Health (game terminology)
In role-playing games, this typically takes the form of hit points (HP), a numerical attribute representing the health of a character or object.
Health can also be attributed to destructible elements of the game environment or inanimate objects such as vehicles and their individual parts.
[7][8] In game design, it is considered important to clearly show that the player's character (or other object that they control) is losing health.
As examples of visualizing health loss, Rogers cited Arthur of Ghosts 'n Goblins, who loses a piece of armor with each sustained hit, as well as the cars in the Grand Theft Auto series, in which smoke begins to flow from the hood after the car takes a significant amount of damage.
[11] The Fallout games use health points, but allow characters to inflict damage to different parts of the enemy's body, which affects gameplay.
In Assassin's Creed, if the protagonist takes too much damage, thus departing from the "correct" route, the game ends and returns the player to the nearest checkpoint.
[18] In role-playing video games, the player often can also restore a character's health by visiting a doctor or resting at an inn.
[26] A number of games incorporate a regeneration system that automatically replenishes health if the character does not take damage.
This makes the game easier to play by giving the player the opportunity to restore the character's health after a difficult battle.
AC is typically a representation of a character's physical defenses such as their ability to dodge attacks and their protective equipment.
Doom uses a character portrait located at the bottom of the screen as such an indicator, in addition to a numerical health percentage display.
[41] The player character's health point indicator often occupies a significant position in the game's heads-up display.
[43] In a number of first-person shooters, such as Call of Duty or Halo, the numerical value of the character's health points is hidden from the player.
Because players did not want to lose the characters they had become accustomed to, Arneson created a "hit point" system based on similar mechanics previously used in the wargames Don't Give Up the Ship and Ironclads.
[45] Some of the first home computer games to use hit points are Rogue (1980),[50] in which health is represented by a fraction,[51] and Dungeons of Daggorath (1982), which includes an audible heartbeat influenced by the player character's condition.
[57][58] Kung-Fu Master established health meters as a standard feature in side-scrolling action games such as beat 'em ups.
[58] Health meters also began being used to represent hit points in role-playing video games, starting with The Black Onyx (1984), developed by Bullet-Proof Software.
