In Snowmancer the player fights through hordes of enemy wizards, the catch is that you are a wizard as well and can imbue the snowballs you throw with magical powers which have differing effects.

I wanted to create a spell selection menu which allowed players to quickly change up their desired effects in the heat of battle; my solution was a selection wheel.

When the player holds Tab or E, the spell selector opens. The game opens the spell wheel with a set of pre-instantiated spell sections, time is slowed, and the background is blurred. These spell sections each contain their own script which holds information like what spell it’s associated with, icon, neutral color, highlighted color, and if it is locked. The game takes the center of the screen and then calculates the angle from the center to the player’s mouse position. If the angle lines up with a spell’s determined angle range then the spell is highlighted and its name is displayed in the center. The way this is set up means that adding additional spells in the future is a smooth process.

Upon letting go of Tab or E, the hovered spell is fully selected, updating the icon displayed in the upper-left corner and that element’s effect will also take effect with each thrown snowball.

Spells are unlocked by picking up their associated runes, usually after defeating a boss.