Character and equipment screen mockups — a party list and a big portrait
I drew two mockups each for the character tab, the first thing you see when opening the menu, and the equipment tab. Character went with the party list, equipment with a big portrait + vertical slots. There's no equip feature yet, so every slot is empty.
For the combat UI I went with the new layout from 166 (not applied yet).
The first thing you see when you open the menu (I) is the Character tab. I drew inventory option 1 in 162 with the Items tab selected, but in practice the Character tab should come up first. The party is just Karin, and the only equipment item is the starter sword (attack +10, sells for 200 G, doesn't stack). There's no equip feature, so every equipment slot says "None."
Screens I built
For character I went with option 1, the party list. There are 4 party card slots in the middle. Karin's card has a face portrait, Lv, HP/MP bars and attack/defense, and the other slots say "Empty."
On the right are STATUS (8 stats), SKILL LIST (Aurora Slash selected, with the ultimate badge and description) and EQUIPMENT (weapon, armor and accessory all set to none). The stats are Karin's real Lv 1 values: HP 120, MP 40, attack 15, defense 8, AP 10, MOV 4, range 1, max TP 100. The art is the default expression out of 8.
Character option 2 puts a big portrait and a character switcher (◀ 1/1 ▶) on the left. It did make the screen look less empty with just one party member, but I kept it on the side.
For equipment I went with option 2. Three vertical slots (weapon, armor, accessory) sit next to a big portrait on the left, and the starter sword shows faintly as a preview in the weapon slot. On the right are the WEAPON list and description, STATUS CHANGE (attack 15 → 25, +10) and an equip button.
Equipment option 1 (Karin's card + a 3-row slot list, with a "None → Starter Sword" preview) is kept. All four use the same menu frame as inventory option 1 (side tabs on the left, blurred background, key hints in the bottom right).
Things I thought about
- Keeping the slot setup as is for now. The three slots, weapon, armor and accessory, are just a proposal and not locked in. There are no armor or accessory items yet either.
Next up
- Make I open the Character tab by default, and decide whether the Items tab gets its own shortcut
- Equip feature (slot data, adding up attack, hooking into saves)
- Armor and accessory items, max party size