...... Or, the better idea, when looking at the turret up close, as to reload, show a small status output of the turret's damage level (%?) and weapons inventory (% or #?).
Ok, I like this idea, as it sort of touches on a pet peeve of mine. And it's something I've been thinking about lately about how we should handle it.
You see, I myself am not a fan of big, huge, take-my-whole-screen HUDs that hide the game I came to play. While I agree with you, that turret info is nice, I simply want us to do it so that's it's not in the way.
Now, in UT, when you looked at your teammates, you got their name and health below your crosshairs. And since we like to try and 'blend' into original game when possible, it was a natural fit when a team member suggested we add some turret info there in the same manner. And so we did, and life was good.
But...., here comes UT2003, and it's shoulder lamps and yellow triangles. Arrgghh! Personally, I hate those things. To me, they ruin the beauty of some of these new maps and stuff. Looking out over some great terrain, and instead of the 'natural' view of my teammates gettin' it on towards the enemy, I've got these yellow triangles and names all over the place.
My point is that in this case, I will lobby for us not to match the original game like we did last time. I really don't want to see lamps and triangles over my turrets. ( I don't want them over the players either, see my thread here entitled 'Stop the Pain!', hehe )
So, back to your actual post. For these reasons, I agree that your 2nd idea, of putting the turrets health and ammo indicators right on the turret itself, is the better one. If it can be done, it's got my vote as of now.
I would still want the turrets to be team colored of course, so I know it's safe to approach, but this way I would have to actually come out from behind my hiding spot to go and check it's ammo count. That would be neat I think.
Long post? Perhaps. I just think the HUD is important, and that it deserves some thought.
Keep up the great work guys!
Thank's man, very cool of you to say.