HeXXen: Hunters

Proptotyping:
I started by prototyping directly in Unity, implementing different approaches that could be tested before the art team created the final designs. To support this process, I created WebGL builds to give interactive presentations and enable the team to test ideas themselves. This allowed the entire game to be played through at a UI level—for instance, character-specific attack options during combat could be selected (sometimes followed by a range indicator) using a mouse or gamepad, even without the final animations and VFX in place. In an iterative process, I refined the UI layout step by step and replaced placeholder elements with final components as they became available.

Main UI Components:
– Combat Phase: Character menu with attack options, inspired by the UI design of the JRPG ‚Persona 5′.
– Village Phase 1: Recruiting hunters for missions, displaying achievements, and further interactions.
– Village Phase 2: Expansion of village houses and assigning characters to tasks for bonuses.
– Main Menu: Start new game, load saved game etc.
– Game Menu: Game settings, exit game, and other options.

Model-View-ViewModel architecture:
Using MVVM, I created different scripts so that concrete data—such as text and images—was bound to its respective UI elements. These bindings ensured automatic updates, for instance, refreshing character stats when selecting or deselecting specific characters.

Camera Transitions:
To minimize the use of separate windows or pop-ups, our UI design was closely integrated with the gameplay and the in-game environment. Dynamic camera angles and subtle movements were linked to the UI states (using Cinemachine) to enhance player immersion. For instance, selecting a specific house in the village triggered a short camera transition that ended with a close-up of the selected house, thereby entering the next UI state.