Damage numbers
Damage numbers are the figures that pop up when a hit lands, showing how much damage it did and to whom.
Also called floating damage numbers, damage text, combat text.
Damage numbers seem simple, but in a fast fight with several enemies they can turn into a blizzard of digits nobody reads. A few rules keep them useful: a glance should tell you how hard you're hitting, who got hurt and how close something is to falling.
What makes damage numbers readable?
Whole numbers, big enough to read at a glance. Rapid hits on one target merged into one number that ticks up, so a combo reads as a total. Colours that say who was hurt. And numbers from different targets kept apart, so they never land on top of each other.
Damage numbers in Mytheria
Damage is always a whole number and every hit does at least 1. Hits by the same attacker on one target within 0.6 seconds tick up a single number. Cream means a tree or rock, gold a creature, and red means you. A finishing blow or a hit of 25 or more is one size larger. Each new number takes the nearest free spot from a set of 13 around its target, and lives for 0.6 seconds in a 5 by 7 pixel font with a dark edge.
The full post, with clips and demos Damage numbers in games: why whole numbers read better