Tiny HUD Tweak to Weight

[Uriel]

Smallest tweak suggestion ever:

I get that the idea of the HUD is to vague-ify everything, because it's true --- we can't really tell precisely how cold or how calorie-deficient we are.  So from that perspective, it makes design sense to have a little weight in the corner just to say "heavy".  Or "mega-heavy", if it's red.

But since we can get the precise encumbrance numbers after a couple of pressed buttons, it really just becomes an inconvenient conceit to suggest that we can't tell how much weight we're carrying; that once we've looted that locker all we know was "heavy before, still heavy now".  We know how much weight we're carrying to the decagram.  The HUD is just not making that information easily accessible.  I'm constantly looking in the top left of the screen for a number that isn't there.

Now, I get the number-free conceit --- I can get a more detailed calorie count from the inventory screen, too, but there's been a design choice not to make it available without effort; not to clutter a post-digital ambiance with digits.  But then shouldn't we at least make the weight icon "fillable" in the same way the hunger and thirst icons are "empti-able"?  (Over time, of course, the weight would "fill" from exhaustion even though we haven't added any weight.)

Weight is sensory information just like exhaustion and thirst.  It seems to me the "how do I feel button" should provide that information.  I can tell at a glance, "oop, I'm hungry, better eat".  I can't tell at a glance, "oop, my back is killing me, better not lift that carcass".  Seems like an easy fix?

[Miniwizard]

I like the idea - if I get your concept correctly. I presume you mean to 'fill' the icon as a percentage of carried weight / current max (after any exhaustion modifier)

+1

 

On the subject of 'weight' within the other UIs, I have noticed from many different 'Let's Play' series' on YouTube, that people are constantly mistakingly looking at the weight on the container rather than the weight currently carried. Many even eventually notice this mistake (whether by themselves or from comments posted)

Perhaps the player's inventory weight needs to be made somewhat more prominent on the inventory/container screen?

[Carbon]

 I may be wrong, but when picking up an item, the player 'looks' at it for a moment (as if examining it); at this point, one's total weight comes up in the bottom left, giving you a hard number of your current weight. Not quite the same as what the OP is describing, but there is an clear indication of one's weight when picking up items. Most people just double click and pick things up; they don't pause long enough to see the backpack's current weight come up.