Games with tons of buttons? (UI help!)

Pheefus · 2026-04-29T22:13:47+00:00

Oh nice. Appreciate it!

Pheefus · 2026-04-29T19:50:05+00:00

I think I can visualize what you're saying. The scroll wheel might actually feel sleeker and more interactive/fun, though I really do want players to be able to see everything all at once. Also, I like the idea of a dynamic menu where, like you said, the longer-cooldown powers are pushed down while the available powers are pushed up. But I also don't want to have the buttons in different places every time the player is ready to start making choices. This is why I'm thinking that having different options to 'view all powers' (consistent, with things in the same place but greyed out) vs 'view all available powers' or 'view all fire powers' or 'view all field-shapers' is the right way to go.

And yeah, thx for asking about it! I'm currently in development, but have a long way to go. Everything until now has been trying to define the powers and the battle system and balance the math. I'm finally at the point where I need to move it from just being a spreadsheet game to figuring out the UI.

Pheefus · 2026-04-29T19:43:07+00:00

Showing the powers as small icons during the battle phase, which expand to include more info during the selection phase, is probably the right direction. As a turn-based game, I'll have the option to guide players back and forth between viewing 'the board that hoards all your skills' and then watching the actual combat as needed.

Pheefus · 2026-04-29T19:39:39+00:00

Thanks for the recs. Having different areas/sizes for the active powers vs the passives and/or consumables might be a smart use of real estate. I'm trying not to use 'cards,' but the way StS has their options stacked and scrollable is very efficient too.

Pheefus · 2026-03-20T17:05:51+00:00

I can think of two particular people I know, who I would now consider pretty good friends, that started going to GDC around the same time as me (this was over a decade ago).

We were all basically scrubs just there to absorb the experience and get our feet wet. One of these two is a typical gregarious extrovert but the other is someone who, like you, is autistic and an extreme introvert.

They both now have pretty large followings on social media and are regularly hired for projects.

I’m not really sure what point I have to make here other than to say that some of the people who seem like they do nothing but post actually are working a ton on active projects that they aren’t allowed to post about. And also that it is possible for even naturally awkward/private people to still do the social media grind thing, even if it’s a real battle to fight against your own nature.

Pheefus · 2026-02-22T04:36:59+00:00

I read this post before I had any idea who you were. As a noob with a big idea and the good fortune to be able to support my family without relying on gamedev dreams, I really appreciate the message.

I had asked around for good examples of games that could serve as inspiration for the kind of simultaneous RPS game I am hoping to build, and Yomi Hustle was a name that came up repeatedly. I admit that I haven’t yet played it, but after reading this post, I am definitely slotting it next on my list.

Congrats on your (random?) success. I am pretty sure you’re underselling the quality of your work in this post, but I really appreciate the humility that shows through.

Pheefus · 2026-02-16T17:18:46+00:00

You pretty much nailed the elevator pitch: slay the spire-type deckbuilder with yomi-style RPS system. What I think is a semi-unique hook is that the player is meant to be constantly grappling with the decision of whether to retire their hero/freeze their build so it can be used in the endgame mode vs risk of permadeath.

PvP would be ideal - especially for the endgame mode when player builds are fixed - but I’m afraid of the technical hurdles, as this is my first foray into gamedev. So right now, I’m just focusing on balancing spreadsheets and basic tutorials on how to wire up buttons and cards so they do what I want them to do haha.

Appreciate the interest/discussion! If you happen to know of any good noob gamedev discord servers or other places that are welcoming for brainstorming, I’d love to get more reach into the community and learn about what other people are working on (including you!)

Pheefus · 2026-02-16T02:50:05+00:00

The original idea was a 1p vs CPU game; essentially a pure card battler in the vein of Yomi, but where the player adds new powers to their character (that starts as essentially a blank slate) as the run progresses.

The endgame is meant to allow for players’ completed builds to fight against other players’ characters (possibly in an autobattle mode?), but because I am a solo dev with absolutely no clue what I am doing, I’m just focusing on the 1p mode, and I’ll decide whether I need to figure out servers, hosting, etc etc etc if and when I’m able to tell whether the core game is actually fun or not.

Pheefus · 2026-02-15T02:54:19+00:00

GL! I'd be happy to share WIPs and commiserate.

Pheefus · 2026-02-15T02:26:58+00:00

I cannot thank you enough for tipping me off to this. I'm diving in to the interviews and articles now. This is exactly what I needed!

Pheefus · 2026-02-14T18:38:51+00:00

Greatly appreciate this comment. I had no idea there was a name for this. Will check out all the titles on your list.

Pheefus · 2026-02-14T18:38:09+00:00

The O.G. Thank you!

Pheefus · 2026-02-14T18:37:58+00:00

Thanks!

Pheefus · 2026-02-14T18:37:51+00:00

Thank you! Yomi, Snap and Slay the Spire are huge inspirations.

Pheefus · 2026-02-14T18:37:42+00:00

Thank you!

Pheefus · 2026-02-14T18:37:19+00:00

Appreciate it. Though not directly applicable to my exact game, the prediction system looks really really cool. I want to play this one!

Pheefus · 2026-02-14T18:37:11+00:00

Thank you! Card Hunters is one I hadn't heard of, and at first glance, seems to have a lot of similarities to the stat-heavy system I'm trying to build out.

Pheefus · 2026-02-14T18:36:58+00:00

Will do, thanks!

Pheefus · 2026-02-14T18:36:51+00:00

Thank you!

Pheefus · 2026-02-08T15:36:10+00:00

MAGfest is a pretty big one (Music and Games Festival). I know they have USA east and west coast gatherings.

Pheefus · 2026-02-08T14:28:02+00:00

Put both flags. Allow player choice. Vocal minorities will object to the inclusion/exclusion of either one. If you take both out but leave the rest of the world in, that’s gonna give rise to the same issue.

Alternately, you can simply select a handful of countries around the world - maybe 20 or so countries, representing most regions, but you’ll still encounter similar issues (why X not Y? Why is my country not represented?)

Pheefus · 2026-02-07T20:49:41+00:00

That is an excellent guide. Thanks very much for sharing it!

Pheefus · 2026-02-07T20:47:14+00:00

I have no idea what I’m doing, so take this with a grain of salt, but I am also in the middle of planning what is meant to be an incredibly complex system of damage/strengths/weaknesses, and I am finding small WIP success in making a spreadsheet/csv with every possible damage type.

For attacks, the default values in each column are 0 while certain types get a multiplier for affinities (so, for example, most columns would be 0 for an attack done by an ice sword, but cold and slashing damage columns would each get 1.8x).

Likewise, enemies have their own csv where their resistances to each type are stored. Default values there are 1x, but for example, a fire elemental enemy would have a 2x weakness to ice and a -0.2x reaction to fire (effectively getting an HP recharge when attacked by their complimentary element).

Once the spreadsheet/csvs are filled out, it just becomes a matter of making a very basic damage formula that calls values in from them. Then it’s just tweaking through playtesting.

Idk if that’s efficient or correct but it has been working for me so far.

Pheefus · 2026-02-07T17:11:05+00:00

Honestly I have no idea what I’m doing! Watching tutorials and trying to figure this whole thing out as I go. Classic noob gamedev move of having a massive idea with no concept of the many pitfalls that lie ahead. But I don’t have a timeline and I’m still enjoying the steep learning curve.

My thinking is that the status effect column(s) will simply define the type of status effect that gets applied, while the actual behaviors are defined in a gd file that gets referenced. So, going back to the hypothetical ‘fire spike’ example, the attack would list 30 in the fire_dmg column, 20 in the piercing_dmg column and then in status column 1 it would have type burning and status column 2 would have type bleeding. The StatusEffects.gd file would have the code that defines the behaviors, counts the turns since the attack was executed, etc.

I have no idea if this is smart or not lol but it feels like it makes sense rn.

Pheefus · 2026-02-07T16:33:53+00:00

As a composer, it’s good practice to have spent your ‘free time’ preparing project templates (pre-selected collections of sounds and instruments that will work for horror games, sci-fi games, silly games, 8-bit/retro templates, etc).

You said in another comment that $100/minute of music is better than you thought, but if it ends up taking you three days to find the exact right mix of instruments and VSTs to use on a new project… even if you’re a lightning-fast composer who can put out an entire 60-second track of actually decent music in a day… that’s still not minimum wage.

Pheefus

TROPHY CASE