Old World
UX/UI Design & Programming
Old World is a historical 4X strategy game developed by Mohawk Games. As the primary UI/UX designer and UI programmer for most of development, I designed, iterated, and implemented the majority of the game's interface, working closely with designers, programmers, and artists to create systems that could communicate an enormous amount of strategic information while remaining approachable.
Branding
User Interface
Old World layers dynastic succession, diplomacy, religion, and city management on top of traditional 4X mechanics. I worked closely with the designer to translate these gameplay systems into intuitive interfaces, creating wireframes, interaction flows, visual designs, and implementing them in-engine.
Dynasty & Succession
Every leader belongs to a family tree of heirs, spouses, and rivals whose relationships shape gameplay. I designed the character select and succession interfaces to surface traits, ambitions, and loyalty at a glance.
In-Game Encyclopedia
Strategy games thrive on information, but finding it shouldn’t slow players down. The in-game encyclopedia and contextual tooltips provided quick access to game mechanics without forcing players to break their flow.
Religion & Theology
Founding a religion is a defining moment for a civilization, so the interface needed to feel like more than a simple branching tree. The design gave each choice a sense of ceremony and significance while still making tenets easy to compare and understand.
XML-Driven UI Pipeline
All of the interface was built on a custom XML-based UI framework I helped develop to support the game’s UI modding capabilities. The framework parsed layout files and generated screens using Unity’s UGUI components at runtime, separating UI structure from implementation. This approach enabled faster iteration, easier collaboration through version control, and gave both developers and modders a flexible way to extend the interface.