HUD's and UI's

[Moonface]

What are your favourite HUD and/or UI designs in games? Do you prefer as little information on screen as possible, or do you want everything you need to know available to you at all times?

Best Customisation - Nier: Automata
For me this game has the best approach to HUD design out of any game I've seen. Every single part of the HUD is controlled by chips that you can remove at will, so not only can you customise every single part of the HUD, but you're almost encouraged to so that you can free up chip space for chips that will help you in combat. There's even a chip to determine if the HUD should ever fade out when you don't need to see certain information.

Most Integrated - Dead Space
The game has absolutely no HUD on screen, instead having all ammo, health, and stasis meters displayed on the weapons or Isaac's suit. Any time you open a menu to check your inventory, missions, logs, or anything else, your suit displays it as a hologram in front of you while the game world continues. While having time continue while browsing your inventory can be found in games like Minecraft, I've yet to find a game that made its HUD so integrated as Dead Space.
Fallout comes in a close second due to the PipBoy, but gameplay pauses when in use (at least in Fallout 4) and some elements such as health are also kept on screen at all times as overlays.

[lp0 on fire]

"most integrated HUDS" would be something like MechWarrior's FPS HUD/UI or XWing/TIE/XWing Vs TIE. Where the information is either given to you in "fighter pilot HUD helmet style" (MechWarrior) or in the ship's control panel (Xwing/TIE/Xwing Vs TIE).

If you want to and crank it up to 11, you have the flight sim community, where you have things like this:

[Moonface]

I think most games involving first person perspective inside a vehicle would have an easy way to integrate the HUD, so while neat I find Dead Space's approach to be far more impressive.

[Kyng]

I think it depends a bit on the game. If the game is action-packed and fast-paced, then I want to have as much information as possible displayed on the HUD. Fortunately, most of these games are fairly simple anyway (like Tetris or Pac-Man), so it isn't too much trouble to display all the information that the player needs. Even something a little more complex, like Crypt of the NecroDancer, does a good job of this: it has all the player's items, the lives, the coins and diamonds, the mini map, the beat, and the coin multiplier (a bonus for staying on beat). These are all things a player will often want to glance at during gameplay (with the exception of the beat, which you generally won't be looking directly at, but it *is* an integral part of the game!)

Two possible criticisms of this HUD are:

1) This layout doesn't say what the items actually do. This is fine for an experienced player who knows all the items, but not so much for newbies who are learning the game. The effects of the various items could probably be made clearer.
2) You need to pause the game to see whether or not your run is still eligible for "Low%" status. Yeah, that's the only other thing I could think of, and it's pretty minor .

On the other hand, if it's a slower-paced game (like a turn-based or a pausable real-time strategy game), then I'm fine with having only the important information on display, and the less important items can be tucked away in sub-menus or only shown on specific screens where they're relevant. As long as it's not like Civilization VI, whose HUD is about as navigable as the US tax code. Seriously, it has important stuff hidden inside sub-sub-screens, and unimportant stuff splattered around in no obvious pattern >_< .

[Moonface]

If the game is action-packed and fast-paced, then I want to have as much information as possible displayed on the HUD. 

I think for certain action packed games, a minimal HUD would be best so that your focus is kept on the action. For example Astebreed has characters speaking at the bottom of the screen and it's impossible to keep track of the dialogue.

[Kyng]

If the game is action-packed and fast-paced, then I want to have as much information as possible displayed on the HUD. 

I think for certain action packed games, a minimal HUD would be best so that your focus is kept on the action. For example Astebreed has characters speaking at the bottom of the screen and it's impossible to keep track of the dialogue.

Yeah, probably. Although, if the dialogue requires any sustained focus, then you'd hope there wouldn't be much action going on at the same time!