A concept screen for a game in development. IMAGO is a puzzle platformer with first person adventure elements and a UI inspired by Japanese 90s visual novels. Following the theme of a low-technology eldritch world, the interface had to fulfill a few goals: have limited amounts of windows the player had to navigate through, include an inventory system that felt diegetic, and have some sort of order through what would be a maximalist, decorative layout. The inventory system would be a crafting system, and because the main character was a field journalist, there would be a field journal that would dynamically update as the player encountered fauna and flora in the environment.

There were three phases of this iteration: an AUDIT, which established player interactive flow and the audience/persona for the game, a MOODBOARD, which established tone and visual direction, and a WIREFRAME, which was iterated into an INTERFACE through playtesting.

Three iterations were made: wireframe, then two iterations of a medium-high fidelity interface. The second interface focused more on the actual screen, and the save/load menu files were scrapped as the save mechanics were reworked to be like Resident Evil where players would have to save in-game at certain checkpoints.

Throughout the design process, a few rules were established: one, the color red promotes interactive objects. Two, the textures outside of the main gameplay window would be more realistic. Lastly, text had to be sized relative to the text box - the text in the dialogue box was the most important.