Best status bar

[wheresthebeef]

I just want Ammo for current weapon, Health/Armor, and any keys to display as just floating text, thats it.

So basically Doom 64

 

I like the art and design of cool huds like those sampled in this thread, but for gameplay I want it minimal.

[Blastfrog]

1 hour ago, Ancalagon said:

I am totally up for a no hud ironman run.

Doom is strangely not any more difficult without a HUD than with. Sure, you don't get to see your status, but if you really need to you can open the automap. Besides, as long as you don't take needless hits or waste ammo, you won't encounter any real problems.

[Erick]

TNT: Revilution's status bar is pretty nice, I like the blue text with the black background.

Edited January 14, 2018 by GuyNamedErick

[rehelekretep]

15 hours ago, Nine Inch Heels said:

Objectively best HUD:

same :p

[rehelekretep]

13 hours ago, Pirx said:

 

this. just 2 numbers with no classic status bar taking away from the image, quake live style. i find this best for concentrating on the game. the alternate prboom status bar is the opposite to this, at least to me, as it has lots of small numbers i struggle to read during the action.

heh this is funny - i think its what youre used to. i find the complete opposite!

[gaspe]

I always loved that Eternal Doom has its own Doomguy. The not aligned writings in the PL2 status bar are a really cool and simple touch.

 

Alien Vendetta:

 

Epic 2, I love that it doesn't have writings, though you might have troubles if you aren't familiar with the game:

 

Hell Ground, it's very simple actually but with stylish colors;

 

Equinox, this one is cool to see it animated in game, when you get hit parts of the body become red, the indicators change on how much health do you have:

 

Strain:

 

The Darkening 1/2:

 

I guess it's by Lainos? It was used in many wads he worked on (Sacrament, 5L1C, Deneb Colony, Urotsuki series...):

 

Community Chest series:

 

 

[valkiriforce]

This thread makes me wish I'd taken more time to think about making new status bars for some of the stuff I've put out there - Reverie was the only time I ever tried creating my own HUD, but I should definitely give it a shot again sometime.

[Memfis]

55 minutes ago, gaspe said:

I guess it's by Lainos? It was used in many wads he worked on (Sacrament, 5L1C, Deneb Colony, Urotsuki series...):

No, it's actually by lafoxxx.

[Lüt]

Eternal Doom was the first thing that came to mind when I saw this topic, as it was the first custom status bar I'd ever seen.

 

Looking through galileo's excellent collection though, I'm torn between Freedoom, Valiant and BTSX E1. Some, like Ancient Aliens, are perfect for their dedicated map set, but would not work very well as general purpose status bars. Similarly, ones with distinct themes would be great for similarly-themed mapsets, such as MM2's for a Hell-based mapset or The Darkening's for something Quake-influenced. PRCP's is great in its own right, but its design seems better suited toward other arcade-styled games of the era. Equinox definitely gets points for re-purposing Doomguy's face into a bodily damage diagram. There's a lot of great options.

 

If forced, I guess I'd go with Freedoom as the best general-purpose selection.

[Arctangent]

Y'know, I've never really thought about it before, but it's actually pretty interesting how projects like mapsets that are basically just "Doom, but more of it" bring their own alterations to the core aesthetic of Doom through stuff like status bar alterations and giving menu options new graphics. There's not really any good reason for it - after all, these sort of changes are mostly for the sake of giving the project its own feel, yet it's going to feel plenty like Doom anyway - yet it's a trend that's pretty common.

 

I think it mostly just comes down to "well this one early mapset did it and it looked slick as heck so let's add our own to make it seem extra polished."

[Archi]

PL2 statusbar is my favorite.

[GarrettChan]

Of course I'm used to my own design in PrBoom+, which @rehelekretep said I'm totally weird. Totally subjective. :D

 

If talking about normal HUD, I like the one in Ancient Aliens.

[rehelekretep]

yeah sorry bud me and @Nine Inch Heels have the objective best prboom hud setup ;)

[Archi]

But this thread is about statusbars, not custom huds.

[UglyStru]

Speed of Doom's is arguably the worst one in this thread. 

[Nine Inch Heels]

8 minutes ago, Archi said:

But this thread is about statusbars, not custom huds.

the objectively best status bar is one that doesn't hide the action from you by occupying valuable screen space. ;-)

[Tristan]

Which is also objectively not a bar.

[Uni]

I really like the Back to Saturn X status bar. Masterfully made.

[StalkerZHS]

I think the lost status bar from the 2013 demo of TNT2 Devilution is pretty freakin epic

 

Shame that Revilution got released and Devilution seems to be dead dust now...

[ukiro]

MM2 was amazing but Requiem is the pinnacle of custom status bars. Pixel art.

[Lila Feuer]

UAC Ultra is another one I really liked too, especially the numbers.

[galileo31dos01]

6 hours ago, StalkerZHS said:

This has to be in a wad.

Seriously.

For hell's sake. 

[Marcaek]

Devilution is not dead. Far from it.

[Tristan]

proofs or didn't happen :P

[Grazza]

With all due immodesty, I am going to claim my own OuchEtc as the greatest ever change to the status bar. Needs Vanilla, Chocolate or similar.

 

Here is the file:

dehstuff.zip

[Doomkid]

Equinox and Eternal have some of the best custom status bars ever. There's still a lot of excellent statbars missing from this thread though!

 

One of the oldest custom status bars I remember seeing, seemed to make its way into many many small-scale releases during the 90's. Love the sleek vibe to this day and have used it plenty myself:

 

Other classic status bars:

Cool variant from Dwango7.

 

Dwango5 status bar, classic as they come.

 

Sweet looking statbar from Vex-ZDaemon.

 

Badass statbar from BioWar featuring a crusty old man.

 

EXEC's simple yet effective bar. Love the extra blood!

 

Cool dark statbar from Brit10/11. Shades Doomguy ftw!

 

Area51's sleek statbar. Always liked the look of this one.

 

DCDwango. Not quite as cool as Area51, but I still like it.

 

I'll always love DROPDEAD's heavy blue bar.

 

Killer statbar from FetalDM6.

 

Another sweet one for FetalDM7.

 

Refined even further for GothicDM.

 

Christmas Doom has an oddly pleasing statbar.

 

Even DBZ Doom has a pretty awesome statbar! Well stylized.

 

 

Not from a Doom mod (duh) but Heretic's just has to get a mention for that awesome chain animation as you lose/gain health. It already looks sick but the chain just gives it that extra little touch of badass.

 

EDIT: Remembering even more cool status bars..

 

ObTic

 

Nimrod

 

TNT: Bloodlands

 

TNT: Reclamation

 

RTC

 

Mutiny

 

(..) the alternate prboom status bar is the opposite to this, at least to me, as it has lots of small numbers i struggle to read during the action.

Completely agree. It's the same reason vanilla Doom's statbar is my favorite in the heat of the action and why to this day I still deathmatch with the classic bar. Big red numbers on a plain grey background, but contained in a nice, non-obtrusive little bar at the bottom - very easy to see your vital stats instantly: Health, current ammo and frag count.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Doomkid

[Lüt]

32 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

Not from a Doom mod (duh) but Heretic's just has to get a mention for that awesome chain animation as you lose/gain health.

Hey, that huge spiral thing behind "E1M1" is definitely not the original E1M1. What are you playing?

[Doomkid]

2 minutes ago, Lüt said:

Hey, that huge spiral thing behind "E1M1" is definitely not the original E1M1. What are you playing?

Good eye! I just happened to have that screenshot on hand so I used it, what you're seeing is a bit of a deathmatch map by Fonze. Not sure if he ever released it, but it was really good.

[Memfis]

3 hours ago, Doomkid said:

One of the oldest custom status bars I remember seeing, seemed to make its way into many many small-scale releases during the 90's. Love the sleek vibe to this day and have used it plenty myself:

Btw it comes from Invasion. I think many people who used it didn't know that. :)

[Doomkid]

Thanks for the factoid Memfis, I've wondered for years where it originated!