Auto Warz - HUD Layout Design¶

Document Type: Design Document Version: 0.3 Status: Approved - top bar implementation in progress for M2.7 Last Updated: 2026-04-01 Vault destination: 01_Design Documents Folder: 01_Design Documents

Overview¶

The Auto Warz HUD is intentionally minimal. The factory and world dominate the screen. The HUD exists to give the player just enough information to make decisions without cluttering the view. Most information lives in the two side flaps rather than permanently on screen.

The HUD is structured around a symmetric two-flap system: - Left flap - session management and actions - Right flap - factory information and data

Both flaps are always accessible. The game never pauses when either flap is open.

Full Layout Map¶

[AW] / Solo                          [ Kerath-IV ]                          [◷ 12:34:56]
                                                                               [⧖ 00:14:32]

◀                                                                            ▶  <- Flap handles

                             GAME WORLD

                                                                [ MINIMAP ]   <- Floating

[GNS] [>card] [card] [card]      [Drill][Smelt][Chest][Belt][Conn]            <- Bottom bar

Top Bar¶

Position: Three separate top-anchored micro-panels rather than one continuous full-width strip.

Anchor zones / panels:

Zone	Top Row	Bottom Row
Left	Logo mark (AW)	Session type + player count
Centre	Planet icon + Planet name	-
Right	Real-world clock	Session timer

Details: - Overall composition - each zone sits inside its own content-sized dark panel with a thin border and slight corner radius. - Left panel - anchored to the top-left. Contains the AW logo badge and session info text. - Centre panel - anchored independently to the top-centre of the screen. It is not positioned by a shared full-width bar. - Right panel - anchored to the top-right. Contains the local clock and session timer. - Logo mark - compact AW badge. Purely decorative / branding. No interaction. - Session type + player count - shows "Solo" or "Multiplayer · 3P" etc. Always visible so the player knows their session context at a glance. - Planet name - name of the current planet (for example Kerath-IV) with a small planet icon. Centre-anchored. - Real-world clock - current local time. Helps players track real time during long sessions. - Session timer - elapsed session time (HH:MM:SS). Counts up from 00:00:00. - Right panel layout - implemented as a strict two-column layout so the icon column and number column line up across both rows. - Right panel markers - use compact sci-fi symbol badges rather than words. Current implementation uses geometric glyphs inside small square outline panels to distinguish local time from run time.

What is NOT in the top bar: - Settings button - removed. Session management lives in the left flap. - Resource counts - live in the right flap inventory tab. - Power status - lives in the right flap power tab. - Win condition tracker - lives in the right flap. - Genesis status - lives in the bottom bar queue strip.

Bottom Bar¶

Single row, anchored to the bottom of the screen. Three sections.

[GNS] [> active card] [card] [card] [+2] | [Drill][Sml][Chst][Belt][Conn]
                                                             [MINIMAP]

Left Section - Genesis + Task Queue¶

Genesis avatar button (GNS-1): - Always the leftmost element. Fixed width, never moves. - Click or press G to toggle Genesis selection. - Status dot below avatar: blue = idle, green = active/selected. - When selected, dot turns green and the button gets a green border.

Task cards - horizontal timeline: - Flow to the right of the avatar button. - Active card = larger, leftmost, fixed size. Never compresses. - Queued cards = smaller, compress if space is limited.

Overflow behaviour: 1. First - queued cards compress. 2. If still too many - cap at maximum compressed cards and show a +N dashed badge for the remainder.

Queue card anatomy: - Large subject icon - building, ore node, or terrain pin. Coloured by building category. - Small badge top-right - task type: - Hammer = BUILD - Pickaxe = MINE - Wrench = REPAIR - Arrow = MOVE TO - Hourglass = WAITING AT CHEST - Material stacks below icon - coloured cubes per resource. Bright = deposited, ghost = still needed. - Progress bar - active card only, bottom edge strip. - Border colour = status: - Green border = ok, materials available - Yellow border = waiting for materials or path - Red border = insufficient materials - Cancel button (X) - appears on hover, top-left corner of card.

Fetch tasks have no card - internal Genesis operation, never surfaces in queue UI.

Drag to reorder: Research-gated. Locked until queue management research is unlocked in M3.x.

Position: Absolutely centred in the bottom bar. Never moves regardless of queue length.

Layout: Buildings grouped by category with vertical category labels. All buildings shown - unlocked ones active, locked ones greyed with a lock icon.

Categories: - Extract - Mining Drill - Process - Smelter - Storage - Storage Chest - Logistics - Belt Segment, IO Connector

Each button shows: - Building icon (clean line SVG, category colour) - Building name below - Keyboard shortcut top-right corner - Category colour bottom edge indicator - Tooltip on hover: name, grid size, power cost, output

Selection: Click to activate placement tool. ESC or right-click to cancel.

Right Section - Minimap¶

Position: Floating, anchored to the bottom-right corner of the screen. Overlaps the game world upward and does not sit inside the bottom bar row.

Size: Twice the height of the bottom bar. Square proportions.

Contents: - Terrain overview - Building footprints (coloured by category) - Genesis position (blue dot, pulsing) - Resource node positions (category colour dots) - Viewport indicator rect - shows what area of the map the camera is currently viewing

The Two Flaps¶

The flap system is the primary way players access information and session controls. Two flaps - one on each side - mirror each other structurally.

Shared Flap Behaviour¶

Always visible handle - a small tab sticking out from the screen edge. Never hidden.
Expand/collapse - click the handle or press the assigned hotkey.
Game keeps running - factory simulation never pauses when a flap is open.
Width - adjustable. Player drags the inner edge to resize. Preference is remembered.
Height - content height only. Panel is only as tall as it needs to be.

Attention System¶

Collapsed state: - Handle glows/pulses if any tab within requires attention. - If urgent - handle prods/peeks/bounces out from the screen edge. Hard to miss.

Expanded state: - Individual tab icons glow/pulse only on the tabs that need attention. - Other tabs remain neutral.

Urgency levels: - Info - subtle glow on handle and tab icon. - Warning - stronger pulse on handle and tab icon. - Critical - handle bounces/prods out from edge. Keeps bouncing until acknowledged.

Left Flap - Session Management¶

Default state: Collapsed. Session management is not factory-related and should not distract during normal play.

Trigger: ESC key, or click the left flap handle.

Tabs:

Save¶

Save current session to autosave slot.
Option to name and save to a manual slot.
Shows last saved timestamp.

Load¶

List of available save slots.
Shows save date, session time, milestone progress per slot.

Settings¶

Master volume slider
Music / SFX volume sliders
Fullscreen toggle
Camera speed slider
UI scale
Keybinding reference

Session Info¶

Session type (Solo / Multiplayer)
Player count and player names (multiplayer)
Current planet
Session time elapsed
Milestones reached this session

Exit¶

Exit to Menu
Exit to Desktop
Both prompt a save confirmation if unsaved changes exist.

Left flap attention triggers: - Session not saved for a while -> handle prods to remind the player to save. - Milestone reached -> brief glow on the Session Info tab.

Right Flap - Factory Information¶

Default state: Expanded. Factory information is relevant during normal play and should be visible by default. The player can collapse it and set collapsed as their new default.

Tabs:

Inventory¶

Planet-wide resource totals. One row per resource type.

Each row shows: - Resource icon - Resource name - Current quantity - Production/consumption rate: numeric (for example +12/min) with colour coding: - Green = net surplus - Red = net deficit - Grey = static

Player-sortable by: tier, quantity, production rate, or category.

Attention trigger: Glows when any resource is in critical deficit.

Power¶

See 17_HUD Panel Flap.md for full Power tab specification.

Summary: - Planet overview - total generated vs consumed, grid count, warnings - Per grid breakdown - surplus/deficit, sources, biggest consumers, time to failure - On-demand world highlight - click a grid entry, buildings pulse and floor area lights up

Attention trigger: Glows when any grid is in deficit or a source is offline. Critical bounce when failure is imminent.

Analytics¶

See 17_HUD Panel Flap.md for full Analytics tab specification.

Summary: - Per building efficiency - Bottleneck detection - Idle building alerts - Historical production graphs - Actual vs theoretical maximum comparison

Attention trigger: Glows when bottleneck or idle buildings are detected.

Production¶

See 17_HUD Panel Flap.md for full Production tab specification.

Summary: - Visual production chain diagram, numbers overlaid - Filtered by resource - player selects one resource to trace its full chain - Separate tab from Analytics due to complexity

Contributions¶

See 17_HUD Panel Flap.md for full Contributions tab specification.

Summary: - What your factory is sending to the trade network - Who you are sending to - History of contributions - Empty early game - prompt to build Trade Station

Log¶

Notification history
Filterable by level: Info / Warning / Critical
Filterable by system: Power / Production / Genesis / Contributions
Filterable by time: Last 10 min / Last hour / All
Acknowledgeable entries - critical notifications remain highlighted until dismissed

Attention trigger: Glows when unread warnings exist. Bounces when unread critical notifications exist.

Notifications (Toast System)¶

See 18_Notifications.md for full specification.

Summary: - Toasts appear top-centre of screen, below the top bar - Brief appearance, then fade - Chirper-style - charming, non-intrusive - Urgency level affects appearance - Player-definable notifications via circuitry system - Full log lives in the right flap Log tab

Debug Overlay (F3)¶

Not part of the shipped HUD - developer tool only.

Toggled with F3
On by default in debug builds, off in release builds
Semi-transparent dark panel, bottom-left corner
Shows: Genesis state, carry inventory, task queue, FPS, sim tick count, building/belt/pipe counts, planet totals, rolling log (8 lines)
See DebugOverlay.gd in src/ui/hud/

Godot Implementation Notes¶

Viewport scaling: Base resolution 1920x1080. Stretch mode: canvas_items, aspect: expand. UI scales proportionally and the game world fills extra space.

Anchors: - Top bar -> transparent root control hosting three independent top-anchored panels - Top bar centre panel -> independently anchored to top-centre, not positioned by a shared full-width strip - Bottom bar -> full width, anchored bottom-left to bottom-right - Minimap -> anchored bottom-right corner, floats upward - Left flap handle -> anchored left edge, below top bar - Right flap handle -> anchored right edge, below top bar - Build toolbar -> absolutely centred in bottom bar

Theme: All UI elements use the shared dark HUD visual direction. Font sizes and icon sizes should ultimately be theme-driven so UI scale affects everything consistently.

Key scripts: - src/ui/hud/TopBar.gd - current top bar controller - src/ui/hud/HudLayer.gd - future top bar / bottom bar coordinator - src/ui/hud/QueueStrip.gd - Genesis avatar + task cards - src/ui/hud/BuildToolbar.gd - tool buttons and placement logic - src/ui/panels/RightFlap.gd - right flap and all tabs - src/ui/panels/LeftFlap.gd - left flap and all tabs - src/ui/hud/Minimap.gd - floating minimap - src/ui/hud/ToastManager.gd - notification toasts

Hotkey Reference¶

Key	Action
G	Toggle Genesis selection
ESC	Open left flap / cancel placement / deselect
R	Rotate placement direction (belt, connector)
F3	Toggle debug overlay
F8	Run scenario tests (debug builds only)
H	Hint system (M2.7)

Implementation Status¶

Element	Status
Top bar	Implemented - split three-panel layout with independent centre anchor and right-side timing badges
Queue strip	Not implemented - placeholder vertical list only
Build toolbar	Implemented - placeholder buttons
Minimap	Not implemented
Left flap	Not implemented
Right flap	Not implemented
GNS-1 button	Implemented
Debug overlay	Implemented (F3)
Session menu	Implemented - will be replaced by left flap in M2.7
Victory screen	Implemented

Target milestone for full HUD implementation: M2.7

Revision History¶

Version	Date	Notes
0.1	2026-03-31	Initial draft from M2.3 sessions
0.2	2026-03-31	Full redesign - symmetric flap system, top bar rejig, minimap floating, queue overflow, notification toasts, left flap replaces session menu
0.3	2026-04-01	Updated to match current implementation - top bar now uses three separate anchored panels, the centre box is independently top-centred, and the right timing block uses aligned sci-fi symbol badges