Difficulty Selection Dialog

1. Summary

A centered frontend modal used before starting a new game or mission to choose a difficulty preset and inspect its gameplay modifiers. The Normal preset view shows a short recommendation, optional detail expansion, preset arrows, and OK/Cancel actions.

Overview

The Difficulty Selection Dialog is a non-diegetic frontend modal displayed over a dimmed menu background. In the documented Normal preset, it explains the selected difficulty, recommends it for players familiar with the real-time tactics genre, and lets the player either confirm, cancel, change preset, or open a detailed parameter view.

The collapsed state emphasizes the current preset, NORMAL, with a short explanation: enemies react quickly and characters have a moderate amount of health. A SHOW DETAILS button opens the expanded tuning breakdown while the preset selector remains available on the right.

In the expanded state, the same modal grows downward and exposes difficulty rule rows: ENEMY SETUPS, PLAYER HEALTH, PLAYER AMMO, DETECTION SPEED, AMOUNT OF SAVES, and PAUSE DURING SHOWDOWN MODE. The visible Normal configuration shows AMOUNT OF SAVES as UNLIMITED and PAUSE DURING SHOWDOWN MODE as ON, with dot indicators communicating relative values for the other parameters.

Job Story

When I am about to start a campaign or mission, I want to compare difficulty presets and their concrete rule changes, so that I can choose a challenge level that matches my tactics experience before committing.

Classification

• diegesis: Non-diegetic
• functional_type: Frontend shell
• component_type: List/grid

Wireframe

                    [ DIFFICULTY ]
+--------------------------------------------------+
|                      NORMAL                      |
|  Difficulty summary and recommendation note      |
|                                                  |
|  [ SHOW/HIDE DETAILS ]        < * NORMAL >       |
|                                                  |
|  ENEMY SETUPS                 o--●--o            |
|  PLAYER HEALTH                o--●--o--o         |
|  PLAYER AMMO                  o--●--o--o         |
|  DETECTION SPEED              o--●--o--o         |
|                                                  |
|  AMOUNT OF SAVES              < UNLIMITED >      |
|  PAUSE DURING SHOWDOWN MODE   < ON >             |
|                                                  |
|             [ OK ]        [ CANCEL ]             |
+--------------------------------------------------+

Components

• DIFFICULTY title plaque.
• Selected difficulty label, visible as NORMAL in the evidence.
• Difficulty summary body copy and recommendation note.
• SHOW DETAILS / HIDE DETAILS toggle button.
• Difficulty preset selector with left/right arrows, gold star, and current preset label.
• Modifier rows: enemy setups, player health, player ammo, detection speed.
• Rule selectors: amount of saves and pause during Showdown mode.
• Confirmation buttons: OK and CANCEL.
• Decorative modal frame, divider lines, and dimmed background overlay.

Parameters & Audio

Navigation

• Reached from the frontend new game or mission-start flow after the player chooses to begin content.
• While open, navigation is constrained to controls inside the modal.
• OK continues to the next start/loading step with the selected difficulty.
• CANCEL returns to the previous menu state, with the main menu still visible behind the dim overlay in the available evidence.

Dependencies & Logic

• Depends on the available difficulty presets and their authored rule bundles.
• Preset selection drives descriptive copy, enemy setup level, player health, player ammo, detection speed, save allowance, and whether pausing during Showdown mode is enabled.
• The mission/new-game launcher must consume the confirmed preset only after OK; cancelled changes should not affect the pending start flow.
• The detailed rows depend on difficulty-tuning data rather than live mission state.

BDD Scenarios

Edge Cases

• Rapidly cycling presets should keep all labels, dot indicators, and selector values synchronized.
• Cancelling after changing presets should restore or preserve the previously committed difficulty, not the pending selection.
• Expanded details should remain readable at supported display resolutions and should not push OK/CANCEL off-screen.
• If a preset has unique rules, the detailed rows should either show its values or hide unavailable rows consistently rather than leaving stale data visible.

QA Notes

Mechanic Links

• Trial-and-Error Save Iteration Loop - Difficulty selection exposes the amount-of-saves parameter, which can change how freely players rely on the save iteration loop.

References

1. 1.

   Desperados III (L22-34 of 283) Source page lines describe the two Difficulty screenshots, including the Normal dialog and detailed parameters such as enemy setups, player health, and save limits.Screenshot 3: Difficulty Tags: Difficulty Section: Title and Settings Screenshot 4: Difficulty Tags: Difficulty Section: Title and Settings

2. 2.

   Desperados III Screenshot evidence for the collapsed Normal difficulty selection dialog centered over the main menu background.

3. 3.

   Desperados III Screenshot evidence for the expanded Difficulty dialog showing detailed gameplay parameter rows.