security-game/docs/ui-copy.md

# UI copy and button inventory

Status: dialogue, button-state, focus, modal-close, font/layout and destructive-action passes complete; end-to-end audit in progress for 0.9.3.

## Screen inventory

| Screen / panel | Owner | Primary actions | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Start / venue menu | `start_menu.gd` | Continue shift, choose venue, Help, Settings, Quit | Campaign status and free-play venues share this screen. |
| Tutorial card | `tutorial_overlay.gd` | F1 skip | Non-blocking; no mouse capture. |
| HUD | `hud.gd` | Observe, target, inspect, wheel, radio, flashlight, body camera, door, pause | No interactive controls; must stay mouse-transparent. |
| Action wheel | `action_radial.gd` | Choose de-escalation/access/radio action | Confirm with Space/click; cancel with Esc/RMB. |
| Access inspection | `hud.gd` | A = admit, D = refuse | Real access evidence cards. |
| Wand screening | `hud.gd` | A = admit, D = refuse | Shows alert and carried items. |
| Radio / emergency | `radio_panel.gd` | Send request / hold Send emergency, Cancel | Normal click vs emergency hold. |
| Pause | `pause_overlay.gd` | Resume, restart, Settings, quit to menu | Esc resumes. |
| Settings | `settings_panel.gd` | Apply, Cancel, Replay tutorial, Reset campaign, rebind controls | Both reset and tutorial replay ask for confirmation. |
| Help | `help_overlay.gd` | Filter controls, Close | Policy card and current bindings. |
| Shift review | `shift_review.gd` | Continue campaign, timeline, return to menu, quit | Campaign next step is shown here. |
| Timeline | `event_timeline.gd` | Previous, Next, Close | Review evidence stepper. |

## Canonical terms

- **Admit / refuse** — access decisions. Do not alternate with “allow / deny” or “grant / reject” in player-facing controls.
- **Warning** — Level 2.
- **Blocking** — Level 3 positioning; do not call it “force”.
- **Assistance** — Level 4 radio call; **emergency** is Level 5.
- **Body camera** — always two words.
- **Shift review** — the end-of-shift screen; “review” alone is acceptable in prose.
- **Continue campaign** — advance to the next venue.
- **Return to menu** — leave the review to the venue menu (it does not start a new shift by itself).
- **Send request** — non-emergency assistance; **Send emergency** — emergency call.
- **Hollywood Boulevard — Day / Night** — the two scenery variants in the venue menu. Use an em dash and title case for the variant; do not call them “maps” in player-facing copy.

## Button labels and states

| Surface | Label | Behavior | State audit |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Start menu | Continue shift — <venue> | Resume/advance campaign | Hidden when complete; venue-specific |
| Start menu | Venue rows | Start free-play/campaign venue | Hover/focus/pressed styled |
| Start menu | Help | Open Help overlay | Standard button |
| Start menu | Settings | Open Settings | Standard button |
| Start menu | Quit game | Exit application | Destructive; label clarifies scope |
| Tutorial | F1 skip tutorial | Skip lesson | Keyboard only, non-blocking |
| Action wheel | Stop/Look/Point/No/Ask/Inspect/Wand/Warn/Block/Reason/Recognize/Radio | Choose verb | Hover/selection highlight |
| Inspection | A = admit · D = refuse entry | Access decision | Keyboard hints, policy text |
| Wand | A = admit · D = refuse entry | Screening decision | Keyboard hints, item/alert text |
| Radio | Send request | Submit assistance | Normal click |
| Radio | Send emergency | Submit emergency | Hold-to-confirm; Cancel aborts |
| Radio | Cancel | Close form | Standard button |
| Pause | Resume | Resume shift | Default focus |
| Pause | Restart shift | Restart current shift | Standard button |
| Pause | Settings | Open Settings | Standard button |
| Pause | Quit to menu | Return to venue menu | Standard button |
| Settings | Apply settings | Persist settings | Standard button |
| Settings | Cancel | Discard edits | Standard button |
| Settings | Replay tutorial | Confirm, then clear tutorial flags and restart Hollywood | Confirmation dialog |
| Settings | Reset campaign | Confirm, then reset campaign progress | Confirmation dialog |
| Help | Close | Close overlay | Standard button |
| Review | Continue campaign | Start next venue | Hidden when campaign complete |
| Review | Body camera timeline | Open event timeline | Standard button |
| Review | Return to menu | Return to venue menu | Standard button |
| Review | Quit game | Exit application | Standard button |
| Timeline | Previous / Next / Close | Step/close evidence | Standard buttons |

## Button/label issues found

- HUD inspection and wand used “allow/deny” versus “admit/refuse”; both now use **A = admit · D = refuse entry**.
- Shift review’s old “Run another shift” actually returned to the menu; renamed **Return to menu**.
- Radio emergency action used all-caps while assistance used sentence case; both are now sentence case, with the warning in the panel title/hold hint.
- Normal radio send was previously wired only to the emergency hold handlers; fixed in 0.8.1 and covered by `test_radio_panel.gd`.
- “Quit” was ambiguous between menu and application exit; both application-exit buttons now read **Quit game**.
- Settings “Apply” was made verb+object as **Apply settings**.

## Dialogue audit

The NPC reason verb now uses the authored `reason` context instead of always
falling back to the general dialogue lines. Every shared archetype has at least
one role-specific reason answer, so asking a staff member, guest, delivery
worker or performer no longer produces an unexplained silence. Deliberately
silent profiles can still return an empty context line.

| Surface | Finding | Result |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Shared NPC reasons | `request_reason()` ignored `context_lines["reason"]`; staff, guests, delivery, performers, intoxicated people, crisis and threat profiles had no answer. | Fixed; all 12 shared archetypes now answer in character. |
| Door staff | Only The Joke Shop authored door lines. | Hollywood has wristband lines; the Studio has ticket/credential/guest-list lines; the inspection log selects the venue context. |
| Radio | “Call cancelled” could read as if a call had been sent; the description placeholder was ungrammatical. | “Call not sent — hold the button to confirm.” and “Describe the person and their behavior.” |
| Tutorial / Help | The wheel verb is **Ask**, but help and the HUD key strip called it “polite direction”. | Both now say **Ask**; the tutorial tells the player to choose Ask after closing the panel. |
| Review / campaign | Continue/return/quit labels and campaign-next copy checked. | No ambiguity found; no change. |
| Repetition | Shared tourist/confused/delivery lines recur across venues by design; role-specific reason lines prevent every archetype sounding alike. | Accepted for the shared-archetype model. |
| Localization length | Longest authored NPC/door line is 56 characters; longest UI string is `hud.controls` at 172 characters. | Dialogue fits the HUD log; long-string/font-scale layout is covered below. |

## Button state audit

All `Button` controls now use `src/game/ui/ui_styles.gd`, which defines explicit
**normal**, **hover**, **pressed**, **focus** and **disabled** styles plus the
matching font colours. This removes the engine-theme fallback that previously
appeared when a custom dark button was disabled or focused by keyboard.

| Surface | States / behavior checked | Result |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Start menu | Venue rows, Continue, Help, Settings, Quit; focus clamped to the list; Continue hidden when the campaign is complete. | All buttons styled; hidden state is intentional, not a disabled state. |
| Tutorial | F1 skip is a keyboard shortcut, not a button; its hint is non-interactive. | Keyboard-only by design; no hover/focus state to style. |
| Pause | Resume, Restart, Settings, Quit to menu; Resume receives focus on open. | All four states styled; focus is distinct from hover. |
| Settings | Replay tutorial, Reset campaign, key-binding rows, Apply settings, Cancel; rebinding shows “Press…” while listening. | All action buttons styled; reset-confirmation dialog OK/Cancel styled; fields keep the engine control theme. |
| Help | Close; Esc still closes. | Styled; no disabled state is used. |
| Shift review | Continue campaign, Body camera timeline, Return to menu, Quit game; Continue hidden when the campaign is complete. | All styled; hidden state is intentional. |
| Timeline | Previous/Next/Close; Previous is disabled at the first event, Next at the last, and both when empty. | Disabled state verified in `test_event_timeline.gd`; Close stays enabled. |
| Radio | Send request, Send emergency, Cancel. Emergency hold uses press/release, so the action button stays enabled while holding. | All styled; disabling it during the hold would break confirmation. |
| Toggles | CheckButton/OptionButton controls keep the engine theme. | Intentional: the shared style targets action buttons, not checkbox/radio affordances. |

## Keyboard and gamepad focus

`UiFocus` builds an explicit focus ring for each modal, skips hidden and
disabled controls, and makes Up/Down, Tab/Shift+Tab and the D-pad/stick wrap.
`GuardController._ensure_gamepad_bindings()` adds A to `ui_accept` and B to
`ui_cancel`; the built-in directional UI actions already carry D-pad/stick
events.

| Surface | Default focus | Cancellation / trap check |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Start menu | First visible target: Continue when present, otherwise the first venue. | A/Enter/Space activates the focused row; B/Esc quits; Continue, venue rows and footer actions share one wrapping ring. |
| Pause | Resume. | B/Esc resumes; the four actions wrap. |
| Settings | First slider. | B/Esc cancels; focus ring covers sliders, toggles, difficulty, rebinds, Apply and Cancel; sliders keep Left/Right for value adjustment. |
| Help | Search field. | B/Esc closes; Search and Close share a ring. |
| Shift review | Continue when available, otherwise the timeline. | B/Esc returns to the menu; all four actions are in the ring and hidden Continue is skipped. |
| Timeline | First enabled action: Next when Previous is disabled, Close when empty. | B/Esc closes; Previous/Next leave the ring when disabled so focus cannot land on a dead button. |
| Radio | Send action. | B/Esc cancels; form fields, action and Cancel are linked; A confirms the focused action. |
| Tutorial | None; F1 is the documented skip shortcut. | Keyboard-only by design, no focus trap because the card is mouse-transparent and non-modal. |

## Modal close and pointer recapture

`GameManager._close_top_modal()` is now the single close path for the top
interactive layer. It handles the radial, inspection, wand, radio, timeline,
Help, Settings, Pause and review before Esc/right-click falls back to target
clearing or pause. `_refresh_freeze()` recaptures the mouse when the shift
resumes; `_show_start_menu()` keeps the pointer visible at the menu.

| Surface | Close routes | Result |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pause | Resume, Esc, right-click | Closes via one path; guard unfreezes and mouse recaptures. |
| Settings | Apply settings, Cancel, Esc, right-click | From the venue menu, both apply and cancel restore the menu. From a shift, cancel returns to the game with the guard unfrozen; apply returns to pause. |
| Help | Close, Esc, right-click | Closes only Help; it no longer opens Pause behind the overlay. Returns to whatever was underneath. |
| Shift review | Return to menu, Esc, right-click | Returns to the venue menu with the pointer visible. |
| Timeline | Close, Esc, right-click | Returns to the review and keeps the pointer visible. |
| Radio | Cancel, Esc, right-click | Closes the form, clears the action hint and recaptures the mouse. |
| Inspection / wand | Esc, right-click | Closes the panel, unfreezes the guard and recaptures the mouse. |
| Action wheel | Esc, right-click | Cancels without a log entry and recaptures the mouse. |
| Start menu | Esc quits the application | Root menu; right-click is intentionally inert. |
| Tutorial | F1 skip | Non-modal card; never blocks the pointer or movement. |

The session smoke now covers menu → Settings → Cancel → menu, Help closing on
right-click, and Settings cancel from pause leaving the guard unfrozen.

## Destructive actions

Campaign reset and tutorial replay both open a `ConfirmationDialog`; pressing
the button again while it is open focuses the existing dialog instead of
stacking a second one. The confirmation is dismissed and the signal is emitted
at most once on OK; Cancel closes without emitting. The emergency radio remains
a press-and-hold action: a normal click does nothing for an emergency, a short
hold cancels, a full 1.6 s hold submits once, and the release after a completed
hold cannot submit again.

Regression coverage:
- `test_session_shell.gd` checks reset reuse/one-shot and replay confirmation/cancel.
- `test_radio_panel.gd` checks normal click, short hold, full hold and post-submit release.

## Font-scale and long-string layout

The HUD scale is tested at its **0.75×** and **1.75×** bounds. HUD top/time labels
clip instead of crossing into each other, and the target chip now measures the
scaled target text: normal long names widen the chip, while an extreme synthetic
name is capped at 420 px and ellipsized. Action-button labels use `clip_text` and
ellipsis in `UiStyles`, so a 1.5–2× pseudo-string cannot push a panel beyond the
viewport. The menu shell intentionally keeps its own fixed typography; the HUD
scale setting only changes HUD text.

Regression coverage lives in `test_accessibility.gd` (target-chip width/cap) and
`test_ui_buttons.gd` (long action-label minimum width). The pseudo-locale
translator workflow remains a 0.10.0 task; this pass uses deterministic long
strings and the maximum supported HUD scale.

## Remaining audit work

- Player-facing labels are now routed through `content/strings.en.json`; numeric
  values, empty-state clears and debug-only text remain in code by design.
- Focus/hover/pressed/disabled states and keyboard/gamepad rings are recorded above.
- Long strings and 0.75×/1.75× HUD scale are covered above.
- Capture every dialog/button state and run `screen_designs.py compare` plus the pinned judge.