UI System: Decoupled Orchestration for Vitality and Menus

Intro: UI That Just Works — Without Spaghetti In most Unity projects, UI logic is tangled inside gameplay scripts. Health scripts directly update health bars, menus are manually toggled from input handlers, and every new feature requires editing multiple scripts. The Modular Third-Person Framework avoids this trap with a decoupled UI system. Powered by events, interfaces, and an orchestrator, the UI listens to gameplay data instead of being hardwired into it. That means you can replace, extend, or even remove UI elements without breaking the core systems.  

 The Challenge: Hardwired UI Systems Without a proper UI layer, developers run into: 

• Health/ stamina logic directly tied to UI sliders.
• Menu toggles hardcoded into gameplay scripts.
• No single place to manage UI state globally.
• Difficulties replacing UI art/assets without editing code.
• Bugs when gameplay systems try to update missing UI elements.

 The Solution – PlayerCoreUIOrchestrator + Modular UI Elements The framework’s UI system solves these problems by splitting responsibilities: Key Components 

• IPlayerUI Interface → defines ShowUI(), HideUI(), IsUIVisible() — a standard contract for all UI elements.
• PlayerUIBaseSystem → abstract base providing visibility handling + hooks for UI events.
• PlayerHealthUI / PlayerStaminaUI / PlayerBreathUI → each manages its own bar, updating fill amounts via UpdateVitalityBar.
• PauseMenuUI → handles pause/resume, controls wizard, and time scaling.
• PlayerUIOrchestrator → bridges gameplay (PlayerHealth, PlayerStamina, PlayerBreath) with their UI elements. Subscribes to vitality events and updates UI automatically.
• UIManager → global manager for showing, hiding, and resetting all UI modules at once.

 Proof: Decoupled UI in ActionWithout the framework: 

• Taking damage directly calls healthBar.fillAmount = … in the health script.
• Sprint drains stamina and tries to update UI directly — breaks if UI isn’t present.
• Menus require duplicating toggle logic across multiple scripts.

 With the framework: 

• Player takes damage → OnHealthChanged event fires → PlayerUIOrchestrator updates PlayerHealthUI.
• Sprint drains stamina → OnStaminaChanged event updates stamina bar automatically.
• Dive depletes breath → UI updates seamlessly through events.
• Pause input detected → PauseMenuUI shows menu, freezes time.

 Developer-Friendly by Design 

• Interface-driven → every UI element implements the same contract (IPlayerUI).
• Event-driven → UI subscribes to gameplay events; gameplay never calls UI directly.
• Orchestrator Layer → PlayerUIOrchestrator bridges systems cleanly.
• Modular → add/remove UI elements without breaking gameplay.
• Global Control → UIManager can reset or toggle all UI at once (useful for cutscenes or scene reloads).
• Debug-friendly → integrated logging flags let you see exactly when/where UI updates happen.

 Use Cases 

• Prototyping → plug in temporary UI; replace later without breaking code.
• Production games → keep UI and gameplay decoupled for clean architecture.
• Custom HUDs → swap health/stamina/breath bars with your own UI art easily.
• Cutscenes/Transitions → hide or reset all UI with UIManager.

UI That Listens, Not Commands The Modular Third-Person Framework makes UI a listener, not a dependency. By orchestrating events and interfaces, your gameplay systems never break when UI changes — and your UI can evolve freely with your game’s style. 

👉 Get the Modular Third-Person Framework on the Unity Asset Store: Modular Third-Person Framework | Game Toolkits | Unity Asset Store