Alright, so yesterday I got really deep into thinking about game menus and how they feel to use. You know, that stuff you click through without maybe noticing much? I had this itch to make the UI in my own little project, Clair Obscur, feel… cooler. More alive. Less like a boring list.
Looking at Persona 5 for Clues
Right, so Persona 5 kept popping into my head. Everyone talks about how slick its menus are, right? All that flashy red and black, things sliding around, popping out? It just feels good. But I couldn’t just copy that look for my fantasy game. That wouldn’t fit at all. My style is totally different. So I thought, forget the look, what’s the actual trick they used?
I remembered the devs did commentary somewhere. Down the rabbit hole I went, hunting through old interviews and videos I’d saved. I needed to hear straight from the folks who made Persona 5 why their UI worked so dang well. Forget tutorials, I wanted the why.
Finding the Developer’s Thoughts
Took some digging, but I found a chunk where the art director was talking. He wasn’t just saying “we made it look cool.” He was talking about purpose. Like how the chaotic, almost punk-rock feel of the menus – the layered text, the jagged edges, the way things overlap – it wasn’t just decoration. He said it was deliberate noise. It was meant to make you feel a little bit uneasy, a little off-balance, just like the Phantom Thieves themselves living on the edge. It reflected the game’s soul.
That hit me. They designed feelings, not just pixels.
Trying it My Way (And Stumbling)
Armed with this “intentional feeling” idea, I jumped back into my work-in-progress UI for Clair Obscur. My world is about old magic, forgotten secrets, dusty artifacts… not edgy teenagers. So I couldn’t use glitchy tech stuff. What gives that same weight?
I thought about ancient manuscripts, weathered maps, maybe stuff overlapping like layers of history? I grabbed some textures – old paper, frayed fabric, ink stains. Slapped them onto my menus as backgrounds. Added a couple of semi-transparent parchment layers overlapping where the text sits. Maybe throw in a faint, subtle vignette?
First try? Honestly? Kind of a mess. It looked more like a crumpled grocery list than ancient magic! The text got lost on the busy background, and the overlays just looked confusing, not purposeful. Damn. Okay, back to the drawing board.
Focusing on “Meaningful Mess”
The Persona 5 guy’s words echoed: “deliberate noise.” My mistake was making actual visual noise, not meaningful mess. I needed my busyness to say something about my world. Could I make it look faded, worn, like the spellbook had been used for centuries? Or maybe layers subtly shifting, hinting at the spells rearranging reality?
I toned down the textures a lot. Made them barely visible, just a subtle warmth beneath the text. Instead of random overlaps, I created a very slight, intentional “peel” effect on a corner of one background element. Added a super subtle pulse to the selection highlight, not like lightning, but like slow breathing magic. Tiny details, hopefully adding up.
Learning to Feel, Not Just Copy
The biggest lesson wasn’t about specific effects. It was understanding that Persona 5’s UI isn’t famous because it’s flashy. It’s famous because every flash, every slide, every bit of visual chaos serves the game’s identity. It reinforces who the Phantom Thieves are.
For Clair Obscur, I need my “mess” to feel dusty, ancient, mystical. Like uncovering secrets. My choices – faded textures, subtle pulses, layered parchment illusions – have to whisper “old magic,” not scream “punk interface.” Getting the emotion right is way harder than copying a visual style.
Right now, it’s still way too simple. But it feels… warmer? More grounded? Less like a computer menu plonked into a fantasy world. Long way to go, but that developer insight – focusing on the feeling, the reason behind the noise – that’s the gold. Copying the look was pointless. Stealing the idea of designing with intent? That might actually help my little UI sing.