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RPG98 › Design Docs › Art & UX — Art Style UI UX & Visual Direction

RPG98 Design Document

Page 6: Art Style, UI/UX & Visual Direction

Overall Aesthetic Direction

RPG98 uses a gritty fantasy aesthetic that feels grounded, dangerous, and lived-in. The visual identity is achieved by using Super Retro Roguelike / Crawler assets as the primary base for consistency and variety, while selectively supplementing with darker, more oppressive elements from the ELV Rogue Adventure collection.

The Safe Hub – Blackthorn Hollow

Primarily built from Super Retro Roguelike village and exterior tiles to create a cohesive, slightly worn but functional survivor settlement. Buildings show clear signs of scavenging and repair — patched roofs, reinforced walls using dungeon salvage, and makeshift defenses. The tone is one of hard-won safety: warm lantern light, smoke from braziers, and visible fortifications that suggest the wilds are always pressing in.

The Dungeons

Heavily influenced by ELV’s Ruins, Crypt, and Cavern tilesets for a darker, more dangerous atmosphere. Cracked stones, shadowy corners, moss-covered walls, and dim ambient lighting emphasize that these are places where civilization has failed. Super Retro Roguelike floor and wall variants are mixed in for visual variety and consistency.

Asset Mixing Strategy

  • Primary Base: Super Retro Roguelike / Crawler packs for town buildings, paths, general props, and character sprites. This ensures visual consistency and provides a large library of usable assets.
  • Gritty Supplement: ELV Rogue Adventure tiles (especially Ruins, Crypt, and Village elements) for darker wall sections, reinforced patches, weathered details, and more menacing dungeon environments. Used selectively to avoid clashing with the base style.
  • Item & UI Icons: Primarily from ELV’s large item/icon packs for a more serious tone on loot and augments.
  • Characters & Enemies: Super Retro Roguelike character sets serve as the foundation. Selective recoloring or replacement with ELV enemy variants adds darker tones where appropriate.

UI/UX Direction for Miyoo Mini Plus

The Miyoo’s small screen and limited input require clean, readable, and fast interfaces. All UI must respect the 16×16 sprite aesthetic and avoid clutter.

Key UI Principles

  • Compact inventory grid (4–6 columns) using 16×16 item icons.
  • Hover/selection shows clear tooltips with rarity-colored names, affixes list, augment slot indicators, and short flavor text.
  • Comparison mode when equipping new items (“+12 Damage over current sword”).
  • Visual augment slot indicators (tiny glowing gems in item corners).
  • Clear paths and large visual landmarks in town (glowing Aether Forge, reinforced Ironvault, burning braziers at the Dungeon Portal).
  • Simple proximity-based interaction with buildings and NPCs.
  • Minimal HUD during exploration (health, mana/energy, hotbar only).
  • Short, skippable NPC dialogue (max 2–3 lines).

Dungeon Portal UI

Clearly displays the three operation modes:

  • Unstable (Free)
  • Stable (20 Aether)
  • Empowered (1 Aether Core)

with visible differences in dungeon size, duration, and risk level.

Visual Guardrails

  • Cohesion First: When mixing Super Retro Roguelike and ELV assets, prioritize visual harmony. Recolor or adjust saturation where needed to avoid jarring contrasts.
  • Readability on Small Screen: All important elements (item rarity, augment slots, interactive buildings, ability icons) must be clearly visible even at reduced scale.
  • Atmospheric Lighting: Use warm, flickering light sources in town and cold, dim lighting in dungeons to reinforce the safe vs dangerous contrast.
  • Restraint with Effects: Limit heavy particle systems and complex animations to maintain performance on the Miyoo Mini Plus.
  • Consistent Tone: Town should feel like a fragile safe haven; dungeons should feel genuinely threatening.

Version 0.2 • April 2026