Here are some of my original ideas for Menu System 4.0 to 4.3. I figure you guys want to see some basic updates and so this is something I doodled back from Pre-Alpha 0015. In truth, I was very happy with how this turned out and you can see my progress from earlier in my Pre-Alpha Photos folder.
Mainly what you see here is the start of the idea for the various states of the Interface in #AD21XX. In this case, an interface set to “off” will not be visible to the Player in any way. This includes options such as “Cheats” or the various Detailed Options if you are designing your character in Guided. Those things will all be hidden.
Active is what it sounds like… white outline, in the default theme, to indicate it is the active tab being used. That one’s straight forward.
More complex were the next two options of Unavailable and Inactive, and I’m glad I left these behind, looking back. Essentially, Unavailable were options which were visible but not useable, and Inactive were options which you could use but were not the currently active tab. Old tech, but I thought it was pretty good for it’s time.
More variations of information, here shown in the selectable Character Creation types which still exist in the current Pre-Alpha (Pα) build.
Guided is what you choose if you want to gradually get into your character through the First Day of the game: the Tutorial. Essentially, rather than just mostly reading through the opening, you’ll instead be presented with some options to which will be assumed you succeed and will build your Character Sheet in the background.
Detailed (called Unguided in the image) will allow you to select most all the options through Creation and the First Day will, instead, mold around your character rather than molding your character during it. Picking Detailed will instead have the opening more tailored to your character. You’ll even have the option to leave some thing unselected and have them be triggered like Guided if you can’t decided on them right then.
Premade will be a selection of already created characters who may or may not have specific differences tailored to them, including already chosen character transformation. This is a place where Patrons and Tippers will be able to toss me money and have their own characters added into the game for pre-selection.
You may also note headings such as Sex & Gender, which I’ve renamed Sexuality in the current build of the Pα. It is my intention that characters will be able to pick their biological sex and gender identity separately. This will mostly alter text relating to noticing NPC’s more to the character’s interest. And, it should be noted, either Sex or Gender is something that can be transformed throughout the course of the game.
You can also see in this image some of my early doodles for the last version of the Selector display… where big blocks of options appear in rows of two or three items each. This idea persists even to this day, though I’ve rewritten the system from scratch now that I’m building the game for Desktop, and Mobile (Landscape & Portrait).
During the creation of Menu System 4.0, I toyed with the idea of Health Bars and such to put onto the SugarCube 2 UI-Bar to the left. This is certainly an idea I’ll be keeping into Menu System 5.0, and I’m glad I didn’t really get into it in Pα0015. It turns out, I can include the bars along the edge of the hidden UI-Bar and so that means that it will still be functional on Mobile which is a big focus of 0016.
What you can see here in this image is a lot to do with the actual form makeup of characters throughout the game. You can see Bipedal and Quadrupedal characters are represented here as well as WarTaurs (Centaur-type characters) and Merpos (a cross between mermaids and nagah… serpentine/aquatic characters). They each support up to six arms as well as wings as well as numerous other form-specific parts.
Also shown here are some of the preliminary ideas for things such as different types of bone material, muscles, and blood. There will also be other kinds of skin, including a latex-type material which will allow characters to possible inflation and/or rubber/leather play. Additionally, different kinds of bodily fluids will be supported in this system, but those are not as likely to make themselves into #AD21XX. We’ll see about that as we go.
Lastly, on the lower right, you can also see some of the breed-specific designs such as those for Avian characters. You’ll be able to select specific make-ups for eagles, sparrows, owls, and so-on in color and talon-types… things like that. These different Series/Type combination will also be tied in the background to different in-game corporations leading to potential email offers and such to specific mirroid characters based on where and how they were produced.
