Jupiter Hell > General Discussion
Design Rant : Inventory
Robomoustache:
I was thinking of a slot/list hybrid since a few days too and I tried to make a quick mockup of the interface to see if it could work and found a few problems with this.
My idea was to have the bigger items take several lines in the inventory to have a direct idea of how much space they take instead of using numbers (Quicker reading of the information). The list helps keep things organised and easily sorted (we all once missed an item we had in a "tetris" inventory because of the added visual complexity of those). Now, the biggest problem I have with a list system is that you can't easily fit all the inventory on the screen while the grid system allows it. If we want to have an item preview in the inventory, the lines have to be quite big (16 lines at 60px each makes a 960px high list). So we either have to reduce the number of lines or only keep the name of the item.
If we reduce the number of lines, we can separate the items by categories (equipment, ammo, consumables) keep a bigger carrying capacity. and either have 3 lists on the sceen or use tabs (using tabs doesn't allow to see everyting but it doesn't bother me too much as the items would have separate categories). The example I'll give may seem ridiculous but think about the difference between the backpack in pokemon r/b and pokemon g/s, introducing different pouches for different items was a HUGE improvement. The category system also solves the ammo micromanagement situation. The problem some people may have with this is that depending on their playstyle, some may want to carry a lot of ammunition at the expense of consumables which is not possible with separate categories. Maybe starting with a relatively small space in those categories and having space upgrade items later in the game where you choose to improve one of the capacities would be interesting and keep the tactical decision of either carrying more ammo or one more medpack, even making the decision more important as it is definitive. The other things cool with this system is that it can be used for with challenge modes: limited ammo/consumables space, removing the space upgrades from the game.
While I'm not in favor of a text only list system, I doesn't mean we can't have an item preview at all. Because a list system doesn't take as much horizontal space as a grid we can use the free space to add an item description for the selected item with a preview, a bit of game lore about the item, space for the weapons/armor upgrade slots, full stats and a bunch of useful info without having to use a tooltip as in grid inventories. The category system can use the description too so I'm more favorable to the use of categories.
Oh, and an other thing:
--- Quote from: JysusCryst on August 29, 2014, 05:05 ---Having separate boxes for separate ammo types makes perfect sense. If shotguns can have buckshot, slugs, and explosive rounds, you would need 3 boxes to carry the different types of ammo. It would be the cost of having options. Though if you really only wanted one box to store all three ammo types, that's extremely easy to do as well. You're already going to have max ammo counts with the boxes, so just split ammo to the max count. Example: Assuming you have a shotgun and an ammo box for a max of 45 shells. If you have 20 buckshot shell and nothing else, then the display would read 20/45 Shells and underneath it would read 20 B | 0 S | 0 E (B, S, and E obviously being replaced by graphics for Buckshot, Slugs, and Explosives respectively.) Pick up 10 slugs and it would read 30/45 Shells | 20 B | 10 S | 0 E. After picking up 5 explosive rounds it would read 35/45 Shells | 20 B | 10 S | 5 E. Simple to read, no extra ammo boxes, no messy UI, even when it comes to dropping certain ammo types. Click the box, click drop ammo, select the ammo type, done.
--- End quote ---
The initial idea behind the rework of the inventory system is to reduce the amount of micro-management, by allowing multiple ammo types in a same box, it would instead add a lot more micro-management: managing the number of ammo boxes you carry, the ammo box types you take and the types of ammo in them which IMHO will be irritating really fast.
Arron Syaoran:
Why not have a multi-list system that has 2-4 columns, and when the first column is full, use up the next column. If there's only 1 space left on the first column, the next BFG(or large slot item) goes on the next column, but the next ring(or small slot item) finishes the first column.
It looks kinda like this:
--- Code: ---##Inventory#########################################
#Pistol==========#................#................#
#2d4===6/6=======#................#................#
#----------------#................#................#
#BFG 9000--------#................#................#
#----------------#................#................#
#12d9--100/100---#................#................#
#Ammo Box(9mm)===#................#................#
#250/250=========#................#................#
#Small Ring------#................#................#
#................#................#................#
#................#................#................#
#................#................#................#
#................#................#................#
#................#................#................#
#................#................#................#
#................#................#................#
#................#................#................#
#................#................#................#
###################################45/54 Slots Left#
"-" and "=" are to distinguish different items that take up multiple slots.
In this case: BFG9k takes up 4 slots, Pistol takes 2, Ammo Box takes 2 and Small Ring takes up only 1.
When the First column is full(or almost full if you just picked up a big item that doesn't fit), it goes on the second column.
--- End code ---
Edit: The Name text would obviously be replaced by a graphic of the said gun/item. Detail/name text can be placed on the item icon, with details in highlighted tooltip. The reason why the items don't have graphics in the above example is because it's ASCII, and it's super hard to draw a gun using only 2-4 lines, especially if there's going to be item text.
Robomoustache:
There is a problem with that solution, if you happen to have no one space item in your inventory you might have a situation where you have free spaces at the end of multiple columns and yet not be able to pick a big item as it can't fit anywhere even if you technically have enough space. We can still have a scrolling list (which might be inevitable on the lower resolutions) but it's terrible for a big inventory (think of the inventory in Skyrim). On Kornel's picture there is 96 spaces on the grid, if we go with a separate categories system, we could use 2/3 of this space for equipables. Assuming weapons and armors would take a minimum of 4 spaces (which I think is reasonable), you have a 96*2/3/4=16 capacity. So with this system there's not real need for multiple columns.
Arron Syaoran:
Honestly, I'm perfectly fine with both a list system or a grid diablo 3 system. If it's going to be the latter, then make it so we can rotate items, and also make all items either square or rectangular in space(as in No L-shapes or T-shapes). And don't have a ton of sellable weapons/armour drop that clog up the inventory with only 2-10 items. If there is no selling to shop in this game, then lots of weapon/armour drops wouldn't be a problem for me with the diablo/RE4 system. There can still be a buy from shop case(you can buy, but not sell) like in zelda.
One of the things I hated about diablo 2(not diablo 3) is that it only took 5-10 weapons/armour to clog the inventory, and the weapons/armour themselves are worth at least some money, and have lower quality gear than typical starting/commonly worn gear.
Kornel Kisielewicz:
Ok, problem here is, that it is very important for the tactical side of the game to have a situation where carrying less weapons/armor allows you to carry more ammo. This is one big tactical decision in DoomRL and without a good reason I'd like to keep it that way. Otherwise we could simply do ammo counts separate which would get rid of most problems.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version