Tell me more ×
Game Development Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional and independent game developers. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 14 down vote favorite
1

Much like a heart is used a lot for health and lives in old retro games...

minecraft heart

...what would be a good icon to use for Energy, Mana and/or Magic points?

share|improve this question
1  
A purple-blue flame. – badp Jul 3 '12 at 16:52

3 Answers

up vote 18 down vote accepted

I don't know of any particular icons, but I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that players associate the colour blue with magic. Thus, I don't think the icon actually matters, as long as you follow the basic convention of red for health, blue for magic and green (or the less-used yellow) for a third metric (usually stamina, but can be other things like in the case of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem where green stood for sanity).

Typical shapes include orbs, crystals, potions or runes.

Hope this helps!

share|improve this answer
Green for Zelda (LttP, OoT, MM and WW)! – Jeff Jul 3 '12 at 20:15
Using blue for magic is not a hard and fast rule, it very much depends on the color scheme of the game. Generally you can use any color as long as it makes sense in the given context and you're consistent. – Alex Ames Jul 3 '12 at 22:13
@AlexAmes While I agree with you, the user asked for "a good icon to use for Energy, Mana and/or Magic points". Since this can be debated at length, I believe it is better to answer generically. In that case, my answer simply points out what seems to be the convention. I acknowledge that there is no "rule", per se, but there seems to be an unspoken convention nonetheless :) – Nathan Sabruka Jul 4 '12 at 12:42
up vote 9 down vote

Magic and stuff. Orbs, staffs, scepters and green/purples came to my mind. Here's Some of it:

  • A basic orb :

enter image description here

  • Some Zelda style rupee (You could modify it to a suitable color)

enter image description here enter image description here

  • Basic staffs and scepters :

enter image description here enter image description here

  • Some potion :

enter image description here

And also green and purple fire.

share|improve this answer
2  
Sources? Licenses? – Jeff Jul 3 '12 at 20:14
@Jeff The Purple Orb's Mine.(Free to Copy). Rest of them from Piq (Creative Commons) – The-Ever-Kid Jul 4 '12 at 11:58
up vote 0 down vote

I would suggest for mana a retro crystal like in the background of this pokemon game:

enter image description here

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.