But....We Have Too Many Buttons

The Problem

Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life. UI/UX is work to me. UI/UX with a mobile game is even worse as I have to fill my screen space with buttons. Phone screens are a lot bigger than they used to be, but this could become a "tablet only" game if I am not careful with my UI layout decisions. I have a Light Punch, Light Kick, Heavy Punch, Heavy Kick, Special, and Jump button.  I also have the joystick area as well as the regular UI for health and player info.

I think any more buttons would start to become overwhelming for the player as well as take up too much screen space. Things like blocking and  dodging/dashing are mechanics that would add a level of creativity to the combat system. But having one or two more buttons will severely hurt visuals I feel. So do I add it in and hope you can see the fight behind all the buttons,  do I scrap the idea and stay basic, or do I think of something to get the best of both worlds? 

The Solution

The solution that seems the most logical is multi-purposing buttons. The SP or Special button does nothing unless certain chained combos are completed. Making SP block when standing still or dodging/dashing when moving would keep the button layout the same and give SP some use when not attacking with combos. I would need to make sure that blocks and dodges/dashes would work during attacks as well unless its a combo that triggers a special. I already have the tracking of a special being available. Using that to trigger a block/dodge/dash seems pretty straight forward on the surface, lets hope. Until next time.