Menu1.png
[Hide] (85KB, 1920x1080) Reverse Menu2.png
[Hide] (65.8KB, 1920x1080) Reverse Menu3.png
[Hide] (179.1KB, 1920x1080) Reverse >>166425
As I understand it, the player has a preset list of spell behaviors (aura and missile) with set attributes of (missile speed, etc.). Attached to any behavior is an effect (physical, body, magical) that also have set attributes. What the menus need to facilitate is rapidly choosing behavior and effects, and rapidly editing the attributes of each.
My proposal is as follows. Keep the first two layers of menu's, but rather than have spell type, spell properties, and preset spells, you instead have a "new spell" button, a spellbook (with ALL preset spells) and a quick access list of 5 presets.
In menu 1, when you click the "new spell" button, your mouse disappears and the + circle in the middle shows up, along with the text. Right click moves you up one layer in the menu, left click moves you down one layer. You don't have a mouse, instead the entirety of this central menu moves as you move your mouse. You move your mouse left, the menu moves to the right. Selecting makes the current and all lower layers shrink in size and blur out, showing that they're still there but otherwise getting out of the way.
The circles in the current menu layer grow larger with respect to their distance from the center. When the player clicks, the game checks if any circles are above a threshold size, and if they are, the largest circle is selected. The selected circle moves to the center of the screen, the past layers fade further into the background, and the next layer in the menu appears.
The final layer is different. A central circle appears with numbers showing the current value of all the properties, plus the total cost. Selecting a bubble reveals a UI element that signifies which way to move the mouse to change the value. In the Menu3 image, after selecting the size bubble, the player would move the mouse left and right to adjust the slider. The new value would appear real time in the central circle, and the description text would appear underneath the bubble menu. Left click accepts the current value, right click cancels any changes.
True/false values could work by having two check boxes side by side. As the player moves their mouse left or right, one checkbox would grow larger and the other shrink. This trend has been thoughtfully established by this point that it should be obvious to the player which one is selected when the player clicks.
The one big disadvantage I see is that you have to descend the tree to get back to spell properties. Sure, it's only a few left clicks, but that risks going too far back and canceling out of the entire spell creation process. Now that I think about it, there should probably be some protection (like an "are you sure?" menu) that keeps you from accidentally hitting left click one too many times and leaving the new-spell menu.
I'm showing the menu's here with letters, but icons representing the properties should be used in the final version.