Statusbars [C+C]

[astraldata]

I've been messing with these for far too long trying to come up with a good style and arrangement that I'm pleased with, so I'm looking for opinions of this. Fyi, the playable screen size will be 1024x640. I'm also having trouble coming up with something I can use for the icons representing lives (the little red dots currently). Generic is okay, I just can't think of anything cooler at that scale.

Not looking to put the player's icon/face/weapon there or anything like that in, but I am concerned that the floating 3 dots will look too separated in style from the rest of the hud design (though not sure if this is a bad thing since it doesn't appear to clash and seems to add a little contrast to the design -- thoughts??)

EDIT:
Forgot to mention the HP/SP meters will be able to increase in size from the default (though, not by much). And the length of the bars isn't set in stone. Also, I'm going for simple/clean/functional, so I'm not looking to adorn the bar with too much flair/artistry since these are going into a fighting game and need to be practical/functional with people coming at you from all sides.

[PixelPiledriver]

Can you post a full screen shot with in game placement?
Will be easier to crit that way.

[astraldata]

Sorry but I cant provide a screenshot because I'm still sorting out the specific look and feel of the in-game visual elements atm. If it helps, the statusbar will ultimately be positioned in the upper-left hand corner of a 1024x640 screen at a 1:1 pixel scale (with some fairly decent space around the edges of the screen to allow for some sort of arrow moving around and pointing to offscreen opponents) in a 2.5d high-speed action/fighting game with a huge variation in level/character visual styles.

All I'm really looking for is suggestions on which (if any) arrangement of these bars and life icons work best for a player's screen. Other players' stats will not be visible to you, and all other screen displays I intend to work around the size/placement of this main hud.

[||||]

I like the 3rd to bottom one's orientation based on the description of its placement. Beause the gauges line up nicely and the red dots fit in the lower space well.
Edit: whoops I meant the 2nd to bottom most one.

[PsylentKnight]

Aesthetically speaking I wouldn't consider any one of them better than the other.

As far as hard, fast readability, I think a combination of the last and the third to last ones would be optimum.



However, pretty much all of them look good so I don't think there's any need to agonize over this too much.