UI Update: Dialogue, Exploration and the Case Handbook

This update is about the interface you touch with every step and every line.

Room for characters and dialogue. The old dialogue box crammed portrait, name, text and button hints together. Now portraits stand above the dialogue band, which holds only the name, the line and one row of controls. In a two-person scene the speakers stand left and right; whoever is talking is brighter. When dialogue starts, the scene dims and exploration hints step aside.

An interface in Wayrest’s night colours. We call this direction “night fog”: translucent blue-black panels, thin silver lines and small touches of amber and teal. While walking, location, current goal and prompts each have their own place; at a door, the prompt tells you exactly what you can do.

Quests and records in one handbook. The pause-menu handbook uses the same dark style. Quests, evidence, save, load and options switch on the left; the front page shows your goal, location and progress, so you can pick up where you left off.

These are in-development screens from the Chinese build. English and controller checks are still in progress, and the new UI is not yet in a released demo.