[Jon Alma]

In the last few days I've been working on the inventory system as the following screenshot shows.



This is a first look and there are a few things missing, but it gives an idea of where this is going and highlights a few points that I'd appreciate feedback on.

First off, as can been seen from the image, there are actually two currencies in the game. This is mainly because the world is split between two warring factions that are not likely to use the same money. It also creates some interesting gameplay possibilities with using the wrong money being a risky business. It will also mean that the player will need to find moneychangers if short of the right type of money.

Also money has a (small) weight - if the player has a lot of money then this will either be stored somewhere or converted into low weight / high value objects (jewels etc) for easy transport of 'currency'. In the game I'm trying to control inflation (having played Dungeon Siege where you start with rewards of 2gp and then fairly quickly get rewards of several hundred gps that you can't be bothered to pick up I want money to be relatively hard to come by).

For each item in the inventory it's value and weight will be shown bu default. For objects that can be grouped the quantity in the inventory will also be shown (as with the coins with the little sack icon). Weapons and armour will show their attack and defensive bonuses, while other objects will probably be shown with their level of repair (the heart icon)

I did think about a paper doll equipping screen, but it was actually easier to display the character model with equipment drag and drop on this model. For the moment this model is drawn without lighting so is a bit flat - something that should be corrected pretty quickly. It will also be possible to rotate the model to get an all round view.

The empty box at the bottom left of the inventory window will soon be showing the overall weight of the inventory and the overall carrying capacity of the player. Instead of a can move / can't move cut off, there will be a slightly more gradual approach where 80% encumbrance will allow normal movement with a drop off in movement speed and increase in fatigue as the 100% encumbrance level gets closer. Again the idea is to encourage the player to travel relatively light (even if it will be possible to carry two sets of armour and several different weapons to compromise realism with convenience).

Three things to add are a scroll bar for the inventory, item filtering (the buttons for this are in place at the top of the window, but they don't work yet) and finally I am going to play with the surrounding box for each item to make then more visible (probably having a similar border to the buttons).

Anyway, what do you think?

Jon.
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Legends from the Lost Realms

[Hajo]

Looks good to me :)

Simple, yet appealing. I think it will work very well in a game.

Money having a weight may or may not be a good idea. Also depends if the game offers a bank to deposit money and how rich players can become.

Most silly use of money was definitely the Merchant class in Ragnarok online, who could by a damage bonus for an attack (spend 100 zeny and you get 600% enhanced damage on next hit.)

If money has a weight, rich could try to beat monsters with money-bags :P

Drag-and-drop to equip should work nicely. Taking small items off might be tricky I imagine? A ring on the model may be just too small to successfully grab and drag back to the inventory part of the screen.

[RedSlash]

Seems like a good idea. I think the weights makes things a bit more realistic. So one can't go running around at light speed wielding some gigantic sword.

I think the paperdoll system for equipment would be nice and kinda neat at the same time.

[Jon Alma]

[Hajo]

[Jon Alma]

[Hajo]

[Jon Alma]

[RedSlash]

For controlling inflation, you could price items based on the amount of circulation of money. So more created money = higher item prices.

The method I am thinking of using is a trade based system. Monsters drop minerals rather than gold which you must trade in for money at a shop at a price based on the market price. So if you decide to go on a crazy farming run, you'll find that your minerals will devalue pretty quickly.

[Hajo]

In a multiplayer game, you cannot set prices that easily. Players will trade with each other and negotiate their own prices.

To avoid inflation, the game core must ensure that money keeps a constant value, so that players don't rise the price that they (can) ask for items all the time.

It is difficult, since this means very careful balancing of the amount of money available to players on one side and the amount of items on the other.

[RedSlash]

I guess the nature of MMORPG's makes it nearly impossible to have a fixed (or controlled) amount of money/item in circulation. So if nobody's spending or using items then does that mean monsters will just stop dropping goods?

I think the multi-currency idea would work pretty well in MMO. Whenever one currency gets out of hand, you could simply obsolete it in favour of a new stronger currency. You could also introduce a new currency every year (through patches) or flip-flop between the two currencies every year. I don't know how that would really work out though.

[Jon Alma]

[Verious]

Using different currencies is a really good idea and actually very realistic in medieval settings where standardized/universal currencies were very uncommon.