zeald

Don't really get why you feel sorry for me, but ok. I do what I love doing :)

I like the idea of weapon degradation, though I think it would work better if it degraded when used, not over time. If the weapon got less reliable just by having it in your inventory players will feel the need to dispose of all their bullets as fast as possible. It will make it a realy call of duty shooter. Make it so that each shot the player takes will have a consequence on the weapon. The player needs a brush to clear the chamber, find a new barrel to repair a broken one, etc. Good suggestion :)

While my idea limits the overall freedom as opposed to a custom inventory like you propose, it adds a class-based system to peoples characters. That was my intent with the design. Sure I could have made a design that has no limits to where people put their things, but that would not really help me down the path im taking. Thanks for the reply though! :)

Thanks for the feedback :) When I first thought of this system it was because when playing DayZ I wanted to feel unique in one way or the other. I wanted my character to be important in a team composition. I wanted my teammates to think "We can't raid Stary Sobor untill our looter / raider is on". A rigid class system would not do in a permadeath game like this. As stated before on the forums "Don't get attached to your gear". It's basically the same as saying don't get attached to your character, and thats exactly what you do with a rigid class system.

Thank you for the feedback. Was there anything in specific they didn't understand? Did you ask: Where does the painkillers go? Where does the food go? Where does the hatchet go? Where does the granade go? Again, thanks for the feedback :) Will iterate on the design

I've read your post before, and I do believe we have come up with two different solutions for the same purpose. Both our ideas adds a new debth to the game where players can now take one dedicated roles in a team, like say an engineer or a medic. The only real difference I see is that my solution has a more focus on ease of use as you call it, and your seems to be more complex. While I agree with you that DayZ is not a hilbilly camping RPG I still think that the simplicity behind my design will work well in the game's current state. Frustration is good to a certain extent, but if you force frustration upon a player in situations where they really don't need it they will have a bad time. My purpose with this design is to make a understandable system that everyone can figure out really fast, but where some thinking needs to be put in order to make it suited for yourself. For me as a designer I love keeping things simple and to the point. The gear and inventory system is the first thing a player meets in DayZ, if you overcomplicate it many players will just stop right there. Keeping a system simple but highly functional for both new and experienced players is what I think I've done here. I can see the maximum slot number of 48 might be reduced, to make the decision even harder. I can't see how drag and drop functionality would not work in DayZ, it's as close to real life as it gets - you drag and you drop. As for game design schools leading to more cookie/cutter games out there I guess that comes down to the qualities of the teachers. All my teachers have urged us into thinking out of the box, creating experiences that will leave people thinking "why didn't I think of that?". And no, I'm not a student, I'm finished with my bachelors degree in game design :)

A small update, including a small sketch I've created to follow with the explanation. (Why u no picture?) As you can see here the player has all his 48 inventory slots taken by a 24 slot backpack, a 6 slot medic pouch, a 8+6 slot ammo belt and a 12 slot toolbelt. If the player was to find a 30 slot backpack and wanted to use, then he would have to remove one of the bags already in place, or switch one of the other bags in with a 6 slot smaller one. The ammo belt has 8 slots for ammunition for the primary and secondary weapons, 4 for each. The player can drag empty magazine slots and drop them in the grey ones. This will remove one slot from where you dragged it and add one to where you put it. If you dragged one slot from the secondary to the primary in this case you would have 5 ammo slots for the primary and 3 for the secondary. NOTE: Backpack: Food, Drink, Weapons, Night Vision Medic Pouch: Bandages, Painkillers, Bloodbags, Morphine, Antibiotics, and other medical stuff. Ammo Belt: Granades, Smoke Granades, M203 Granades / Smoke, Magazines for other weapons Toolbox: All current tools, vehicle parts, traps / wire / sandbags

Thanks mate! Got any spare mountaindew?

In my "final" game design document every aspect of the inventory management, including object interaction.

The inventory system is probably intuitive for someone with knowledge of how military gear is actually worn in real life, but most gamers don't really think about that. I would argue that they want a system that is easy to use and easy to understand, and doesn't take time to research to comprehend it. I believe you can have a complex inventory system like I have proposed that not only changes the inventory but also adds a whole new game mechanic, and still keep it super simple and intuitive for both old and new players.

I think you have misunderstood my concept, or I have probably not described it thuoroughly (no idea how to write this word lol) enough. The player starts out with 48 maximum slots, not 48 usable ones. You might start out iwth a 6 slot backpack, a 4 slot toolbox, 4+4 slot ammo belt and a 4 slot medic pouch. That is 18 slots of the total 48. You have to find a new backpack, medical puch, toolbox and ammo belt to gain more slots, but you cannot have a total slots more than 48. In other words, you can chose to have a 30 slot backpack, a 4 slot medic pouch, a 6+6 slot ammo belt and a 8 slot toolbox. This is where the roles, or classes come in. An engineer might have a big toolbox but chose not to have any medical pouch, and a sniper wants a lot of ammo and food / water, and another primary for close quarters, so he takes a big ammo belt and backpack.

I do appreciate your feedback, and you have some good and valid points to adress. I think we have two different takes on the current system, and I think mine would would boost DayZ tacitcal aspect. Keeping it simple is all well and good, it's important not to over complicate things that will only confuse the player. I don't believe any player would be confused by my system, since it's pretty obvious what goes where with the names "Medical pouch", "toolbox" and "ammo belt" etc. The restrictions to where you can place the items was set so that players themselves can create what role they want. This becomes especially obvious when in a team. I think it would create a lot of debth to the game without removing the freedom from the players :) Again, thanks for your feedback! (and yes, I have served :P)

I have a mock-up on my noteblock, so I'll see what I can do :)

What I've written here does in no way or form include all elements of a new inventory system that would have to be implemented. I agree with you that there are several other issues with the system that needs to be adressed, but including all of that in one gigantic post is not going to help you the readers or me the writer. I am in the process of writing a game design document for this inventory system, and it includes issues like drag-and-drop and UI elements.

Thanks mate, I really appreciate your support, and I love beans!