Field note 09HUD & atmosphere7 September 2026

Back to the first sketch.

Slim health bars, carved spell glyphs and a small soul lantern bring the interface back toward the original concept. Beyond the causeways, the trees disappear into the mire.

M5 · Lantern Mire Original interface glyphs & swamp mist v0.5.6

The wizard and a paid Brute and Pusling stand on the misty causeway, with slim health and mana bars at lower left, three circular spell glyphs below and a soul lantern at lower right. — Actual exported 0.5.6 gameplay at the normal four-metre camera distance. The verification fixture stages a paid Brute and Pusling and disables the rival driver for this view; this is not a concept render.

With the Mac performance pass wrapped, Shaun asked for the game interface to look more like the first Lantern Mire image. The new HUD returns information to its corners and gives the three spells their own symbols. Low marsh mist and a softer distant tree line complete this visual pass.

A place for each action

Health, blue mana and stamina sit at the lower left. Rot Bolt has a sickly skull, Carrion Bloom a flowering root, and Ground Remembers a carved ancestor mask. Codex authored nine editable vector glyphs for the spells, summons, vitals and carried-soul lantern, with fine ornament drawn directly in Godot.

The circles still show spell names, costs and chosen keys. Cooldowns fill their rims and display the remaining time. Low mana, missing souls and a returning wizard each have an explicit state. Available souls and carried cargo remain separate, and brood portraits retain their small health bars.

Title lettering uses the freely licensed Cinzel typeface, with its license included in the Mac delivery. Body text remains the existing Godot font. The original concept guides the arrangement; the playable game keeps its established controls and rules.

Quiet until it matters

Carrying a foreign soul changes the objective to escort it home. An attack on the home altar takes priority, raising a clear warning and sacrifice progress panel. The centre aim point stays open during ordinary play, and optional brood captions yield to interaction feedback.

The layout continues to support the saved 100–140% interface size and remapped keyboard or mouse controls. Verification exercised long spell key names at the larger setting, alongside real paid casts, collection, death and restart.

The enlarged HUD displays Backspace, PageUp and PageDown under spell glyphs, a Bloom cooldown and one carried soul. — The exported build at 140% interface size in a 1280×800 window. Long spell remappings and Jump on J are temporary test choices; the normal defaults remain LMB, Q, R and Space. Real collection and a paid Bloom supply the displayed state.

Mist around the fight

The distant arena fades into blue-grey fog beyond the immediate fight. Six low pockets of mist drift along the marsh edges, away from the broad causeways and objectives. They share one shader and slow down to a stop when the match pauses.

A clear region follows the wizard so that nearby combat stays visible. The terrain, saved collision, navigation, spell reach and resource rules remain unchanged. This adds atmosphere to the existing parish without moving its routes.

A rival sacrifice at the home altar raises a DEFEND YOUR ALTAR objective and progress panel above the new HUD, with willows fading into the distance. — An actual exported-pack verification scene. A paid rival Pusling begins the normal sacrifice channel; the actors were positioned by the fixture to inspect the real warning and the view toward the altar.

Ready for hands-on play

The final game passed 719 regression checks and ten audio-file checks. Its pack passed 126 asset and exclusion checks, 46 HUD and atmosphere checks, and a short twenty-check crowded-render probe. Standalone startup, signature and archive checks passed. After the Mac was unlocked, Codex inspected the actual app, opened settings and controls, restarted the match and left it paused for playtesting. The verified archive and its predecessor are preserved.

The preceding Mac checkpoint is preserved. The next step is Shaun’s hands-on review of the complete slice: whether the new interface reads comfortably, the fog feels right and the duel still feels good to play. Windows, physical Intel execution and subjective art or audio acceptance remain separate from the checks completed on this Mac.

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