Ok, I've processed the feedback, and here's my latest design. It's a WIP, so don't think that I've abandoned the rendered style for something flat.
It's truer to the spine thing of the original and maintains some of the epic without dominating the screen's real estate. When the barbarian encounters a health expansion, it adds a armor piece to the "snake". The six-plate max is shown in this mockup. The plates are initially gold, but when the player takes damage, a plate turns dark and broken. Healing will restore the plate to its gold state. When the final gold plate (on the helmet) is destroyed, the player must restart (either the level or from a designated point within it). I'm throwing out the lives element because lives are annoying and not player-friendly (see the DS Mario platformer for example).
The weapon selector is big so you can see its cooldown status.
I divided the points from the rest of the HUD to keep clarity.
Thoughts? Ideas? Concerns?
