Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 15.3
Singh's scanner wear HUD from “Inland: Search for the Sy.” This HUD was part of the hunt-based
game in Second Life and gave clues to the wearer about the game's back story.
with the capacity to push other avatars, deform them, create dazzling lashes of particles, and listen in on chat
conversations half a sim away. Often complex, these HUDs can take up lots of screen real estate, and they
may cause lag as well. These are not the kinds of HUDs you want to wear while teleporting.
15.2.4 g
ames
The game HUDs can provide the player/avatar with game components, give them special powers, and let
them access other game-related qualities or objects. Sometimes, you will have to wear one just to stay
alive. For “Inland: Search for the Sy,” a game environment that Alchemy Sims built in 2010, there was
a special HUD to help guide the players. In Figure 15.3, you can see how they used a full-screen HUD.
These “scanner glasses” showed a series of slide images depicting what the missing owner (Dr. Singh) had
seen just before he vanished in the game backstory and provided various clues about the game to anyone
who recovered them.
15.2.5
i
nViTaTions
, a
nnounCemenTs
,
and
T
our
g
uides
The art and performance communities in virtual worlds utilize HUDs in several interesting ways. Often, for
their shows, artists will send out invitations and announcements that take the form of HUDs. Once attached
to the invitees screen, these HUDs will deliver a nice display about the event. Landmark-giving scripts can
be added to these HUDs to give the invitee direct access to the exhibit or the opening party as shown in
