Health-based portrait

A comparison of Doomguy portraits from healthy to badly wounded over a Doom gameplay screen.Portrait at high healthSevere facial injuries
Doom (1993)Doomguy’s face at different health levels
  1. Portrait at high health
  2. Severe facial injuries
© id Software; image via GameMechanics.org · Source ↗

The hero’s face changes as health is lost. Increasing injury turns the portrait into an expressive status indicator.

Design tips

  • Retain a numeric or another precise health indicator.
  • Make stages distinguishable without relying on color alone.

Examples