Sensuki's Suggestions #020: Inventory Mockup v2

[Sensuki]

Hey guys, I've made a new inventory mockup for Pillars of Eternity.
 
I have stuck to the 720p window size restriction and made better use of space by removing all unecessary decorative elements and squishing everything together. This will all fit inside the current 720p window that is used for inventory.
 
CURRENT INVENTORY:


 
SENSUKI V2 INVENTORY
 

 

IMPROVEMENTS / ADJUSTMENTS:

 

• 95% of Dead space removed to allow for more room for extra functionality
• Stash and Quest Item buttons removed to make space for Ground (allowing item dropping) and Weapon Damage and Speed values
• Weapon sets moved to vertical alignment
• Party inventory removed in favour of Stash only - design not strictly limited to this - Stash could also be an inventory tab.
• Other Useful Stat Info added to left pane - showcasing extra space for any other character stats
• Crafting button shrunk a little bit to fit new pane
• New pane at top of center and left grids for [Camping Supplies, Player Name, Money] and [inventory Tabs]
• Character portraits moved to the far right to preserve Infinity Engine positioning - allowing players to use their muscle memory from portraits on left side
• Item slot columns extended and lots more rows added
• Inventory Tabs for item types: Weapons, Armor, Miscellaneous, Consumables, Crafting Ingredients, Quest Items - lots of room for more
• Sort buttons should be changed to "sort by alphabetical, item value ... etc" stuff like that

 

Let me know what you think!

 

Previous Suggestions:

Desynchronized Character Movement
Version Review v278 bb
Cultural Gear Selection
Navmesh for AoE Targeting
Animations & Model Collision
Inventory Mockup
Dyrford Crossing Area Design
Main HUD Mockup
Beta Version Review v257 bb
Fog of War
Inventory & Item Tooltips
Combat Feedback Comparison - some stuff addressed
Re-wrote CC Class Ability Descriptions
Item Descriptions and Contextual UI Rant
Area Map Functions *Addressed*
Main UI Tooltip Stuff *Addressed*
Selection Circles and Targeting *Mostly Addressed*
Vertical Sync *Addressed*

Edited September 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[Silent Winter]

Mostly like it.

I like the ground pane (will need a scroll-bar to drop lots )

Still prefer per-character inventory, but arranged like that I can still organise things horizontal to a given character and pretend it's that character holding it.

Deep-stash on a tab is fine.  Tabs shown there make sense and easy to use.

[BlueLion]

Personally, I'm one of those that strongly likes the current inventory set up with one change request being stash is available outside of combat.

[archangel979]

You forgot to add the amulet slot to the new inventory

[gkathellar]

Looks good in general, although that gigantic group inventory could get a little disorienting when it starts to fill up. There's got to be some way to section it so it's not just an endless plateau.

[Sensuki]

Mostly like it.

I like the ground pane (will need a scroll-bar to drop lots )

 

Ah yes, I forgot that.

 

Looks good in general, although that gigantic group inventory could get a little disorienting when it starts to fill up. There's got to be some way to section it so it's not just an endless plateau.

It's tabbed. I'm not a 2D artist so I didn't make proper tab art, but items would be sorted and tabbed by type.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[Sensuki]

For the record, I like per character inventory but I _do_not_ like per character inventory on the same screen. That is a half-measure in my opinion. Either do proper per character inventory with a separate screen for everyone (proper immershun), or just do one shared inventory.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[Namutree]

I like it.

[Sensuki]

Horrible MSPAINT tabs

 

[Corto81]

I like it. Similar to D:OS, but looks tidier IMO.

 

Thumbs up.

[prodigydancer]

Upvoted. Obsidian should hire Sensuki and make him the lead designer of their next CRPG project.

[Headbomb]

I'll point out that this mockup has two tab systems.... There's one on the left side of the grid. But I'm assuming that's MSPaint laziness.

 

"Other useful stats" should be... what? I got Interrupt and Concentration. What else could there be?

 

The crafting button, IMO, should be moved somewhere else. What's missing is a "skills and talents" tab or some such, where you can see the skills of your character, what talents and class powers, you have, etc... Or maybe there's no other useful stats and both the crafting and talents buttons could be there.

 

I still prefer the character tab to be below the inventory screen, to match where it usually is in the combat screen (see 4th post in http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/67298-lets-be-even-more-radical-on-inventory-design/). It's not bad where you propose it, but the inconsistency is there.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Headbomb

[Sensuki]

I'll point out that this mockup has two tab systems.... There's one on the left side of the grid.

No those are sorting buttons, read the last bullet point.

 

I still prefer the character tab to be below the inventory screen, to match where it usually is in the combat screen (see 4th post in http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/67298-lets-be-even-more-radical-on-inventory-design/). It's not bad where you propose it, but the inconsistency is there.

And the reason I didn't use a portrait at the bottom box is because that will not work on 1280x720 or 1280x800 resolutions.

 

It would be nice if the inventory worked the same as the IE games where it used the portrait sidebar for everything ... but since there's no portrait sidebar and the UI is designed for 720p only with only one set of art assets, I have designed mine for 720p as well.

 

Kinda weird that 4:3 isn't supported at the moment.

 

"Other useful stats" should be... what? I got Interrupt and Concentration.

Those would be good ones. They probably need to be in Character Record as well.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[Seari]

I want a vertical party UI.

 

edit: I don't like tabs or combined inventory, ****ing MMO style ****.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Seari

[AlperTheCaglar]

Nice work, but the worst thing for PoE group-inventory-interaction would be a shared inventory.

 

A shared inventory implies the removal of separate character motivations or possessiveness.

 

I'm all for IU sorting and mechanical practicality, but a shared inventory is too hack 'n slash and harms the illusion of autonomy for NPCs.

 

A stash-mentality will hurt immersion, especially for an heir to Baldur's Gate 2.

Edited September 25, 2014 by AlperTheCaglar

[Elerond]

edit: I don't like tabs or combined inventory, ****ing MMO style ****.

Just for interest. In which MMO's you control party of characters?

[Fiebras]

I agree with some of your design decisions, and disagree with others.

 

AGREE:

- Vertical alignment of weapon sets with damage values displayed. This is very very useful.

 

- Inventory tabs: We already have tabs but they only highlight items instead of sort them. If we go with the Per-character inventory model its fine to make these tabs only highlght. Mid and lategame when you are swimming with items, a common party inventory would need to be sorted by tabs that blocked out all items. Whatever the case, any big party inventory should be sortable by type as oposed to only highlight because its gonna become a mess as the game progesses.

 

-Ground inventory: Though it feels like a "BG because BG" design choice a ground inventory may be a good quality of life idea.

Though I would argue that the only times I used it was when either my inventory was too full so i had to use it to move stuff around between characters (which would never be a problem in your stash inventory or in the current per-character inventory) or because there was too many item bundles on top of each other clutering the ground that it was a real pain to select the one you hadnt looted (which Im assuming wont be an issude in PoE). So Ground inventory seems to be a "nostalgia for nostalgia´s sake" additon as oposed to being something you will actually use and so it can end up just being dead space (and so, better relegated to the sides as oposed to the important centre).

 

DISAGREE:

- 95% of deadspace removed/more item slot colums and rows- The dead space is there for a reason. Separating elements to make them stand out is good design. Otherwise everything ends up looking like a spreadsheet, which I feel is a problem with your proposal. This is basic design. Its why many products are displayed on white backgrounds with ample space between them. I would argue that your proposal occupies too much space.

 

- Party inventory as oposed to per-character inventory/Stash and quest item buttons removed: I simply prefer per-character inventory all in one screen and enjoy the idea of a common stash. I think with expanded character inventories the feeling you need one huge inventory should diminish greately. Stash invenotry screen should be separate maybe, and bigger.

Also, quest item stash. Keep it please. Even if you consider automatically knowing if a quest item is a quest item gamey or not. I can count how many times I accidentally skimed over a quest short sword or dagger in BG because it looked the exact same as all the other daggers and was in the exact same locaton in the Hobgoblin/Gnoll inventory as the rest of those generic swords/daggers.

 

 

NEITHER AGREE OR DISAGREE:

- New pane with camping Supplies and Charname-While the Carname should go in that location and should be framed better (in the BB version) the camping supplies and money could be moved anywhere really so long as its easy to see (corners, center, top, bottom).

 

-Portrait Location: Your preference for BG is showing   Though Im not sure how much its gonna affect functionality and design to have the portraits as they are now as oposed to how they are in you picture unless theres an option for vertical portraits. Should vertical portraits be a posibility (even if they wouldnt be as easy to read as having them as a bottom bar) it would be great if the inventory had similar portrait location. On the other hand, a more central character portrait location in the inventory allows for much easier switching between their inventories as your mouse doesnt have to travel so far.

 

-Other useful stat info: I dont know what could be there other than skills like athletics and the like or specific elemental and damage type resistances for easy access to that information as oposed to using the character screen. Though then you may not use the character screen at all (I remember barely checking my character screen more than 10 times beyond leveling up in BG and that was because of needing to see what the status effect I was getting afflicted with was bcause BG had no tooltips for status effects in the portraits [or the character sheet for that matter]. PoE doesnt need you to go to the character sheet for leveling up).

I think the Inventory screen should be there for the most important/general and inmediate information while the character sheet should be for the detailed information. No need to clutter it up, though I see where youre going with that. If that other info is implemented it should have different icons, otherwise it all looks like one big blob of stats that overwhelms you. More spaces.

 

-Inventory tab location/sorting buttons: We already have inventory tab sorting/highlight buttons to the left of the inventory slots. I have no strong opinion on wether they should be moved to the right, top, or remain where they are but they should have more contrast to be more noticeable. I would prefer they be kept as icons. Would be good to have Alphabetycal and by type and tab sorting for things like the stash.

 

Those are my opnions on your proposal. Good work.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Fiebras

[Sensuki]

Disagree:

- 95% of deadspace removed/more item slot colums and rows- The dead space is there for a reason. Separating elements to make them stand out is good design. Otherwise everything ends up looking like a spreadsheet, which I feel is a problem with your proposal. This is basic design. Its why many products are displayed on white backgrounds with ample space between them. I would argue that your proposal occupies too much space.

I think this is necessary to fit in the Damage and Speed values for weapons in the inventory. They need to be there (IMO), that's the reason behind removing the space. That functionality is required. The Stash and Quest Item buttons have been moved because they could be displayed more elegantly IMO.

 

-Other useful stat info: I dont know what could be there

Interrupt and Concentration are combat stats which can be affected by items - that would be a start.

 

-Portrait Location: Your preference for BG is showing

I think it's actually important to recognize that players will have years worth of muscle memory from playing the IE games. This is one thing that MICROSOFT FAILED TO REALIZE when removing the start bar and changing the way that users interact with Windows. It is far better to keep things the same because people are used to them IMO.

 

Those are my opnions on your proposal. Good work.

Cheers

Edited September 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[Fiebras]

 The Stash and Quest Item buttons have been moved because they could be displayed more elegantly IMO.

Completely agree. Though I think there could also be more elegant ways to implement what you are proposing. More separation here and there. Its a design refinement thing that you shouldnt worry about showing as this is all you presenting the idea.

 

 

Interrupt and Concentration are combat stats which can be affected by items - that would be a start.

 

More easily accesible information on those combat stats would indeed be nice. Especially if you have an item that affects either.

[Sensuki]

I agree, there's like a dozen ways I can think of better displaying the inventory screen. After the next patch I might go to town and do a bunch of different designs.

 

This was just a quick mspaint mockup

Edited September 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[Kjaamor]

Aesthetically I prefer the original UI, mainly because I think large boxes (say 8x2+) tend to look ugly although I also agree with Fiebras than the unused space is in and of itself a design decision.

 

I dislike both the shared inventory (aesthetically and functionally) and the tab system, which I feel serves to make the items within more mundane. A sword within the bottles just looks cooler than a sword within the swords. And while I know you were joking, I think the tab system inherently feels like I'm using Firefox or Excel and I'm not sure that's quite the vibe I'm looking for in PoE.

 

Of course my preference for existing inventory was already on the table, as it were. Still, keep up the good work!

[Sensuki]

There's not enough space on the current UI for some much needed stuff, which is why I removed some of the decorative borders.

 

In resolutions larger than 720p, the whole inventory screen actually has an extra decorative border around it that is not used in the 720p fullscreen mode (which is what I made this mockup based off)

 

The tabs can also be stylized to look like something from the game, rather than a Chrome tab like my very very bad mspaint version.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[aeonsim]

I prefer the look of the original UI at least when it has 16 slots. Not a fan of shared inventories and thought the group view with per party inventory slots was a nice way of doing it.

 

I also like the separate stash because it allows you to move stuff out of sight, otherwise even with filters the group inventory can end up so crowded that it's a complete waste of time working with it. The multi-member view of the individual inventories would work well for me because I can organise gear by character and type ie the Wizard has the scrolls, the warrior the weapons and so on while allowing me to easily see what every one had and once they fixed a few of the selection bugs and made things easy to drag and drop out have allowed rapid sorting and moving of items around the inventory.

[Sensuki]

Going by the poll there does seem to be a preference for per-character inventory here. I think that tabbed sections would be better than pop-up stash and quest items boxes anyway.

 

I'll do a few more mockups after I see the changes in the upcoming patch.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Sensuki

[morhilane]

 

edit: I don't like tabs or combined inventory, ****ing MMO style ****.

Just for interest. In which MMO's you control party of characters?

 

 

Atlantica Online, but I don't think that Seari was thinking about that game.