Menu System

Here is the menu system from title page onwards:

The Title Page

The Stage Selection Page shows the progression through the game including the dependencies. There are three progression paths:

• Serene: Easiest. Most likely will allow formations to be disposed of in any way to count
• Bold: Medium difficulty. I will introduce some challenging aspects
• Insane: Hard. Levels will have many formations, and only collisions with stars will count

Stages can be in one of three states:

• Playable - Circle will display in white and score is shown. When player taps this the Level Selection Screen is displayed
• Reached but locked - the player has passed all preceding levels, but has not achieved perfect scores. Circle will show in white with a lock symbol shown. When player taps this a warning shows up and allows user to also unlock the level with in-app purchase (IAP)
• Not reached and locked - the player has not yet passed all preceding levels. Circle will show greyed out and lock symbol is shown. When player taps this a warning shows up and allows user to unlock all levels with IAP.

Main Stage Selection Page

The Level Selection Page shows the level progression within the selected Stage, including the dependencies.

Each Level shows the number of goals / formations within the level.

• Yellow: Highest score attained so far
• Grey: Minimum score required to pass the level
• Black: Additional formations over and above passing score

Level Selection Page

The Level Launch Page shows details about the specific level. The key piece of information is the objective. "To Pass" shows one of three scenarios:

• A star and edge of space: symbol: Either way of disposing of formations will count
• A star only: Only formations that are knocked into stars will count
• Edge of space only: Only formations that are knocked into the edge of space will count

Level Launch Page

The transition between the different screens is animated and to the player is appears as if they are "flying" from one level of detail into the next (and back again if BACK is tapped).

A lot of my development time so far has gone into the menu system. The complexity in enabling the transitions and rules around statuses etc. was deceptively complex.