I'm GamingBlur (@gamingblur on Discord), and I'm the Team Lead for the UI/UX Team.
Before continuing with this doc, please read the General Onboarding Document.
What We Do
Section titled “What We Do”The UI/UX Team is responsible for designing and producing the game's interface assets, including menus, HUD elements, icons, dialogue boxes, and overall interface layout and flow, while keeping everything visually consistent, usable, and within the technical limits of the Nintendo DS.
In practice, that covers things like:
- Main menu, pause menu, other menus and settings screens
- HUD elements (health, status effects, maybe text fonts, etc.)
- Dialogue text boxes
- Battle & icons
- Other on-screen interface element that needs a consistent, readable style
- Website design
Contributions
Section titled “Contributions”Project Board
Section titled “Project Board”The board can be found here: GitHub Project Board, filtered to the "graphics" label.
- Look under "Ready" for available tasks.
- If a task is unassigned, assign it to yourself.
- If a task is already assigned, message that person before joining. Multiple people can work on the same task together, but it should be coordinated first to avoid repeated work or style inconsistencies.
- Move the task to “In progress”
- Once you finish a task, move the task to “In Review” and share your work in #ui-ux-lounge for feedback.
- Is there a task missing that you'd like to work on? Sure thing, but only if it's related to the UI/UX Team. Nothing for other teams should be added to this board. You can also take a look at the Roadmap to see potential tasks to work on, but haven’t had a GitHub issue made yet!
Task Assignment
Section titled “Task Assignment”- Always check the Project Board before starting a task, and only self-assign tasks that are unassigned.
- If a task is already assigned to someone else and you'd like to work on it too, message them first. More than one person can work on the same task, but it must be coordinated to avoid repeated work or noticeable style inconsistencies.
- New tasks may only be added to the board if they are directly related to the UI/UX Team's work (nothing belonging to other teams unless given permission)
Communication
Section titled “Communication”- Keep the team posted in #ui-ux-lounge on what you're working on, especially if you get stuck, get busy, or need to step away for a while. Radio silence is what causes problems.
- Life happens, and that's okay. Just tell us! If you go unresponsive or "ghost" the team without any communication for an extended period, you may be removed from the team and have your in-progress tasks reassigned. A quick “Hi guys, I’m not totally dead” avoids this.
- If you can no longer finish a task you've self-assigned, let the team know so it can be released back to the board for someone else.
- Share your progress and finished work in #ui-ux-lounge for feedback before considering a task complete. A second pair of eyes catches things you won't.
Design Consistency & Limitations
Section titled “Design Consistency & Limitations”- Its required to read the Graphics Team Reference and the Art Standards to understand how graphics on the DS works, and the art standards/limitations that apply across the whole project. You need to follow this at all times!
- Always design with the Nintendo DS's screen proportions in mind, even for early concepts. It's better to know how something will look at that size than to find out later it doesn't work.
- Sprites and menus are limited to 16 colors (including transparency), with F112EF reserved as the transparency key color. (Maybe with a couple of exceptions with large images where a transparency color isn't necessary, but it will be discussed in specific cases)
- Each individual sprite can have its own color palette. Use this to your advantage when building out the UI by mixing different sprites, but keep no more than 16 palettes active at the same time. You won't need that many, so don't overdo it. The less palettes used, the better.
AI Usage Policy
Section titled “AI Usage Policy”There will be NO usage of Generative AI within the UX/UI Team. Anyone found to be using it to produce UX/UI for the project will be kicked from the team, and have their contributions removed.
Tools & Setup
Section titled “Tools & Setup”There isn’t one strict software that the team uses, but the primary file format must be .psd. This keeps layers, text, and edits portable across the whole team.
Software that the team uses include:
The industry standard, and the tool most of our references and existing files were built in. If you already have a license, this is the safest default.
A free, professional app alternative to Photoshop.
A free, browser-based editor with a near-identical interface to Photoshop, including native .psd support. The go-to option if you don't have access to Photoshop.
A free, open-source alternative. GIMP can import and export .psd files, though some advanced Photoshop-specific features (adjustment layers, smart objects, layer effects, etc.) may not translate perfectly — worth double-checking your file after export.
Whenever possible, stick to PSD-compatible tools so files can be shared and edited seamlessly across the team. Consistency here saves everyone headaches down the line.
Quick Links
Section titled “Quick Links”Assets
Section titled “Assets”All docs can be found on docs.p3dual.com, which pulls files from p3d-docs and the shared P3D Project - Team Google Drive.
Questions
Section titled “Questions”If there are any questions, ping the UI/UX lead @gamingblur on Discord in #team-general or #ui-ux-lounge depending on the question. Alternatively, @thebosst (Project Lead, you know, THE Boss… Ok, I'll shut up myself) can be pinged if the former is not reachable.
Welcome to the team. We’re glad to have you! 🎨