Woolfe wrote:
- snipped -
Hiver wrote:If i have a kind of a backpack and i open it to check whats inside it - i dont see a written list or a spreadsheet of items - i see the items themselves. The game should try to show that as best as it can be shown.
Drool wrote:Yay realism!
Hiver wrote: its not about that level of "realism" at all.
What does that imply if it doesn't imply "realism"? It is certainly the first thing I thought of when you said it. Can you explain that better?
What i meant by all that is that you dont just throw everything you carry into a chaotic heap in your backpack.
You do try to sort the items by their type. You dont mix clothes and food and you dont mix those with hygiene products, or your extra shoes or sneakers. You do try to arrange them.
And you put your cell phone in a pocket on a side, or other such electronic devices, chargers, batteries or whatever else you carry. Your map will be placed together with items that are appropriate (like compass, pencils, rulers, etc.)not just mixed with everything else without any sense. Your papers, documents?
And then he tells me "oh but you dont have tabs in your backpack"?
If that isnt insulting - what is?
Tabs in the game, in the inventory would represent some sanity in order of items in your imaginary backpack.
And they would be functional and useful.
As much as item icons would be more functional and useful then a bloody list.
PLUS they do create a sense of greater verisimilitude and believability, while the lists is a dry monotonous feature that UNNECESSARILY breaks the fourth wall -
for nothing.
A game is an approximation.
Everything in it is an approximation, done visually or otherwise.
BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN JUST APPROXIMATE EVERYTHING SO MUCH IT DOESNT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL or in a way that hurts or negatively affects all the features a game needs. Including verisimilitude and general believability.
Therefore a dose of realism is always needed and always present, however some duchebags like to imagine and pretend to the contrary which i find utterly laughable.
Only it is not that blind complete and utter simulationist realism drool felt was a good idea to put in my mouth. In addition to other strawman insults.
Information embedded in the image is a possibility, but it needs to be done well. You still need to have sort functionality, because part of the point of having a list is to be able to sort by it.
Honestly tho, aside from looks, what does it gain you. I question how much extra you could fit on the screen, because for the info embedded in the image to functional, it needs to be large enough to be easily read. You could "black" space directly behind the information, but then it may impinge on the looks area, which is of course subjective.
These four values are simple numbers which can simply be put into the corners of the picture.
But thats not an exclusive wish of mine, just one of the possibilities i mentioned.
If the character portraits section is removed, like in that half-assed inventory pic i did, then all the info can be shown there when you hover over any item or click on it. If any item has any additional info or a kind of history to it, like it sometimes happens with special items or weapons in fantasy games that can also fit there very nicely.
...
wow, i guess now someone will jump in to tell me this isnt a fantasy game? really?
You cannot imagine any item, not just some weapon, having additional info coming with it, something that is needed, a reminder of its specific options or purposes or whatever?
ffs...
My personal preference which, as you have eloquently pointed out, is what we are discussing here, is that the list be a single line. Drop the "icon" indicator in favour of descriptive names. Have more info on the line or make it customizable, so that I can have that info there.
To me that is entirely horrible. Worse option then current version. For all reasons i already explained.
To me a sort of inventory like Fallouts had is the optimum in elegance, usefulness, verisimilitude, believability and functionality - ( NO,it does not need to look exactly like Fallout - just have the same functionality).
You see the actual item at a glance and when you hover over it or click on it, all additional info is revealed in some space to the side of inventory itself - depending where you put that space or a small window.
