Dang it, Jones! Where Doesn’t It Hurt?
For all this combat to mean anything, the player must have something to lose. That means health and lives.
To calculate the player’s starting health, I suggest calculating in terms of the maximum damage the player can take. For example, at the beginning of the game, your hero can take 20 hits from enemies before losing a life and without replenishing health. Next, determine how much damage an average enemy’s attack does. In this example, a normal hit will cause 10 hit points of damage. That means the player’s starting health should be 10 × 20 hit points = 200 health.
There are many ways to represent losing that health to the player. Numbers are simple and transparent but boring. They stand out against cluttered HUDs, like those found in MMOs and RPGs. Just keep the font legible.
A health bar doesn’t take much space running along the top or side of the screen. It can be framed with themed artwork to make it...