Dear UMes 🤗
UMeFate is on track to refactor UI with modding capabilities. Since this is an intensive and long process, we want to share current progress. Even if it is not finished yet and work will most likely spill into December of 2025. For that reason, this time, I have recorded a video, focusing on the more technical side.
The initial post discussing UI refactoring dates back to September 2025, just after the last pre-alpha tech demo release v0.0.9. Now it is mid-November and this process is still ongoing. You can read about the start of the UI refactoring work in our blog post
List Of Discussed Topics
UI Refactoring Direction
UI Refactoring Bi-Product
That Is Not About Perfection
Currently Working On
What Next
UI Refactoring Direction
In the Ingame Feedback System and Lua Modding In Works blog post, we have discussed reasons, requirements and challenges regarding the current UI rework.
In short, there was a need to fix existing bugs in the UI and to expand its functionality. That wouldn’t be possible, without spending some development time doing so. But that work would need to be done regardless of the approach, weather sooner, or later. One of the future points on the roadmap was, to make the UI more moddable. It was clear at this point that if time was spent on expanding functionality using the current UI system, making moddable UI will be much more complex. If not prohibitively difficult. Just as if the UI had been designed, before implementing split-screen.
UI modding should be based heavily on the Lua side. Which can seemingly integrate with other Lua mechanics.
Weighing pros and cons of UI improvement vs refactoring, UMeFate gravitated toward refactoring. And even if the current UI refactoring is on the positive side, there is always a second thought, if this refactoring should take place. Or if I should wait for later.
Considering that early 2025 was focused on refactoring various systems, to support split-screen (including UI), and seeing the benefits paying off now, I believe that allowing modding UI, it will help and improve further UI and other various system implementations.
Lua based UI modding allows to change many UI behaviours and the layout at the runtime. In the updates this should also be possible from the game itself. That means, no need for access to code compilers, making game builds, or compiling script files. Most of this should be able to be done on the fly.
With all the current work, visual aspects are not treated as the priority. Graphics of the UI will be part of the future design. The current target is to prepare solid foundations and mechanics of UI. And to allow adding graphical elements in the future, when the right time comes. Consider this as a visual placeholder. But layout should be built to function. This effectively dictates the visual design.
UI Refactoring Bi-Product
However, in the above discussion, there is already a massive gain from the current refactoring. Implementing UI with Lua modding capability, has forced a restructuring and improvement on the core of the Lua modding itself. Something which would have to be done anyway, before starting work on UMes autonomy and other players’ interactions. As a result, part of the work is offset into UI development time.This potentially accelerating future work. To keep in mind, none of these are simple, or short duration tasks.
What Has Changed?
As per the video, a lot of new systems have been added and expanded. Some have been refactored already, or largely refactored. The old UI is marked as obsolete and will be removed, when Lua based UI will be replicated, to match the current UI state. But for now, the old UI is used as a reference point.
At the same time, the modding directory has expanded. Now Lua based UI has the ability, to use custom icons. Localisation config files allow replacing and in the future to change languages from the main menu. Layout structure allows to configure desired UI look. And finally, Lua files allow you to implement the behaviour of the UI.
However, creating new UI elements, will be using predefined UI prefabs. These UI elements come from the engine, where they are defined what they look like, or partially how they behave. Hence for now, for an example, slider, input field etc. the appearance will be limited in terms of modding. That way, changing a few prefab components on the engine side, will maintain the visual style of the whole UI layout. And preventing UI mods from breaking. This may evolve in the future.
That Is Not About Perfection
Another UI refactoring into Lua moddability is not about perfection. In fact, certain development decisions have been taken, to shorten the UI refactoring. Like the mentioned UI prefab elements, defined on the engine side. But from personal experience, understanding future development challenges and risks, the gut tells, this is the right time to do so, if UI Lua modding is an important aspect of UMeFate.
It is important to note, no 3D life simulator has ever done split-screen, as far as I am aware. And few games have done split-screen in such a way as UMeFate. Minecraft, with a split-screen on consoles, is probably the closest game in terms of split-screen and UI mechanics that I can recall.
Another note is that refactoring of the UI has allowed, to detect various issues with the current UI design. Which primarily I was happy with. But along with adding the new functionality, certain defects started emerging. And led to growing into a tech debt. So new UI design tackles these issues.
But making UI modding, without mentioned steps of the previous UI development, could be even more cumbersome. And potentially lead to other issues, since various problems were already tackled in the previous design over the duration of 2025. Yet avoiding getting into tech debt.
Currently Working On
Current work is focusing on implementing a feedback / bug report system. Also, looking into all related mechanics, such as buttons functionality, opening and closing UI panels. And also refining UI components and other mechanics as development progresses.
What Next
After finishing implementing functional feedback system, work will move onto:
Implementing game options.
Then to implement functionality of the construction menu, which already has a layout placed. There are some panels, which are hidden and not shown on the video.
Need to build a new UI element prefab, which will be used to save / load map, game (in future), place construction blueprints, or objects. These are currently in a game. But they need to move into Lua UI.
Refine how certain elements are displayed. For example, to move away from the right hand side panel, to a dedicated panel, which opens on demand. Like spawning a new object menu. Something looking closer to Factorio / Minecraft, rather than other current life sim games. This now will be much easier with new UI design.
Test split screen functionality.
Test map editor functionality.
Test the whole game loop, with the game lobby menu.
After Lua UI work, then development can move to address list of feedback and bugs, reported by UMeFate lovely playtesters.
Then push an update to Steam. And finally start work on autonomy mechanics.
And that's all for today's update. 🙂
Until the next one 👋