Apologies; I know that's out of left field.
This is a component of a larger level pack that I'm working toward, and I wanted to release the HUD separately. I wanted to remove the life system from said level pack, and I thought it made sense to include that component here.
I've spoken about my desire to remove the lives system from SRB2 in a few other threads, so I figured that some folks would have expected this of me.
"Infinite lives makes you a god." -- Sortof. The lives system rewards a resource management game, where you should be scouting the levels for 100s of rings and 1ups in order to bolster your life count, hoping to gain lives faster than you lose them. Infinite lives removes the resource management part of the game, but as a player, you still require segment mastery in order to complete stages.
Shrug.