(SA) Inventory shows your characters physical condition (Status Screen) (HAS PICTURES!).

[colekern 1364]

Hey guys, I came up with what I think is a pretty cool idea for the standalone.

The new inventory system was recently revealed, and although it looks pretty ugly (the art team hasn't actually touched it yet, it was all done by programmers), it has some really cool ideas, such as clothes themselves having mini-inventories and the fact that it's completely drag and drop. If you haven't seen the inventory, yet, here's what was shown at PAX:

Here's the link to the rest of that article: http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/129619-pax-east-march-2013-presenationqainterviewsarticles/

It's a super blurry picture of a screen. Sorry. For the suggestion, I've made a quick mock-up in high-def.

You'll notice there are some things missing, such as the green squares that show what you're wearing. Rocket said those weren't actually supposed to be there and that they're just placeholders, so I removed them to make room.

The suggestion is that the inventory be adapted to show your wounds. It would show where your wounds are, and what they are. But first I'd like to tell you why I think it needs to be implemented.

One of the developers goals for one of the later updates to remove the HUD entirely and replace it with visual and audio cues. I support this, but I also think that there has to be a way to get in-depth information about your character on-demand. I have two ideas on how to how to do this, so I'll start off with what I think is the most logical way to do it.

Like it? Oh wait, you may not have noticed it. I'll point it out.

They're pretty easy to read. You can see that my right leg is broken, and bleeding. You can see that my left arm is scratched. You can see that I'm somewaht hungry and thirsty. That's why I like this one. It conveys lots of info in an easy-to-read way.

Now for the second idea:

You can see that certain parts of my character are highlighted. Red means badly injured, yellow means somewhat injured. However, I'm not sure how to show you that you're bleeding (maybe highlight it in orange?), so it would have to be slightly modified.

So, yeah, that's the idea. Pretty simple. Tell me what you think, and make sure you vote!

EDIT: If you can, post what you think in the comments. Otherwise, the thread will die off immediately because it never got bumped.

Edited March 29, 2013 by colekern

[Blondedash 403]

you deserve beans good sir.

[JackPotDayz 26]

Great suggestions there, I wish DayZ mod had a greater variety of skins to choose from. And not only skins but independent clothing items.

[Zarniwoop 1193]

Awesome ideas mate! I think i prefer the first one cos it coveys more infos on the character. It also makes sense to be able to check your wounds (i.e taking some action to see what is your condition).

On the other hand the second idea gives you less information. Maybe this could be used since the weak point in the first one is that it doesnt take 2 seconds IRL to thoroughly check your wounds/condition. I can see the second one implemented with a right click thing on the wound and an animation to check it or something like that.

Hope Rocket sees your ideas!! :P

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

Great suggestions there, I wish DayZ mod had a greater variety of skins to choose from. And not only skins but independent clothing items.

This'll be in the Standalone. Practically hundreds of clothing items.

Edit; If I remember correctly, Rocket wanted to leave as many UI elements as possible; out.

Meaning that a highlight for the parts of your body that are injured shouldn't be there, and you would have some other kind of indication as to what needs fixing. (I suppose limping for legs is one, and crappy aim for hands would be reasonable. But I don't think those examples are valid, as it mostly related to things like hunger, thirst, infections, blood.)

Edited March 29, 2013 by Dancing.Russian.Man

[Zarniwoop 1193]

Edit; If I remember correctly, Rocket wanted to leave as many UI elements as possible; out.

Meaning that a highlight for the parts of your body that are injured shouldn't be there, and you would have some other kind of indication as to what needs fixing. (I suppose limping for legs is one, and crappy aim for hands would be reasonable. But I don't think those examples are valid, as it mostly related to things like hunger, thirst, infections, blood.)

It does make sense though to check your wounds and have the results desplayed to you though. Sinse without that it would be hard to replicate a small scratch to the upper arm just with animations.

Anyway if Rocket can make it work with no UI at all thats even better! ::P

[SoulHunter (DayZ) 233]

amazing ideas! hoping dean or any other development team member to see these !

Edited March 29, 2013 by SoulHunter

[Dancing.Russian.Man 1631]

It does make sense though to check your wounds and have the results desplayed to you though. Sinse without that it would be hard to replicate a small scratch to the upper arm just with animations.

Anyway if Rocket can make it work with no UI at all thats even better! : :P

I had that thought in mind as well while I was in the middle of writing my reply. So to a degree it's acceptable that small wounds are highlighted, since we can't physically feel what our characters do, and it's not like a paper-cut or even a slightly larger cut is going to make me cry in pain, unless there was enough blood to soak through my shirts.

But the question is; Will there even be 'small scratches?' I think those could be considered as a part of losing some blood/HP.

[toxicsludge 406]

I like how you put effort into your suggestions.

[Blondedash 403]

I like how you put effort into your suggestions.

that isn't something common yes.

[Zarniwoop 1193]

I had that thought in mind as well while I was in the middle of writing my reply. So to a degree it's acceptable that small wounds are highlighted, since we can't physically feel what our characters do, and it's not like a paper-cut or even a slightly larger cut is going to make me cry in pain, unless there was enough blood to soak through my shirts.

But the question is; Will there even be 'small scratches?' I think those could be considered as a part of losing some blood/HP.

I hope small scratces will be in the game. Any small or large wound/injury can be crucial in surviving, especialy in a zombie apocalipse. No wounds should be left untreated else they will fester (espessialy zombie hits). This might add a whole new level of fear for getting hit by zeds and/or players.

So yes if small cuts and things are to be implemented it is kind of imperative that we can see whats going on with them.

Suggesion: It would be cool to have the second idea implemented but with an option when you right click to give you more informations on the wound. So the second idea could morph into the first one once you check the wound.

Sorry for my english guys, I may have not expressed myself very correctly. XD

Edited March 29, 2013 by Zarniwoop

[[email protected] 2416]

Ideally I'd like to see as much as possible represented with just stances and animations.

This idea is a good way to draw attention to some things that would be very difficult to show.

A slight improvenent (in my eyes) would be if you only got info on a particular need/bodypart by examination of it (by clicking).

I picture there being subtle hints that something is wrong, but further investigation is needed to see the details.

Also beans for Dr. Wasteland : "What's the worst that could happen?" (a broken leg, that's what)

EDIT: Facial animations would add to this concept quite well, I think.

Edited March 29, 2013 by Chabowski

[Zarniwoop 1193]

Ideally I'd like to see as much as possible represented with just stances and animations.

This idea is a good way to draw attention to some things that would be very difficult to show.

A slight improvenent (in my eyes) would be if you only got info on a particular need/bodypart by examination of it (by clicking).

I picture there being subtle hints that something is wrong, but further investigation is needed to see the details.

I agree here.

EDIT: Facial animations would add to this concept quite well, I think.

Uuuhhm First Person? It would be diffecult that! :P

All this seems harder from a First Person perspective.

[Max Planck 7174]

I like this idea, especially the first one with the icons.

Nicely made Colekern.

[Trizzo 632]

Nicely made but i don't want them. I can check my bag irl for gear but not my physical condition.

IRL arguments are often used arbitrarily but when new features make the games mechanics obvious I think they detract from the intended feeling of the game. Taking away from the UI gives us more gameplay potential and interaction with the world instead of breaking the fourth wall with RPG stats. Take Rockets experience in surival training. Checking his backpack would not tell him that his digestive system was shutting down or if his bone was broken.

But bones you say? You feel them IRL you can't in a video game. True. But visual cues for busted bones would be enough. The player craddles a fractured wrist/bone when idle or in the inventroy screen etc...adds to the game doesn't take away. Or a "pat down"/condition mechanic using your hands to check.

Example:

pats down body - blood on hand = im bleeding

pats down body -can't move right arm - its broken

Maybe a Sphygmomanometer in your inventory gives you an indication of blood. Then again maybe thats too much too serious BUT it would expand the medial/doctor/skills devs were talking about. A proper equiped wasteland MD with a host of tools for a full check up? Make some high tier medical loot in place of guns.

Edited March 29, 2013 by Trizzo

[roykingtree 125]

Nice post. What about like in minecraft where if you are shot by arrows you can see the arrows on your character in the inventor screen? For example, in DayZ it would be if your character has a broken leg, then he wouldn't stand upright in the UI.

[Lady Kyrah 1110]

I have to disprove you OP. In the real world, we do not know accurately about our health. A lot of things are opaque to everyone but a doctor. You can try to rely on symptoms and general knowledge, but for a lot of things we simply cannot know for sure, i think not having a precise indicator of any kind would be more interesting because then you have to trust your own judgement based on vague symptoms.

Some of us have hypochondriac tendencies and will treat seriously the most minor thing, while some of us are careless about their health without a doctor. This is the kind of things i want to see in the SA, reactions based on gut feelings.

[Sutinen 635]

It has one bad aspect about it. In real life, we don't need to "check" if we are hungry or thirsty, but I still like it. It would minimize the HUD and not a bad idea at all.

[Sakka 28]

I have to disprove you OP. In the real world, we do not know accurately about our health. A lot of things are opaque to everyone but a doctor. You can try to rely on symptoms and general knowledge, but for a lot of things we simply cannot know for sure, i think not having a precise indicator of any kind would be more interesting because then you have to trust your own judgement based on vague symptoms.

Some of us have hypochondriac tendencies and will treat seriously the most minor thing, while some of us are careless about their health without a doctor. This is the kind of things i want to see in the SA, reactions based on gut feelings.

After reading the OP and some of the comments I totally agreed with them. Good work btw OP. But then I read your comment and I am going to have to say that I really liked your take on health and injuries because it is authentic for how the player wants to manage their players life. So now I am on your side.

[roykingtree 125]

Here is my suggestion:

I think Rocket wants to have minimal UI icons that directly tell you what is wrong with your character. I beleive he wants us to connect with our character and use our actual problem solving skills to determine what may be wrong with our character (ie..sick, broken leg, etc..). The following [crude] images are an example of what I think could possibly be done with the Inventory System to ensure what I previously said.

How to diagnose your character:

Healthy.....

Sick...

How to indicate/represent "Blood Loss":

Minor blood loss:

Medium blood loss:

Major blood loss:

*Note, The blood elements are dynamic and gradual, meaning there aren't just 3 stages (min,med,maj), the amount of blood that "drips" on to your UI is dependent upon how much blood you have lost.*

Edited March 30, 2013 by roykingtree

[DayZoey 110]

I'm on the fence about this one personally.

I don't think we should need to look at our inventory to see what condition our character is in. If we're bleeding profusely, we should see that on our avatar (maybe leaving blood drips behind though not in the same way the Arma 2 engine has it. Something more subtle) as well as maybe the UI symbol option for servers. What they could do though is have a miniature outline of someone as part of the UI instead of the blood/food/water symbols. When the character is bleeding, a blood teardrop shape over the bleeding area (arm, leg, torso, head). If the character has a fractured bone(s), maybe a white bone over the area with a line going through it. Broken bones would be just a bone broken in half over the area. If there are multiple fractures or breaks, one symbol could overlap the other but limit it to 2 so you never really know -how- many bones are broken/fractured. You just know you're hurting pretty bad.

Then food and water could be what a mod for Fallout New Vegas did (Project Nevada) where instead of having symbols for being hungry or thirsty, your person makes auditory cues. Tummy rumblings for being hungry, throat clearing for thirsty (from a parched throat). Characters who are tired yawn a lot. Characters that need to relieve themselves maybe start farting a lot (yeah it sounds juvenille and I'm sure enough people would start giggling like ten year olds at the farting but farting before needing to poo is very common as the excrement isn't allowing the gas to pass it as it moves through your bowels, the farts only have one way to go and that way is out). Characters that need to pee might start humming a bit urgently (I danno about you but when I'm doing the pee-pee dance, I hum to keep my mind off of it as much as I can)

I don't know code for balls so I don't know how hard all this would be to achieve but just some thoughts.

[[email protected] 2416]

Uuuhhm First Person? It would be diffecult that! :P

All this seems harder from a First Person perspective.

The gear-menu we saw in the PAX demo clearly shows your entire avatar, so FPV or not, this menu potentially allows for more awareness of your character. Face and all.

Of course, there's no indication that this was Rocket's intention, but it seems like a sensible idea.

I always just assumed "no HUD" would mean we'd need to "Alt-look" at ourselves to get an idea of our condition. This new menu configuration would be far better IMO.

Even if injury/illness isn't represented as Colekern or Roykingtree suggest, it's reasonable to assume that it'd be somewhere along those lines.

EDIT:

Obviously we'd still need real-time hints and cues.

Your buddy going "Are you ok, dude? You look a bit pale." would be the icing on the cake.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Chabowski

[Wory 3]

I like both ideas, but especially the second.

I would place the colour as a lighlty tranarent layer above the body, but the coulour would completly overlay as an example the leg.

But I think Rocket doesn't want an GUI.

Nice Suggestion, though! :)

Edited March 30, 2013 by Wory

[roykingtree 125]

created separate thread for my suggestion: http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/130484-sa-inventorycharacter-condition/#entry1263360

[TIC 1050]

I like these ideas but I don't like your poll. It's missing an option to like both numbers ;)