I was doing a little bit of research on inventory systems in an effort to work out what would be best for my project and was curious what was favoured most. Figured it could be a valuable design tool if there’s enough reply.
I realize that there are other options and that these are very recent and Western approaches, so I encourage you to comment on your favourite alternatives. If you have any recommendations on innovative approaches I’d love to see those!
I hate to give a non-answer, but: it depends on the game.
In general, I don’t enjoy micromanaging inventory. I like Mass Effect’s loadout system. Before starting a mission, you choose your weapons. That’s pretty much it.
Trading games like the classic Privateer are completely different. In those games, it’s fun to make decisions about what to carry, what would be the most profitable on trade runs.
The inventory system should support the type of experience you’re trying to create for the game as a whole.
Assuming that we know the game needs a limited-space inventory system (like your poll examples) and that this a question of nitty gritty implementation over higher level design, my personal favorite is a weight-based slot system.
Yes, a combination of two. Why only make your player consider space or mass, when they can consider space and mass.
8 foot tall bardiche and an extra suit of armor? “Sure!” Says The Elder Scrolls, “That’s only a third of your weight limit! Who couldn’t trek those things in a backpack across a continent?”
Diablo says “Two gems are about the same size as a war hammer, right? Yes, I believe they are.”
Weight lets you modify the player’s movement as they burden themselves, and limited space forces them to manage what they’re carrying, keeps it immersive, and kills hoarder tendencies. If you do a square grid approach, however, include an auto-sort. It’s just frustrating to have to spend time getting things to fit when you know you can.
To be more specific: a game where items are important, but not at the core, and should be limited, forcing a decision be made about what IS important and what the player can go without. The idea isn’t to carry everything, but how to manage an inventory that will allow you to be as efficient as possible within the skill set you’ve chosen. Added context: open world, RPG.
Given that context, I’m leaning towards a weight based approach… I worry that slotted systems are annoying. Are they? I felt you were alluding to that CDMcGwire;
Yes, I was alluding to that. However, my point was that if there are (optional) systems that deal with the micromanagement (like Titan Quest’s auto sort button), you can have the tangibility of a varying size slot system without the most annoying part (to some people), which is the time it can take to move everything to the right spot.
If you’re going for realism, maybe also restrict the amount of stuff the player loots in the first place. It could be taboo to take a dead person’s belongings (but inquisitive adventurers might still decide to a peek and even take stuff if it’s worth the karma / reputation / whatever consequences).
I don’t like how every bear/wolf gives a hide, a giant scorpion always drops poison and so on, either. If the hero is some kind of trapper / wilderness person who’d routinely skin animals and rummage through their intestines that’s one thing, but some cleric or city dweller?
At the beginning, if the hero is basically destitute I can see them picking up everything they can scrap together in oder to survive, but half way to being the rescuer of the world, knowing they’re the chosen one, would they really pick up that dead in the alley beggar’s stinky cloak to sell it for spare change?
Edit: Not to mention going around town and cracking every barrel which clearly belong to someone.
Halo. 2 guns. Limited ammo supply. 4 grenades. That’s it.
Back on track, here is my take on things that are required for a good inventory system
Real constraints. Players should have to make actual decisions about which items to keep and toss. (Skyrim is an example of this done wrong. Inventory management is simply a case of ditching low value-to-weight items).
Simple to use. I shouldn’t have to spend time rearranging items to make them fit (bad Diablo). I should be able to find an item I want quickly (bad Skyrim).
I’m quite partial to the goldeneye64 inventory. It was basically unlimited everything and you could scroll through your inventory vertically 1 slot at a time. I would implement it differently, but I like the idea of a minimal ui where you could view items individually and have many item slots.
Maybe you could have it be sortable by item type so it wouldn’t take too long to find things.
You know what would be nice? A mix of the options 1 and 2, which “fills” first goes, if you are carrying to much weight, it doesnt matter if you still have slots left: if you take more items you will walk slower (you can even take it further and make the player walk gradually slower as the player carry more weight, instead of just a boolean like skyrim), or, it doesnt matter if you still can carry more weight, if you filled all your slots you cant take any more items, the reallistic parts of both systems! Of course, if you want to make something reallistic.
Pro Tip: Don’t hit Ctrl+N when writing in the forum.
TL;Don’t want to write again, think about the player’s input. Some things work with Mice, some things work with controllers.
Bonus bad idea: Torchlight/Minecraft style system on a scaling scroll field where number of items is limited by floating point weight AND width AND height.
In regards to formatting an inventory system, assuming I pursue a weight based, limited slots approach, what are some instances of this sort of approach (or usable with this approach) that are easy to use, fun and ultimately user friendly?
Personally, I loved Morrowind’s look and feel; however, it suffered by often becoming cluttered. What are some good solutions to this? I think it could become easy to clutter the UI with divided categories and whatnot; not ideal.
I prefer a standard JRPG inventory system. It’s simple, it’s to the point, and it’s not trying to be overly realistc. I don’t play RPGs for realism, I play them because they’re ridiculous, but awesome.
Neverwinter Nights had the weighted slots system. I’m not sure how much is nostalgia, but I think it worked pretty well. There are some modifications I would make (instead of 5 pages of inventory, 1 larger main page to represent to majority of the pack, and a number of smaller “side pocket” pages).
Where it does better than, say, Divinity: Original Sin, is that by making the items take up a different number of slots it’s much easier to navigate at a glance. “Where’s that battleaxe? Oh right, it’s this giant chunk of grid here,” as opposed to, “Which one of these grey squares is the battleaxe?”
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is an example of a very lean slot based system. There’s so little space that a weight system was unnecessary. It’s basically Halo with some extra management tools.
For sorting, BioWare games have recently implemented a page where any “sell only” item goes when picked up. Then they can be sold in mass for one button click. I found this weird for a linear RPG, as enemies and crates could just have gold instead. However, this would be great for games like Morrowind.
Visual sorting, without tabs, could be a way. Here’s a few columns with your potions arranged by strength, next food columns. Change to weapon page; Columns of swords based on size/damage. I think the key is that the separation between sort categories needs to be clear and concise. No fancy graphics, and don’t get the tabs, if they’re there, mixed into the items. Things like that. Items need to pop out, UI needs to be in the background.
i guess its an expansion on how Ultima had it.
you can move the items around freely in the inventory screens, in this game they are given weight, you get over-encumbered … although im not sure weight is all so great, the feeling of moving the items freely and sorting them manually into piles makes the items feel more like “my item” … the “great sword of dragon slaying” or whatever i found in a cave feels more epic, it feels more like an actual tangible object… much more than a slotted inventory… to me anyway…
the inventory has an auto sort, the items have pages … quest, weapons/armor, papers/sigils, herbs/potions, and treasures(gems/gold)
divinity original sin… i was totally let down they didnt have this inventory… i HATE the simple 1 slot for everything system… its just boring now… having 1 slot for each item, makes all the items feel really lame…
diablo/path of exile/stalker is cool too… but not as cool
If you really want to go crazy consider making inventory affect in game physics. Character is carrying three swords? Make them stick out from the belt and catch things. Multiple suits of armour, give them a large pack that can snag things, and perhaps that enemies will grab on to. Make the backpack targetable by projectiles, an potion vial hit by a stray arrow would certainly make a mess of the scrolls you shoved in right next to it. Build a system that penalises you for accessing items stored in the bottom of the pack, perhaps with a longer time to equip in combat.
You could go a long way trying to simulate a real inventory system. Make this part of your game interesting and engaging, rather then the add on it often comes across as. Make the choice between slot a and slot b matter.
This is either a brilliant idea or a terrible one. Its too late for me to tell the difference.
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It’s all about what kind of conflicts you are trying to create. Weight is useful for large volumes of small items, and it also works well as a restriction on character movement.
Slot systems, when done well, are a great way to restrict loadouts and get players to plan ahead for scenarios they may not have even encountered yet. Making room for rockets or EMP weapons in Deus Ex is a good example. The flip side is diablo which uses it’s inventory mostly to restrict how much you can sell in a given trip.
Hehe, it was funny to read this. I agree with this.
If I look at nexus I see many mods that circumvent even Skyrim limits. I think Weight-Slot is the most realistic and should be default, but it might be a good idea to give the player a choice, like lift off weight limit etc. by marking an option in settings.
