New Gauntlet UI

I've been playing the recent release of Gauntlet on Steam recently, and had a go a re-designing the user interface (UI).  I feel the current one is to imposing and not really easy to read while in the heat of battle.

Here is an in-game screenshot of a four player game in action.

To me this scene is quite hard to read - Can you spot all four of the players and the cursor?

Here is a list of floors
1) Takes up too much space - Players get lost behind it.
2) Displays a lot of useless or un-needed information - Greyed out does not need to be there, money total doesn't matter, players name could be displayed on pause/host/vote options screen.
3) Is a "Hard Read" - With only often only miliseconds to glimpse at information I quickly read what I need, this could be refined and made so you can actually read the information without directly looking.
4) Boring scoring.  "Kill Chain x1.30   220" - I am being rewarded with a maths challenge I dont even have time to read, unless is another players and I am dead.  Why not have a "good" (10kills+) or "Mega Kill" (25+Kills) which is totaled at the end of the round along with other bonuses?

With the above point being predominant I often have teammates die unexpectedly, with the sound of them screaming being the only/main sign of this happening.  I even lose my own character on the screen often, let alone the cursor.  Another problem arises when you change character often - the life-bar displays stay in the same place, but are so similar it may take a second or two to find and remember it.  Spacing them a little would help, but with the current layout it would make playing at the bottom of the screen impossible.

Here is a minimalised version design to be easier to read and increase play area space

Here I have replaced the generic bars with icons that represent the players main skill.

The Wizards would actually change icon to match the currently selected spell.

As the players take damage their life bar (filled with red, blue, green, or yellow) goes down.

When a player takes damage the Icon blinks/pulses along with the player (The Valkarie is blinking/being hurt in the above example).

The players main skill (Whirlwind for Warrior, Shield Throw for Valk, Spell for Wizard, Bomb for Elf) charge-state is represented by a glowing border around each Icon.  This will pulse when ready.

Above the warrior has a whirlwind ready, and the wizard has a spell half ready.

The relics display have been removed and is viewible on the pause/vote/screen.

There should be a quick-info screen when you hold back on the joypad or shift.  This overlays on the play screen, giving detailed information which is not already on screen - Skull Coin information, players names, money and kill score.

Potions and keys only display when picked up - and are semi-transparent.  Above the warrior icon (top-left) has two potions.  The Elf has one key and one potion.

Markers could be optional - changing how see-through they are, and making them toggle or appear briefly at the click of a button.

Here the players have markers under them - Making it a lot easier to read the location of the players

Dynamic emote is another idea - For when the "HELP" emote is used the player is marked automatically - with an exclimation mark instead of the standard "...".  An arrow for "this way".  It is unclear what the player is emoting when there is a lot going on, and could be clarified visually.

The last idea is a dynamic cursor - which will change according to the skill/player you have selected (a Firebolt icon or a bomb-arrow for example).  This would change and light up when your skill is ready, making you aware of this fact very clearly.

Anyways - Just ideas I thought I'd throw out there.