeah I get why reviewers would dislike it so much :P

Loading times on PC are long at times, but nowhere near the 5 minutes of the PS4 version that was reviewed (more like 1 to at most 2 minutes from an HDD)

Oh man, experiencing DOOM for the first time is so sweet !

I got goosebumps everytime this music kicked in:

Yeah, the music is simply the best in recent memory, not just the tracks themselves but how they've been implemented, watch this video:

Depends on the game. Regenerating health fit Halo 2 and 3 extremely well since the games were completely crafted around the principle of "30 seconds of fun". Every level and encounter was designed for the moment and the two weapon limit didn't allow for you to prepare for later in the level. It was a great addition to the Halo franchise.

I'll agree with @jg4xchamp that it wasn't regenerating health that was the problem, it was how every FPS was starting to play the same. CoD 2 and 4 were fantastically paced games that have wonderful campaigns even with their regenerating health. However those games would probably had been just as great with the original CoD style health pickups since enemies were so numerous and you moved through the levels at a pretty good pace with lots of CQC fights. The point is those were well designed games, just like Halo 2 and 3.

Game designers and the creative directors are responsible for how the game plays overall. It's not just good enough to say "every other game out there is doing this so we should too". That's a horrible way of developing games. Gamers don't care about individual mechanics like regenerating health, they care about the whole package. A lot of FPSs that gave health regen a bad name were simply poor games all around. They tried to emulate the gameplay style of other games without having the same creative minds or talents to pull it off. They were making games that their team wasn't suited for making.

There is no one way health should be done in a game. In the end it should all depend on how you want your game to play. Games like Halo and those earlier CoD games where the encounters were well crafted utilized health regen right. A game like Stalker is correct in using a health pickup system with limited supplies. Some games combine health regen and health pickups well. It really doesn't matter what they use as long as the end result is a fun game.

CoD WWII is getting rid of the health regen because they want the gameplay to match the atmosphere of their story. Nothing says "gritty and dark WWII experience" like a dude running into the middle of 30 germans with his gun blazing every single firefight like he's WWII Rambo. They are ditching that system because it allows people to play more aggressively without consequences. They don't want death to be taken as lightly by the player and want you to feel more excitement and anxiety trying to survive during the firefights rather than just rambo it up every 30 seconds in between health regens. I really dig that the game's designers recognized the problem with CoD's gameplay in context of a gritty WWII setting and addressed it. This is a great example of them designing the health system around their game.

I believe they also said during that behind the scenes video that they wanted the story to focus on your squadmates. So this also reinforces the story element of depending on your squad mates to survive. It's a double whammy win for the game that I think will make the campaign more enjoyable.

there isnt a one way fits all answer here. it really depends on the overall game design and approach. they all work. they all have a place.

for halo the regen system made sense (though i prefer the system in halo 1 where there were shields but also health and it was shown). what about gears? it did cause a bit too much just duck and cover. but then maybe thats an AI problem. maybe it wasnt good enough at trying to flush the player out and keeping the pressure on.

i think one of the big reasons the regen system was brought in in the first place was to remove the scenario where the player could come out of one fight with 2 health left, there are no health packs and it makes the next fight nigh on impossible. or the player had to treck back over a large map to find some health packs (which is not fun). the old health pack system is arguably more suited to competative FPSs rather than SP campaigns.

the doom system (which i think takes its cue from space marine) is well suited in both cases. you cannot cower behind walls and you will not regenerate. you have to be aggressive. it promotes the player actively engaging the enemy at all times with a more aggressive play style. but its not suitable for all games (space marine also had an annoying bug in the setup which was never fixed). if you are trying to make a FPS set in WW2 where its all about duck and cover and pick your targets then its not the right system really i dont think.

if its an RPG then regional damage can make more sense (like desu ex). arm is messed up? effects your aim and gun skills. leg messed up? jump is gone and you move slower. makes sense for a game like that. not so much for quake 3.

so yeah there isnt 1 correct way to do it.

For SP, using resources to restore health is my preference, though my favorite systems have been a combination of both (see: Halo: CE & Halo: Reach, Resistance FoM). I'm not as keen on the dual approach, however, when it's health & armor management like it is in Wolfenstein: TNO, DOOM, and Half-Life 2.

For MP, assuming it's not a class-based shooter, regenerative health is far more enjoyable.

Never have really liked regenerating health, unless the protagonist is a machine/robot/troll etc with nanomachines or something that could regenerate him/her without breaking immersion. Or has some lore based reason for WHY he/she can regenerate.

On a regular old human, or even a human with a prosthetic arm (looking at you Venom snake), it's seriously immersion breaking to get shot 15 times, be bleeding to death, but be perfectly ok after just laying down in the bushes for a 30 second breather. This strategy doesn't work for being drunk, so it shouldn't work for being shot.

Games like anything are a complex systems of interconnected mechanics.

Problem with health regeneration is that most games merely copied other games. While not understanding WHY those mechanics worked in those other games. So you ended up with a very shallow implementation. Halo, and yes, Vanquish btoh had excellent health systems, despite using regeneration. A mechanic I normally strongly dislike these days.

Dwarf Fortress probably has the most detailed and realistic health system found in any game. But it would be incredibly out of place in something like Vanquish where it would slow down the game massively. And simply needs too much information to be properly understood, information that would distract the player from the rest of the game.

As far as 'realistic' type military shooters go, I like the way tactical shooters do it...

..either no way to regain health at all (although you might have a squad in these type games so losing 1 guy might not necessarily mean 'game over')

..possibly having a medkit/bangages or something from the start of the mission that might have a certain amount of usages where you would have to go into your inventory to use it, which might trigger an animation or something that would take a little bit of time, making you extremely vulnerable.

...some type of system with a medic that you would have to call over/find.

Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay was my favourite. Regenerating chunks rather than a whole bar.

I absolutely agree with the video. In Doom, healing felt "juicy".

lol yeah, this fits better and I'm glad they've decided to not go with regen, now it remains to be seen how they've executed it and how well the story and pacing are, I'm itching for a solid WW II campaign

Nice categorization.

Maybe my memory is not serving me well, but this is the first time i'm hearing about that and sounds so interesting, unfortunatly haven't played the first Deus Ex, what other games have utilized "regional damage" ?

Fallout comes to mind.

I don't see anything wrong with how games do it these days. I feel like it's pretty varied from game to game.

Just don't go back to looking for medpacks on the effing floor.

@funsohng: He meant the player, but as far as I know, regional damage in Fallout series is restricted to enemies, not yourself, amiright?

I remember not being able to run after some enemy shot me in the leg and got a crit, so....

Also pretty much every serious mech game should have similar kind of damage mechanic.

Oh that's awesome, are all Fallout games like that?

Yeah I guess it'd create interesting scenarioes