Hardmode Boss Fight HUD

This is my design for the a hardmode boss fight HUD. I decided to go online and search for game screenshots. I found this and decided to create a HUD with no context or ideas about mechanics. I wanted to focus purely on the aesthetics of my design working with the aesthetics of the game. I included the key display elements:

Enemy Health Bar

The enemy health bar shows how much damage the boss has taken so far. I decided to match the colour of the bar to the monster's eyes as they are the brightest part of the screenshot. At a closer look, I noticed that the monster is scarred from previous victories. I used this as inspiration for little cuts that I took out of the health bar. I wanted the bar to be just as battle scarred as the monster. For the name, I found a random name generator ⁽¹⁾ online and chose a name that reflects the aesthetic of the boss.

Player Health

Hardmode is becoming a popular difficulty selection as players are looking to challenge themselves more often. In these more difficult playstyles, less information is available to the players in order to make them use their initiative and skills to overcome enemies rather than constantly using health potions to keep their stats maxxed. So how, without a health bar, do you indicate to a player that their health is low?

Many games use a blood spatter or red vignette to indicate damage without removing the challenge of hardmode. The players become aware that their health is decreasing without having a visual aid to refer to. I decided that this would be a great way of achieving my goal so I added both a vignette and blood spatter. The blood really added to the horror fantasy feel of the screenshot and I think it works very well in this setting.

References 

(1) Fantasy Name Generators. (2021). Monster Names. 
Available: https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/monster-names.php.
Last accessed 7th June 2021.