HUD & UI: an almost empty screenUI

UI1: one HUD, almost empty

One HUD for every place: the house, the street, the store and every garden (today the hub's walking HUD in GarageUI and the job's HUD.uxml are two). Each kind of information has one home on the screen and nothing else goes there. Nothing is on screen unless it matters now.

• Shown when it matters: every element has a reason to appear (it changed, it's low, you asked) and fades fadeOut after the reason is gone. The dot, the clock line and the progress bar in a job are the only things that stay.
• The look: Fredoka on its own, no panels: cream text (hudText) with a soft blue-grey outline and shadow (hudOutline), never black, so it reads on sky, grass and the night grade (DY3). Warnings in warm amber, damage in a soft tomato red; nothing flashes or blinks on the HUD (the world blinks: the answering machine's light, the missed patches' shimmer). Things slide and fade in fadeIn; nothing pops in hard except the comic pops (UI6).
• The top-right corner stays free for the save's polaroid (MN2), the only thing that ever goes there.
• Leaves the HUD: the company name and logo, the net worth line, the "[Tab] Menu" hint, the job's elapsed and par timer (dev builds keep it in the sandbox), the client's nametag and mood word, the wallet's "this job ~$N", the leftover arrow (Gauges only), the centre "pop" messages (into the news line).
• Scale: the HUD follows the panel's 1080p reference (as built); the UI scale setting is MN10's.
• Dev builds: the sandbox panel (F1, SB1) and dev readouts (J3) are never part of the HUD and never ship.

Needs: - · Done when: the house, the street and a garden show the same HUD in the same places; walking around the house shows only the dot and the clock line; every element listed as leaving is gone from the default HUD; each remaining element appears for its reason and fades after it.

UI2: the dot and the prompt

The look of PL3's dot, ring, outline and prompt, which PL3 left to this spec. The rules (what E picks, press or hold, greyed reasons) are PL3's.

• The dot: dotSize across, cream with the outline, at dotIdle opacity; dotTarget while something is targeted.
• The prompt, promptGap right of the dot, on one line: a keycap then a verb and its object: [E] Talk to Mrs. Higgins, Hold [E] Empty the bag. The object's name is how the HUD names people now that nametags are gone.
  • Keycaps are drawn, not typed: a little rounded key with its letter for the keyboard and mouse ("E", "Tab", a mouse with its left button filled), a round button in its colour for the pad (A green, B red, X blue, Y yellow). They follow the device you touched last (PL5); PL9 adds the PlayStation and Steam Deck families.
  • A hold says "Hold" before the keycap; its ring fills around the dot (ringSize), and drains as PL3 says. With holds as presses (PL6), "Hold [E]" becomes "[E]", then "[E] again to confirm" for endings.
  • Greyed: the whole prompt at greyAlpha, no keycap, the reason as the verb: "The bag's empty", "Sam's emptying it", "Ask Sam to start". A refusal from the host (CO13) greys the prompt the same way, never a pop-up.
  • Two actions (press and hold on the same thing, PL3): both on one line, [E] Skills · Hold [E] Train.
• The outline: a warm outlineColor rim of outlineWidth, never white; on a greyed target, the same rim, dimmer.
• Other keys in a prompt: when the thing in your hands has a key of its own that matters right now (the cord's R when the engine is off and you're on the bar), it shows in the hands corner (UI5), not next to the dot.

Needs: PL3, PL5 · Done when: every prompt in the house, the street and a garden uses the keycap, verb and object line; switching from the keyboard to the pad swaps every keycap at once; a greyed prompt shows its reason and no keycap; a hold's ring fills and drains around the dot.

UI3: the clock and the money

The top-left corner: the world and the company, small.

• The clock line, always there in the MVP (the watch and the cuckoo come with DY4): the day's short name and the time, Tue 9:41, and today's weather as an icon (as built; WE2 adds the period and the next one, DY4 the 17:00 warning). The time shows minute % 1440 (DY1). In a job the lawn's wet % follows it while the grass is wet (MO8a's "wet % by the clock").
• Brighter on the hour: the line sits at clockAlpha and brightens for a moment when the hour turns, so you notice 12:00 without watching it.
• The money: never on screen by itself. When the company's money changes (pay at the door, EC8; a bill; a purchase) a second line slides in under the clock, $168 → $212, counts up, holds moneyShow and slides away. It's the company's money until wallets (EC2) bring your pocket, which then shows the same way.
• Pausing (Esc, MN8) shows the clock line and the money together, for a player who wants to check.

Needs: DY1 · Done when: the clock line shows the day, time and weather everywhere and follows the host's clock on a guest; a pay at the door slides the money line in on both machines and away after moneyShow; at rest the corner holds the clock line only.

UI4: the job at the top

The top centre, in a job only.

• The job card: the client's name, their expectation word (Easy-going, Neat, Particular, Perfectionist: J3), and the tasks (as built, with ✓ when done). It unfolds when the job starts and when a task is done, and whenever you stand still with no engine running for cardIdle; it folds as soon as you move or an engine starts. No mood word, no score: the client's face and lines say how it's going (J3 keeps the score hidden).
• The progress bar (kept by MO8a): a thin bar for the task of the thing in your hands, with the client's target as a notch; it shows while you hold that task's tool, and stays thin.
• The last patches: from leftoverFrom the bar adds "3 patches left"; the missed cells shimmer gold on the lawn (built). The arrow to the nearest one is Gauges only.
• Missing a tool: a task whose tool you didn't bring says so on the card ("No trimmer"), as built.
• Finishing: the F key's prompt (PL5) shows on the card's last line when every required task is done.
• Gauges adds the score needle against their expectation (the Relaxed preset's needle, J3).
• With J10: standing still unfolds the card into the full job sheet (J10's sheet in your hand); no key of its own, since Tab is the next tool in a garden (PL5).

Needs: UI1 · Done when: a job starts with the card unfolded, folds when the engine starts, unfolds when you stand still with the engine off; the progress bar shows the target notch; "patches left" appears from leftoverFrom; no mood word or score shows without Gauges.

UI5: your hands

The bottom-right corner: everything about what you hold, and the keys it uses. MO8a decides which mower states the default HUD shows; this is where and how.

• The belt (PL4): the slots slide in when you switch (1-6, Tab, Q, the D-pad) and for beltShow after, the one in hand raised; a slot a sibling holds shows their initial in their colour ("Sam has the trimmer" is the greyed prompt, PL4). Away from a job the belt is empty and never shows.
• The mower line, one short line above the belt for the mower's moment, shown while it's true and lineHold after: starting ("Prime it (0/3)", "Pull! (2/3)", the engine catching), the blade lever while you move it ("5 cm", MO5; per-wheel: "Front-left 4 cm · deck 5/6 cm, tilted", MO5d), fuel low (an icon that stays while it's low), scalping (the line in red). Everything else MO8a gives to sound, sight and the hands.
• Key hints: the keys of the thing you just took, on one line ("[R] Pull the cord · Wheel / [ ] Blade height · Hold [E] Empty"). They show the first hintTimes times you take it, and again when you've had it in hand for hintStuck without using it. Hints teach keys, never what to do (TU8: that's always a person or a note). Every key that works is named (PL5).
• Gauges (MO8a, the setting in MN9's Game tab): the LOAD, speed and BAG bars always shown above the belt, the fuel and condition rings beside them, the worn-part chips, and the leftover arrow and score needle in the job's place (UI4). Switching it changes nothing else (DF1).

Needs: UI1, MO8a, PL4 · Done when: with the default HUD a whole mow shows only the start line, the lever label while it moves, the low-fuel icon and the hints the first times; with Gauges on, the bars and rings stay up; a slot held by a sibling shows their initial.

UI6: the news line and the pops

One place for news, under the job at the top centre. It replaces the job's banner, the hub's two toasts and the centre pop.

• A line with a small icon: "Mrs. Parker: Thursday, $44", "Sam picked up: Grandma", "Kevin dropped out" (CO10), "Sam walked off the job" (CO11), a nearby sibling's read note (TU2). It shows for newsShow, at most newsMax at once, newer ones pushing older ones up; a queue keeps the rest.
• Kinds: news (cream), a sibling's doing (their name in their colour), a warning (amber: "The bag's full", when the bag's flap and the sound haven't been enough for warnAfter).
• What never goes there: refusals (the prompt says why, PL3), lessons (TU8), saves (the polaroid, MN2), and anything that needs a click. Nothing on the HUD ever stops the game or asks for a click.
• The pops: the comic labels that jump out of the world and fade (built, WorldPops): money at the moment it changes hands ("+$44" from the client's hand at the door, EC8) and mishaps ("OOPS" on a broken pot, "CLANK" on a stone hit if captions are off). Silly, short, never more than popsMax at once, never for anything else.

Needs: UI1 · Done when: in the house and in a garden every message the game sends arrives on the one news line (no toast, banner or centre pop left); a booking, a sibling's pick-up and a drop-out each show there on both machines; the door's pay pops "+$" from the client's hand.

UI7: subtitles and captions

Every voice is subtitled and every important sound captioned (SN1), on one strip at the bottom centre, for the intro, the phone, clients, the family and the siblings alike.

• A subtitle: the speaker's name in their colour, then the line, at most subMaxLines lines of subLineChars, on screen at least subMin. A voice through a phone or the machine gets a small phone icon before the name. Siblings' names use their own colour (the same one as their initial on the belt).
• Who sees what: you see the lines of voices you can hear: within subRange of you and not behind a closed door (SN1's path). A call on the speaker is heard, and read, by every sibling near the phone; the one holding the handset hears both sides.
• Off-screen speakers: a small chevron at the strip's edge on the speaker's side ("Mrs. Higgins >"), for anyone outside your view.
• Captions are SN1's (the text and direction come from the sound list: "[CLANK, left]", "[phone ringing, inside]"): they use the same strip, in brackets, in italic, under the subtitles.
• Your sibling's mutters: the ego quips (EgoQuips, today a thought bubble from Thoughts) become lines your sibling says under their breath, in their voice (SI2), subtitled like any line, at most one every quipGap unless a moment forces it (as built). The MVP keeps the best quipLines (one to three per moment), voiced in every sibling voice; the other lines wait for later. The thought bubble goes.
• Speech bubbles go: clients' lines (today a bubble over the head, or a subtitle when off screen) are subtitles like everyone else's, and voiced.
• The intro: its letterbox subtitles (HubStory) are the same strip, raised above the letterbox.
• Settings (MN9's Game tab): Subtitles (on by default) and Captions (on by default); each player's own.

Needs: SN1 · Done when: every voiced line in the MVP shows as a subtitle with its speaker's name, including the siblings' mutters; on two instances, a call on the speaker is subtitled for the sibling near the phone and not for one in the garden; a client off to the left gets the chevron; turning Subtitles off hides them and leaves the captions.

UI8: the screens E opens

What every station's screen shares: the paper, the phone, grandma's calendar and notes, the computer, the bench, the fridge (MN4). Each screen looks like its object; these rules are the same for all of them.

• Opening: E on the thing (PL3). The camera blends to it (PL2's shots) or dips to your hands for things you hold (the paper, a note, a receipt); the screen fades in as the camera arrives.
• The look follows the object (no text on props: the screen carries it):

• One at a time, with a way back: a screen opened from a screen (the calendar's "Go to work" opens the jobs list; the machine's Call back opens the call) goes back one step on close, as built.
• Closing: Esc, E (on paper things), B or Start; Esc always closes or steps back before it would pause (UI15). A close hint at the bottom says how in the object's words: "[Esc] Put the paper down", "[Esc] Hang up". The E that closed a screen never also re-opens it (as built).
• The cursor: free and visible while a screen is open, locked and hidden as soon as it closes. A pad drives every screen with focus later (PL9).
• The HUD: hidden behind a screen, except the news line and the subtitles, which keep coming.
• Time: solo, a screen pauses the clock (DY1, the paper, the phone, the calendar, the computer); online nothing pauses, and nothing about a screen says so (MN8 says it once).
• Seen by the others: your sibling sees you with the paper up in both hands, the handset at your ear, sitting at the computer (a NetPose flag, like carrying). You can't miss that your brother is reading the funnies instead of loading the car.

Needs: PL3 · Done when: the paper, the machine, the call, the calendar and a note all open with E, close with Esc and their own hint, give the cursor back to the game when closed, and pause solo only; on two instances, the other player sees the paper in your hands and the handset at your ear.

UI9: The Daily Clipping

The morning paper: something to read with the first coffee, and the street talking back to you. In the MVP it carries news, not client ads (J3).

• Arrival: on the doormat at 7:00 (DY1; grandma's note says so, TU2). E picks it up and opens it; closed, it lies on the kitchen table for the rest of the day (E reads it again). Yesterday's goes in the recycling. One paper a day for the company: every sibling can read it, at the same time, on their own screen.
• One front page, in this order:
  • The masthead: The Daily Clipping, "All the news that's fit to mulch", the date, "Vol. 71 · No." the day, 25¢.
  • The headline and its photo: one a day. Story days have their own: the morning after grandma's lawn ("Lawn at No. 24 'less of a jungle', say neighbors"), the morning after Chad's scene ("Red sports car seen doing 9 mph on Primrose Lane, filming"), the MVP's last morning (Chad's video goes viral, ST10). Other days pick from a pool of silly local news (a pigeon on the parks committee, a record zucchini, the bus that won't turn around), seeded by day (State.seed, SD4), never the same twice in a game. The photo is an in-engine shot of the place the story is about, printed with a halftone newsprint filter: no drawn art needed.
  • Around the Lane: three short gossip items. One follows grandma's lawn (TU5's street standing: neat, shaggy, jungle each have their lines: "A certain lawn at No. 24 is becoming a talking point"), one the street's people (the cast, CH2), one a joke.
  • The weather: today and tomorrow as icons and a word each, in °F, from the weather as built (WE4's 3-day box comes with the forecast).
  • The little ads: three or four silly ones from a hand-written pool ("LOST: Gerald. Pigeon. Answers to nothing."). No numbers to call, no clients (J3); J4 and the later channels bring real ads (UI11).
• Words: every headline and item is hand-written in a pool (ClientTexts today), American English, short. paperPool items per kind for the MVP's days, no repeats in a game.

Needs: UI8, DY1 · Done when: each morning of the MVP's days has a new paper on the mat at 7:00, the same on both machines; the three story mornings print their own headline and photo; Around the Lane changes when grandma's lawn goes from neat to a jungle; the built paper's classified ads and their Call button are gone.

UI10: grandma's phone and answering machine

The corded phone on the hall table and the answering machine beside it: in the MVP, the only way the world talks to you at a distance (TU3, J3). The behaviour (who calls, when, what they say, the haggling odds) is TU3's, J2's and J3's; this is the two screens and how they feel.

The ringing

• The phone rings out loud through the house and the front yard (SN1, with its caption) ringCount times on every machine (TU3). At the phone: [E] Answer. Nothing on the HUD: you hear it, or read its caption.
• Unanswered, it's a message. The machine's red light blinks while it holds a new one: you notice it walking by.

The machine

• Its screen: the beige machine from above, its LCD showing the count of new messages, and the tape: one card per message, oldest first, each with who (the name they gave: "Mrs. Parker, No. 25"; else "Someone"), when ("Tue 10:42") and a dot while it's new.
• Playing: opening the machine plays the new ones in order, each with its beep, the voice (with the phone filter) and its subtitles; the card fills with the words as they're said and keeps them. [Space] skips to the next.
• On each card: Play again; Call back when the caller wants something (a job request); Erase. A request's card also says how long it waits ("Wants it by Friday").
• Heard by all: a message played by one sibling is heard for the company (MarkReadCommand, as built); a sibling near the machine hears it on the speaker with subtitles.

The call

• The handset in your hand: the camera tilts to the phone, the handset at your ear, the cord swinging.
• The caller's card: their name, how they know you ("Edna gave me your number"), and their expectation word (J3). People you've met get a small drawn portrait; strangers a silhouette with a question mark.
• Their lines are subtitles (UI7), with the phone filter on the voice.
• Your answers: up to four cards, each a line your sibling will say, with the price in it: "Sure, $40.", "Could you do $44?", "$50 and it's a deal.", "Sorry, we're full this week." (J3's +10% and +25%). Picking one, your sibling says it out loud (SI2's voice), the caller answers. Story calls (grandma, J2's lesson) have their own cards, or none when you only listen.
• The end: a deal goes on grandma's calendar in her handwriting (TU2) and on the news line ("Mrs. Parker: Thursday, $44"); a refusal ends with their line and the click (J3: refused = they hang up). [Esc] Hang up at any point: hanging up before a deal declines it politely.
• One handset: whoever picked it up holds the call. At the phone, the others' prompt says "Sam's on the phone", they hear both sides on the speaker and read the subtitles, and the news line tells everyone further away "Sam picked up: Mrs. Parker". The deal is the holder's (actor recorded).

Needs: UI7, UI8, TU3 · Done when: a call that rings out lands on the machine, whose light blinks on both machines; opening the machine plays the new messages with subtitles and keeps their words on cards; Call back opens the call with the caller's card and answer cards, a deal lands on grandma's calendar and the news line; in 2-player co-op one sibling holds the handset while the other hears both sides on the speaker and can't answer.

UI15: Esc is the only menu

In the MVP the house has no menu of its own: the things in it are the way in. Today Tab (View on a pad) opens GarageUI's side menu with four tabs, Jobs, Van, Workshop and Shop, from anywhere in the house; that shortcut goes, and with a mower-only MVP two of its tabs go with it.

• Tab and View do nothing in the house, the street and the store. In a garden Tab is the next tool (PL5), as before. The "[Tab] Menu" hint leaves the HUD (UI1).
• Esc (Start on a pad) closes the open screen first, one step at a time (UI8); with nothing open it opens the pause menu (MN8), everywhere outside a cinematic: the game's only menu.
• For now: once the siblings own a phone (UI13, J25), its apps bring shortcuts back (the calendar's day plan, the book, the bank, the shop), on the phone in your hand rather than a menu over the house.
• Never stuck: whatever the MVP needs from the old tabs has its thing in the house from the first morning.

Needs: UI8 · Done when: in the house, the street and the store, Tab and View open nothing; the jobs list opens from grandma's calendar, shows how to reach each job and starts none; a driven job arrives with the mower and the fuel can without a loading screen; the bench opens from the workbench; no shop screen is reachable; Esc closes an open screen and pauses only with nothing open; in a garden Tab still switches tools.