I've always loved the idea of videogames where you are still fully functional at 1 HP
Like, imagine you're at work, and Cheryl from accounting comes over to you holding an invoice all like "Hey, can you handle this?"
But when you take it from her she gets a tiny paper cut and then falls over dead.
@neatchee Honestly, I love when games have *some* consequence for getting yourself wounded too badly, even if its only borderline cosmetic.
I really appreciate details like Resident Evil protagonists walking slower and holding their stomach "wound" (even though they almost always get bit in the neck, but lets ignore that haha). It drives home the idea of "Okay I gotta pull myself together and not fuck up again until I can get some aid" and adds a sprinkle of tension.
@mezz Exactly this.
I think one of my favorite depictions of what I want it to feel like is from the pre-release - or maybe it was a retail box insert? - for the original Guild Wars. It was basically story/lore content where the act of healing was described as a strain on the caster and a life-or-death moment for the recipient.
Ever since then I've always found myself asking the questiosn "What does it mean to take damage? What does it mean to heal or be healed? And how can this be translated into player emotions instead of just a number on a stat sheet?"
@neatchee There's two main directions I can see damage be conceptualized.
There's the basic way of it just being a tracker for your "mistakes". Make too many mistakes, you die. Periodically the game "forgives" mistakes by giving you (instant) healing.
The other is where damage just happens as a difficult to avoid hazard, that brings with it new obstacles and are a thing you have to manage at all times, possibly even in the long term. Survival games with status effects like to do this a lot.
neatchee
Becky