feature request - showing up as a # for low health

[Schroeder]

Important note, by #, i mean a number. Not a wall.

In Multiplayer Angband, they've added a really nice feature which really helps you to not die.
Once you have about 60% health or less, you start showing up as a #. 6 for 60%, 5 for 50% and so on, till 0 for nearly 0% health.

I have noticed that you get darker and darker red, the less health you have, but this helps a lot. Its even more noticeable, and I sometimes start to not care too much about being in red, since red is very unspecific.
I'll ask warrior or one of the other MAngband deves to comment about the feature if I can.

[takkaria]

Originally Posted by Schroeder

Important note, by #, i mean a number. Not a wall.

In Multiplayer Angband, they've added a really nice feature which really helps you to not die.
Once you have about 60% health or less, you start showing up as a #. 6 for 60%, 5 for 50% and so on, till 0 for nearly 0% health.

I have noticed that you get darker and darker red, the less health you have, but this helps a lot. Its even more noticeable, and I sometimes start to not care too much about being in red, since red is very unspecific.

Have you tried using the minimum hitpoint warning option? It seems like that achieves much the same thing.

[Warrior]

Well, this feature has been in MAngband for a very long time and I can confirm that it's been a real life saver for us.

It is probably especially powerful in MAngband since it's the only way to quickly identify wounded members of your party.

Much of the charm with roguelikes is that you get (usually) quite instant feedback on your play.

To simplify it: If you do something wrong, you die, if you do something right, you live!

As such, one of the most critical aspects of the game is being able to determine the correct response to the situation you are in.

In MAngband you'll often find that you need to do this quickly, a monster just appeared from out of nowhere (offscreen ) and is breathing at you.
If your eyes wander a little bit to the left you will see your hitpoints but you'll probably also die, so we needed an instant way of displaying the health of the character. The @ turning into a number is probably the best way we can provide player with the information he needs - when he needs it.

With Angband being a turn based game obviously this "instant" feedback is much less important, if the player "screws up" it's his own fault for not paying attention. (If we're gonna be cynical anyway )

So, whether this would be useful enough to consider it for Angband is a matter for someone far more experienced with Angband gameplay than I am, but this was a brief description of why it is a loved feature in MAngband anyway.