User Interface

There are five primary components of the user interface (UI) within Arcane Roots: start-up menu, map and dungeons, health and mana, skill, and dialogues. Each of these aspects plays an essential role in the video game, as their success can ensure player engagement and overall success.

The game will have a start-up menu that will contain four primary options: Play, Continue, Settings, and Exit. The play button will create a new game without any previous progress, and will thus allow the player to start from scratch. The continue button will load a saved game if one exists, so the player is not forced to start from the beginning every time they want to play. The settings button will have configurations on sound and window size, to optimize player satisfaction. This will allow the user to turn on and off the sound, as well as choose the window size to be fullscreen or window. Last, the exit button will leave the game. '''

One of the most essential UIs within the game is the map, as it allows the player to interact with the environment and progress through the game. The map will consist of a variety of dungeons, all of which correspond to a different level and skill set. The current plan is to implement eight or nine different dungeons, one for each of the elements. The map will be structured in a manner that players can progress through different paths, where they will have the ability to face new obstacles, gain new skills, and execute different behaviors. This structure will ultimately increase player engagement, as it allows them to follow a variety of paths, experience new scenarios, and overall discover more details of the game. 

Additionally, the player’s level of health and mana can be studied through the health and mana UI that will be developed in Arcane Roots. This UI will be represented via graphics and dialogues on the main screen, to inform the user what their current health and mana levels are. A warning dialogue will be added to this UI to inform players when either of these levels become too low. Similarly, if the mana level becomes high enough for the player to obtain a new skill, a dialogue will be displayed on the screen.

Last, the development of the skill UI is crucial in ensuring player progression and understanding of Arcane Roots. Each dungeon within the map will contain a variety of obstacles, each of which can be overcome with different skills. As the player progresses through the game, he/she will have the opportunity to gain new skills to utilize throughout the map. Since these skills are essential to overcome the challenges presented throughout the game, the skill UI must be very clear, informative, and adaptive to the player’s progress. The current plan is to display a skills button on the main screen, of which the player can click on to display his/her current skills, as well as the remaining locked skills. As mentioned previously, the player will be notified when their mana level is sufficient enough to gain a new skill. If the player chooses to obtain this new skill, the skills dialogue will be updated adequately.