security-game/docs/ui-copy.md

# UI copy and button inventory

Status: dialogue pass complete; button/focus/font-scale 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 | Destructive reset asks 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 | Clear tutorial flags and restart Hollywood | Standard button |
| Settings | Reset campaign | Confirmed campaign reset | 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; the 1.5–2× string/font-scale layout test remains a separate 0.9.3 task. |

## 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.
- Verify focus/hover/pressed/disabled states with keyboard, gamepad and mouse.
- Test long strings and 1.75x HUD font scale.
- Capture every dialog/button state and run `screen_designs.py compare` plus the pinned judge.