From zero to the Códex: the book of my MMO

A list that became a book

I started the Códex with a list of monsters. Today it is the whole book of my MMO, in parchment pages: bestiary, regions, astros, guardians, cards, relics, scars and trophies.

In the bestiary, each region got its own page. Whoever you have not faced yet shows up as a shadow with three question marks. Whoever you have beaten gets the portrait, the name and a star for each mastery level. At the top sits the collection bar, showing how much of the book is filled.

The first problem was excess. With so much going on, the window turned into a wall of text. I cut everything that was not a number or a name and left the explanation for the hint. The result came out cleaner.

Astros and guardians

The astros are the big bosses of the world. When the first one falls, the portrait lights up and the book thanks you with a small bonus. The Códex stops being just a sticker album and becomes a reason to go back to an old map.

The guardians, the elite monsters, got a tab of their own. You can see from afar how many each region hides, even without having beaten any. I also enlarged the images, which in the first versions were small and soft.

Cards, relics and scars

Now the book has a button: register. Registering consumes the card, it becomes a page and does not come back. I began with one button per card, which was tedious, and then made register all. A little red dot also appeared on the tabs, warning when something is waiting. The first dot stayed lit even with nothing to register. I fixed the count, and now it only lights up when it is true.

Relics and scars were rebuilt with a large image of each item and a detail panel beside it. On a narrow screen the detail became a squeezed column, so the panel now stacks.

The trophies and what the Códex gives

Trophies come in bronze, silver and gold, split into journey, combat, collection, wealth and social. Each has a goal and a claim button. What took the most work was keeping everything readable without the window becoming a sea of icons.

In the corner sits the combat attribute panel, and each completed page adds a little to it. I did not want a giant number. I wanted exploring, hunting and completing to pay off for real. The values are still being tested.

The stumbles

The counter showed one number on one screen and another on a second screen, because the count did not match. The attribute panel appeared cut off at the foot of the window. The trophy name overflowed its box. And the biggest of all: the window looked great on my monitor and awful on a smaller screen. I learned to test at both sizes before calling any page done.