Game News Wasteland 2 Kickstarter Update #29: Inventory System Demo

[Zeronet]

The weapons seem a little huge on the characters in the inventory screen...

 

[InspectorRumpole]

InspectorRumpole
How would you make a more streamlined interface, using mouse and keyboard?

This, for starters.

I like the overall functionality, it's not bad when compared to some of the shit we crpg gamers have had to put up during all these years of , but what the fuck is going on with that paper clip item description? and those electrical effects? They clash with the overall aesthetic of the UI and just look out of place.

It was the same thing with the logo, good idea poor execution, inxile really needs to hire a competent graphical designer, it's an area that often gets overlooked but is essential in my opinion.

Remove the notepad, and re-work the character-model space. Tone down the lightning effects. Etc...

 

[Infinitron]

Lots of people in the Kickstarter comments asking for a unified inventory instead of per-character. Hate, Codex, hate!

 

[MasPingon]

So, what's the difference?

 

[Burning Bridges]

Not a complete boner breaker, but bland and unathmospheric. Most of the Ui is a plethora of crude orange pictograms. Why create nice graphics then banish them to the outmost right corner?

But artistic preference aside, this is not very intuitive. There is that 3d preview, but it makes it hard to tell at a glance what your characters are actually using. The spreadsheets tell next to nothing. I have seen this in other games. Useless. The spreadsheet holds a pityful 7 items, upwards you will be forced to scroll. A real icon UI shows 10x more information, and looks nicer without all that workload.

But now it's too late anyway, they won't change it. We'll see how it feels in the context of a (hopefully) compelling game. They should have made something more old school. Inventories should be something that you want to look at for long periods, not just get over with as quickly as possible. Old games like Wizardry 8 did this much better, by giving more visual information plus context menus.

 

[Infinitron]

But now it's too late anyway

No it isn't. The game is barely in alpha...

 

[MicoSelva]

Make the item picture and description in "info" right click so at least have more space and hide the fact that there will be a lot of overlap art for items.

Please don't make me fucking right click every item to get its description, or I will kill you. It worked in Baldur's Gate but there every item had a distinct icon that made it easily identifiable.

The lack of distinct, colorful icons for items is my biggest gripe with this inventory. Fallout had better icons. Even KoTOR (which had a very similar inventory) had better icons. I would prefer Wasteland to have nice item icons as well.

Other than that, looks usable and this is enough for me. The appearance of inventory screen will never be a game-breaker for me, so I don't really care that much. I could get a little angry if the inventory is worse than that of the first Mass Effect, which had borderline usability for me, but that's unlikely.

 

[norolim]

Stylistically, not very good. Functionality seems ok. But I absolutelly hate the Dragon Age style enormous weapons. This sniper rifle looks at least 2,5 meters long (or Lil' Neddy is indeed extremely little). Even the longest antitanks weren't that long.

 

[Maiandros]

it..smiles.. !??!?
excited...with..3D game's video?
Sick it must be;

I love that inventory interface <3

yes yes!!

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Repeating myself from the other thread for posterity: Overall a bit crap. The notecard approach is dogshit ugly and has never ever been a "cool" idea in any art design for anything ever.

 

[Maiandros]

surely TwinkieGorilla After all, what could be more o-bje-cti-ve than the very definition of Art?

Though please, after you call me a newfag, provide me with a..dialectic, if you will;
That coin of reciprocity,so necessary posterior to making grand statements yes? Such as 'any art design for anything ever'

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

Well, I suppose you're right. If appealing to fans of 80's educational board games is what you're going for. Then SPOT ON, I say! Spot on, brother!

EDIT: Oh, you're the butthurt Dead State guy responsible for T-Rex girl, aren't you? My memory ain't what it used'ta. Or maybe I'm wrong. Again...my poor, poor memory.

 

[Kahlis]

Repeating myself too. That is basically a solid state version of Fallout's scrap metal/electronics look. Could practically be from FO3/NV, even. As somebody who wasn't alive in the 70's and 80's I was personally expecting Fargo's team to be more in-step with my pop culture memory of the period.

Or more cliche:

 

[villain of the story]

It looks shit. Like one of those shitty Eastern European RPGs. I was expecting something more involving.

Generally speaking, art direction has too much contrast and dark. Boring and tiresome.

 

[Zed]

So, what's the difference?

multi-character, shared inventory, more item stats, and (hopefully) not a shit game.

 

[Infinitron]

Did you watch the video, man? Chris says they removed the green weapons.

Watched at work with no sound, i just skipped around to look at the various inventory elements. So now yellow is the default color for all the icons?

No. You see an image of the actual weapon in full color, like Fallout.

Actually, watching the video again, I may have interpreted his words incorrectly. It might still be green weapons on the main screen. That seems to be the case in the current build. Oops!

It looks shit. Like one of those shitty Eastern European RPGs. I was expecting something more emotionally engaging.

Seriously, low budget RPG is low budget.

 

[FeelTheRads]

They need hiver now. It's their only hope.

 

[Tigranes]

Not bad. Really orange and not enjoyable to look at but it seems to get all the key functions right. Double click to equip, detailed item descriptions, ability to quickly see, sort and even favourite, etc.

 

[villain of the story]

Anyway, at least we will most likely be able to edit GUI.

 

[undecaf]

I'm going to have to parrot those who don't like the "fallout 3" design of the inventorylist and the piece of paper not belonging to the whole picture. That is awful.

However, overall I do think this shit looks manageable.


Just get rid of the motherfucking shoppinglist...

...and make the pictures and descriptions part of the "device" holding up the interface.

 

[Gakkone]

Functionally it looks neat and snappy but there's way too much unnecessary clutter on screen. They should make more room for the list and make it show more items.

EDIT: Grid inventory would be preferable but at least they have equipment slots.

 

[tuluse]

I don't like those yellow icons, but otherwise it seems fine.

 

[St. Toxic]

It's not bad. Here's my expert analysis:

My suggestion would be something along the lines of,

And with the promised customizable UI, you could rearrange the cells into

or

Or whatever.

I also think that since they're going for a 3d character display, it makes more sense to just put up in-game 3d models of objects on display, rather than snap-shots. I'm assuming it would actually save them a bit of time, though I guess certain objects might not have any models.

 

[FeelTheRads]

By the way it looks I doubt the inventory screen would be customizable.

 

[St. Toxic]

By the way it looks I doubt the inventory screen would be customizable.

Shouldn't be any more difficult than the ingame interface, methinks.