Inventory UX Design - How Zelda, Resident Evil, and Doom Make Great Game Menu UX

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Inventories are hardly ever the stars of the show, but that doesn't mean they can be ignored. There's tons of design work that goes into making good inventory UX. Let's talk about the history of game inventory design, from Zork and other point-and-click adventure games through Skyrim and Moonlighter, how Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker fixed their hotbar problems with the help of the second screens on the DS and Wii U, and what games like Resident Evil, Monkey Island, and Doom can tell us about how to make inventories feel great.
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[@DesignDoc]

This episode features clips from (by order of first appearance): 0:19 Zelda: Ocarina of Time 0:21 Zelda: Wind Waker 0:24 Splatoon 2 0:27 Jack and Casie 0:29 Resident Evil 4 0:31 Moonlighter 0:37 Borderlands 2 0:41 Mass Effect 0:45 Dark Souls 0:54 Mario Maker 2 1:07 Zelda: Breath of the Wild 1:11 Persona 5 1:18 Resident Evil Remake 1:28 Stardew Valley 1:37 Octopath Traveler 2:04 Zork 2:57 Final Fantasy I 3:18 Final Fantasy IX 3:33 Day of the Tentacle 3:40 King's Quest 6 3:44 Putt Putt Travels Through Time 3:51 Kyrandia Book 2 3:56 Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When it's Dark Outside 4:00 Companions of Xanth 4:21 Monkey Island 2 4:36 Doom 5:00 Elder Scrolls: Morrowind 5:10 Elder Scrolls: Arena 5:14 Elder Scrolls: Skyrim 5:51 Dead Space 7:23 Kingdom Hearts 3 7:48 Smash Ultimate 7:57 Horizon Zero Dawn 8:02 Bloodborne 8:25 Dragon Quest XI 8:30 Witcher 3 9:40 Zelda: Majora’s Mask 11:40 Mario Kart 8 11:57 A Hat in Time 12:09 Dishonored 2 12:18 Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time 12:25 Red Dead Redemption 2 12:33 Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii) 12:58 Fable 3 13:10 Resident Evil 2 Remake 13:24 ZombiU 13:53 DOOM (2016) 15:14 Final Fantasy XII

[@ThiagoJaqueta]

I recommend putting the title of the game on the corner of the screen when there's footage of it on the video.

[@Data3rror]

Thank you so much for that! This list helped me find Jack and Casie, but I think it could be even more useful if you either included time-stamps for each of these here or labeled them within the video itself (even as annotations).

[@DesignDoc]

@@Data3rror Annotations are no longer an option but I added timestamps to the original comment.

[@thesuperthingymabob8209]

@@DesignDoc I think they meant in the actual video rather than an annotation on top of the video. Advice for next time rather than a fix for today.

[@bearianna]

ok, Putt Putt and Pajama Sam. talk about a throwback, i was not allowed a console when i was a kid. my parents allowed me the ability to buy one computer game that i wanted a month, or one every other month if i didn’t find anything on my trips through the aisles at Best Buy. the Humongous Entertainment games were some of the first games that i latched onto. i was such a fan of Putt Putt that my parents found a special edition box with a plushie keychain that they gave me for Easter. 🚗💛💙 so i have a TON of amazing memories with those games in particular. 🥰

[@Merrinen]

I would love to have a limited size inventory system that would work like tetris: you made a perfect line? The items gone now.

[@gamedesignwithmichael]

Villagers: Thank you for saving our village. Please take this sword as a reward. Game Log: You have recieved 'Legendary Sword of Dragons Vanquish' ........ ........ Inventory: (4 lines of inventory disappear)

[@emdivine]

@@gamedesignwithmichael In all seriousness, designing a game like that you would automatically open the inventory every time you get something, and place it in manually. Though I enjoy your idea of getting screwed by a quest reward :)

[@SiphonRayzar]

Um, how about NOT having an inventory system that punishes you for storing your stuff efficiently.

[@galvanizeddreamer2051]

@@gamedesignwithmichael You could have it to where it gives you certain upgraded items if you sacrifice certain items. Say those 4 lines also had a medkit, a stick of dynamite, and a wood staff: Game Log: You have received 'The War Pick of Homeopathic Decimation'

[@carwyn3691]

@@galvanizeddreamer2051 You just invented crafting

[@Rainbowforce5]

I really cannot describe how great it is to just have a second screen for inventory. Windwaker HD made great use of it. It really makes the whole game experience a decent amount better.

[@redgeoblaze3752]

A similar effect can be achieved by just making the inventory system smaller. World of Warcraft has your bags open up in the bottom right, and early on, they take up a very little part of the screen. later on, as you get more space, it can take up more though.

[@Fluffkitscripts]

It’s damn criminal that the Wii U didn’t catch on. Perhaps we can take this idea somewhere, though? What about smartphone integration?

[@BonaparteBardithion]

Some of the DS/3DS rereleases did something similar. It's nice having that extra room for menus or hotkeys. It leaves more navigable space on the screen.

[@pjmoldyrag]

​@@Fluffkitscripts I think they do something like that with FF14 and Destiny 2 using each games companion apps

[@peterking8085]

I was really impressed when I played Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire and as you flipped through different pages of the inventory (each with different types of items) you would see the backpack rustle and a different pocket would open up.

[@henryweinschel1357]

The best tiny detail in breath of the wild was automatically opening your inventory to the last item you picked up or to the materials screen when by a cooking pot.

[@Tustin2121]

The problem with quick wheels, though, is that if they’re dynamically split, then the “quick” part vanishes every time something new gets added, because suddenly you have to learn a different wheel layout. What was once a learned muscle movement to quickly grab your bow suddenly becomes a massive hinderance when the bow has moved position. (It’s very similar to the problem I have with touch screens, when things change right under your finger as you’re about to press down) Because of this, I’d argue against that particular implementation of the quick wheel thing.

[@BonaparteBardithion]

Related: The Sims pie menu. In the base game (any version) you have a few basic options that branch into a few more options, basically like a wheel menu with point and click navigation. But once you add in expansions and new skills/interests you suddenly have page after page of pie menus that you still have to flip through to find the right thing. If you miss it you start that section over again or keep flipping until the back button comes up. The Sims menus also dynamically split which, like you said, can make it harder to find the right options from muscle memory. In recent examples, DLC features keep getting pushed to the top. It's the strongest example I've seen for using this type of menu inefficiently. In short, wheel menu good for short lists, but unwieldy and frustrating for extensive options.

[@gabrielmourao2854]

For games like doom where the items are locked, this problem gets fixed. I get to have a hard time memorizing the hotkeys (1-9 for the guns used), and they all always occupy the same space. Got a new weapon? It goes to it already set space on the scroll menus where is never gets moved again. The problem of wether or not interactible well menus should be used is quite tricky, however i see no problem with the one that have already assigned positions. It sure is a fix to the problem you in case you have a very small amount of unlockable weapons or a multitude of different types you have to switch to (sword, gun, spear, magic spells). The equipment for the assigned slot can be equiped on the inventory ui (equip great sword for the sword slot) Incidentally, some more accustumed players face no problem with this, already having a scroll menu sort in mind (like whichever sword i use, they will always be on slot 1 of the menu), but it gets to be more complicated when new unexpected items gets unlocked

[@stokesa3122]

Hang on, I'm still trying to process that whole door ajar/ door a jar thing.

[@ECL28E]

I love puns, but they're hell to localize

[@brandonporter8509]

@@ECL28E this is one of the reason why I liked SOME fansubs of anime better than the official Subs and the dubs. a few would put translators notes that highlight when intentional wordplay or common cultural references were made. Though it does count as explaining the joke it’s a joke that a foreigner has to have explained in order to understand and in some cases it’s a joke that gets repeated in multiple anime. Someone does something generally considered by modern western terminology an “epic fail”. You’ll usuially see a crow fly overhead making a call that sounds like a-ho a-ho. This is nature making fun of that characters failure. And is a common anime visual and auditory joke that in English versions make no sense. English watchers will be like why do scenes like this always cut to a bird flying overhead? But once you know the underlining meaning you can comprehend that this is a common anime authorial Shorthand for essentially “even nature thinks you’re a dumbass”. But yea wordplay is hell on localization

[@adammalkovich187]

I like these videos man. As a game developer myself this is the most helpful channel in regards to teaching me stylized, tricky, and the fundamental principles of designing a game. This video itself helps me more than you may know.

[@Benji-Lindz]

Dude, I am a graphic design student looking to work in the game industry once I graduate. You have no idea how helpful your videos are. I subscribed to your channel without hesitation. Thank you!

[@howmuchbeforechamp]

Got a job yet?

[@wouterW24]

Interesting video, there´s a lot to say about the subject. Usually more really bad examples are covered. Pokemon gen I is probably one of the biggest, infamous inventory misfires on multiple counts. At least a lot of kids like me had their first experience with a inventory, and had to quickly learn how to deal with it. Only 20 slots with a bigger(but also finite) inventory elsewhere, no seperate sorting except manually changing the order, and many slots are needed for key items, basic healing items, pokeballs in which you might want multiple types.. The TMs are badly labeled and clog up what limited space you have in no time, as do specialized in battle aiding items, and healing items for specific afflictions. And the billion PP pickups you might want some of around. It creates a lot of inventory pressure in a game that isn't really designed well to test it. Even if you know your way around the game you spend a lot of time fiddling around with your bag, such as dumping TMs, which kind of feels like a chore. Generation II's improvements into pockets already made for a dramatic improvements that eliminated some of the more blatant illogical pressure, but added more with berries, and tactical held items. The held item pressure build up again in gen III, until they finally just made your pack infinite from gen IV onwards(and split medicine off for good measure)

[@wouterW24]

Overbite Games you mean gen II with the need to press right?

[@Flowtail]

...jesus, how the fuck did Pokémon ever get big??

[@laytonjr6601]

Pokémon inventory : 20 slots, 1 per unique item The game : 50 TM, 6 HM, 4 balls, 8 hp heals, 6 status effect heal, 5 stats upgrade, 5 stats temporary upgrade, 5 evolution stones, 2 or 3 repells, key items (map, boat pass, 3 fishing rods, ghost detector, 2 or 3 door keys, bicycle, object search, multi exp)

[@laytonjr6601]

Correct me if I forgot something, I did it by memory

[@parchmentengineer8169]

I'm sorry WHAT? The earlier gens had maximum inventory limits? I feel so sorry for those who had to deal with that.

[@Dug88]

I'd have to say one of my least favourite inventory and general ux has to be the dragon quest series. Each character has an individual inventory as well as a sack in later installments. Every action you can do has a separate command and once you do it the entire menu will close. So swapping items becomes a chore of repeatedly opening the menu, finding which character has the item, going to their individual inventory, selecting give item, choose the character you want to give the item to, which, hopefully they have enough space because otherwise you have to close the whole menu and give away one of their items first, then give the item to the character. Reopen the whole menu to repeat the process or equip the item you just gave the character then repeat the whole process for anything else you want to use or move around in your inventory. Not to mention actually seeing what items do is relegated to an identify spell that you have to cast on any item in your inventory which typically gives you vague unhelpful information anyway. It doesn't help that item names in general are fairly non-descriptive of their function and names change between different translations and localizations. The ux in those games really tends to make them a frustrating experience where it really shouldn't be. They're great games, but their inventory system(which as far as I know is still pretty much the same in the later games) really makes the games drag out at times far longer than they should. Even something simple like keeping the menu open between actions would go a long way towards making ux better.

[@dagossYT]

I think this is also by design in that series, like the near ritual dialog of saving with a Priest. The clunkiness seems to be intended to invoke feels of playing order games. I read somewhere that in the Japanese version of DQXI, you *still* need to select a stairs command from the menu.

[@alanfavoretto6761]

Missed opportunity to talk about Skyward Sword's quick wheel. It was even quicker, more precise, and didn't need to pause the game for it to work.

[@DesignDoc]

Bringing up SS would've been a bit redundant with the other examples. Skyward Sword isn't fast enough to ever really need to slow the game down either since you rarely ever need to swap items during the more action-oriented moments unless I'm forgetting something.

[@cajunseasoning1846]

@@DesignDoc What about boss fights that require some items to beat them like the bow or whip, even bombs. Changing shields if one breaks mid combat or drinking a potion mid fight.

[@alfredomondragon3904]

6:41 Frontier Village theme from Xenoblade Chronicles... I see that you are a man of culture.

[@joshuaward9876]

Truly elevated the video for me.

[@Phazon8058MS]

Kind of ironic considering how awful the original game's menu UX is. Thank goodness they fixed it in Definitive Edition.

[@REXanadu]

Next time, highlight *all* the games you highlight in the video. This (UX?) change will reduce the amount of comments where someone asks for an interesting game's title significantly. You don't need to provide a link to their games; a simple title on the screen will help out. Unless, you *don't* want people to know which games you want your viewer to learn from...

[@DesignDoc]

Edgar Onukwugha Done. Pinned it to the top.

[@REXanadu]

@@DesignDoc Thank you for setting up the list in your video. These kinds of lists are always great for later reference.

[@GwaihirScout]

Secret of Mana's ring menu is one of my favorites.

[@ShadowWolfTJC]

I remember that, in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, there was a button that could be pressed to swap between customizable sets of items and abilities. You can find a similar feature in Starbound, where the press of a hotkey allows you to swap between rows of hotkeyed item slots.

[@TheMetalOverlord]

And Bloodstained picked the Dawn of Sorrow idea of costomizable sets and merged with the equip wheel, giving you the option to chose between 8 set slots. Also it has the option to marks equip items as preferite, so they always appear above all the other items instead of their usual palce, amking them aleays easily accessible for a quick equip swap.

[@viniciusbarreiros1258]

great video! there is an inventory that i always considered such good idea, i know the game itself was criticized a lot, but the inventory in Alone in the dark (2008) i just love it. To access the inventory, the game would turn into first person, then the character would open his jacket and there it was, you could use pockets and several others parts in the cloth to stock itens like a gun, munition, batteries for your flash light, healing stuff etc, so cool!

[@darkychao]

With Majora's Mask I feel like what you're kinda exaggerating the problem. you really only have between 3 and 5 masks that you're ever going to be switching between, the three transformation masks, and maybe Bunny Hood and Blast Mask. Every other mask is extremely situational. You're not going to, let's say, ever need to have the Romani's Mask on a c-button while in Ikana since it's only ever used to enter one building in Clock Town. Majora's Mask has about the same amount of commonly used items as OoT.

[@Fermin-hw5pd]

Climbing Stone Tower disagrees to that xd

[@darkychao]

@@Fermin-hw5pd you only need one mask to climb stone tower, or, if you're not going to use the ride on the blocks trick then two.

[@Fermin-hw5pd]

@@darkychao What's annoying is that you have to keep changing masks, the hookshot and perhaps the ocarina, that's how I remember it though

[@darkychao]

​@@Fermin-hw5pd yeah, but if you know what you're doing you never need to pause to re-equip any c-buttons you only need either Zora or Goron on one, Ocarina on one, and Hookshot on one and you can make it up the tower without pausing once. if you don't know what you're doing, yeah you do have to pause to swap between two

[@joonaspenttila201]

I really liked that in ratched and clack all 4 in one if you played with a friend and you opened your menu it didnt pause the game so you had to work together with your friend and pause at the same time to stop time

[@christopherdemichiei]

What's that catgirl mecha gun thing?

[@monsterson46]

A game called "Jack and Casie"

[@christopherdemichiei]

@@monsterson46 Thanks much!

[@matthewjones6786]

If I got here earlier, I would’ve replied with, “anime”.

[@firagabird]

Found this video on my feed. 16 minutes later, and I've subscribed. UX is very near & dear to me, and seeing UX analysis in games is mixing two of my passions. Looking forward to binging on your other videos!

[@frankmazza5359]

One of my favourite channels, keep it up!

[@LPgamedev]

I’ve been looking for a good inventory ux video for a long time. Thanks for the great content!

[@GrimFeeling]

I love this video, such a unique topic and the editing and information is done so well. Subbed. Thanks for this

[@ioda006]

This is one of the better Design Doc videos. Love what you're doing with UX+gaming!

[@variousthings6470]

10:10 - Regarding N64 Zelda being limited to three face button item slots: Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast solved a similar limitation by making the R-trigger act as a modifier to toggle between two layers of custom actions on the X, A and B face buttons. (In both "layers", Y was kept as the communication button - which, come to think of it, is a bit like how Ocarina of Time had C-Up as its button to communicate with Navi!)

[@ThatsJustLikeYourOpinionMan]

This took an amazing amount of work. Thanks man! It was great!

[@kimioney]

Your videos are always insightful and thought provoking! Good job!

[@CalebWillden]

Aha! This helped validate some of my beliefs about UX and also taught me some new things to think about. Great stuff as always!

[@CrystalJupiter]

i loved RE4's inventory system so much; not only was it an oddly fun little side-game to make everything fit in an aesthetically pleasing/easy to read way, but it also emphasized item management since you can't stack anything that isn't an herb. i also love how key items and treasures have their own window, one of the things that could make the recent remakes a little....too frustrating at times, in my opinion.

[@PokeMaster22222]

For The Wind Waker HD, I always used the GamePad as a map, which is incredibly handy when sailing; I barely used the inventory screen, since the map's so helpful - now I don't need to constantly pull up a menu to check if I'm going in the right direction!

[@leviwarren6222]

Dude, your videos are well made. Impressive. Most impressive.

[@koolkat8639]

Excellent video! Thanks for the info dude

[@shawnthefriendlymonster9480]

These videos are so helpful thanks!

[@guy3480]

Its ya boi, *best thumbnails in the game,* back at it again

[@eduardorpg64]

Amazing video, Design Doc!

[@maro4324]

This is a great video, it helps me with my video game concept

[@netsquire]

I’ve been waiting for this

[@Kirbychu1]

Thank you for bringing Jack and Casie to my attention! c:

[@Stephen-Fox]

I do love your UX videos. One... Interesting... Early Inventory example is found in Treasure Island Dizzy. Where the three inventory is a queue, with the same button for picking up and putting down items (And empty spaces in the inventory are represented by 'empty' items, so if you want to put down the thing you just picked up you have to press the button thrice more, the first two times to cycle it to the top of the inventory and do nothing else.

[@DesignDoc]

Bad Design

[@simonolesen3436]

One of the things I appreciated when I played Satisfactory, was the multiple customizable hotbars when building. 10 different hotbars with 10 slots each. Really nice for doing specific tasks, such as mapping a specific hotbar to different types of conveyor belts and another hotbar for fluid pipes. Really made building a lot less tedious, since you didn't have to open the build menu every time you wanted to build something

[@appezmusic]

Yess, I always loved the inventory of RE4. After I played it I started looking for games with that same inventory system haha

[@ZenoDLC]

In Boktai, there is a "decay" system, your recovery item can get spoiled if left in the inventory for too long and even faster it it's exposed to the sun, considering you fight by collecting sunlight to shoot at enemies, you'll eventually have a pocket full of rotten nuts if you're not careful. This can be mitigated by storing the items in the storage back in town which keeps the freshness level until taken out, there is also usually a "Chocolate" item, like other items, it can spoil but instead of turning into a rotten item, it turns into melted chocolate, keep a chocolate over other items and let it melt and you'll combine them and get a "Chocolate-covered" which has no freshness meter which means it can't spoil. Chocolate-covered restores a very small amount of HP, and gives you back whatever was inside the chocolate covering when used, but you have no way to tell what was inside other than memorizing it

[@slabofbeef7104]

While the curses in Moonlighter can be challenging, my favorite work around is the Mimic pet. If you put cursed items in it, then the curse doesn't take effect, and when you return home, the curses disappear and you just have a bunch of normal items.

[@rmt3589]

This one's amazing. Think I'll definitely use the wheel for my game, and might only slow down for menues in the jrpg part, otherwise keep it at regular time.

[@drewthermos3866]

Well done video, thanks.

[@JimJansen91]

I think the encumbrance system in TES is not necessarily there to make it feel realistic, but to have you strategically think about what items you carry. You're more limited so you have to make smart decisions about items, which adds another layer of depth. (Also great vids man)

[@nordiclania]

Thumbs up for the Xenoblade music in the background! ^^

[@Flashkirby99]

Arrrrgh thankyou! I knew i recognised the music from somewhere. Frontier Village right?

[@night1952]

On quick wheels, Prey 2 has a great quick spyral.

[@gamedesignwithmichael]

This reminds me of a few years back when it was a thing to make a keyboard out of a looping spiral for text input.

[@night1952]

@@gamedesignwithmichael yes, i remember that on the ps1, it was awful.

[@lef426]

Another awesome vid!!

[@mckb9409]

I’m really surprise that you never talk about vagrant story, such a great example for many of your work Doc !

[@thatsagoodone8283]

And Doom had the keycards which upon retrieval, are shown in the lower end of the screen too

[@Calm2134]

Check out the Magicka controller controls for another way to fix the n64 controller problem. Each direction splits into 2 more allowing for a sort of hybrid between the hotkey and the quick-select wheel

[@philipfry9436]

*Stopping time while in UI is the best option because it double as a pause button.*

[@mccookies3664]

Unless you don't want your player to be able to spam items while in pause.

[@philipfry9436]

@@mccookies3664 Then you put a cooldown on the item use.

[@mikaress]

Great video, congrats :)

[@ichifish]

This was a great video. I think you should have talked about "always on" inventory screens as well, though, like Don't Starve. The inventory is always visible on the screen. For a survival-crafting game, this is a great option.

[@takatamiyagawa5688]

Games like Minecraft, Subnautica and Factorio present another level of inventory management: the contents of all the chests you can craft. You end up having to come up with a system to sort all your stuff if you collect a lot (which you're likely to). Can't remember the title, but I think another game had a system which would just show the contents of every chest in your general vicinity. There's also EVE, where your stuff is liable to end up scattered across the galaxy.

[@YoshiONE2ONE]

Kingdom Hearts 2 still has probably one of the best "feeling" menus out of any game I've played. Its super fast and responsive.

[@_ArsNova]

The Dead Space series will forever have my favorite UI/inventory display. Looks clean, fits perfectly into the game's lore, and doesn't break immersion or even actually pause the game.

[@davidnichol4735]

"...the precision of the joystick..." Get a load of this guy!

[@DangStank]

“...about how you can carry a hundred swords” Yeah, now you can only cary 80 swords

[@bebibroly5]

That final fantasy party.

[@CreativeSteve69]

Design doc I'm glad i disocvered your channel from recomendations. I am a slow start as a game developer n hyped to start my journey and I thourghley enjoy watching your videos for ideas that I can think about when i get to start designing my game. :)

[@gamedesignwithmichael]

Best of luck for your game dev journey.

[@legendeOfDragon]

hey! how about a video about the start of a game :D Like the instruction to a new game :D

[@Magnymbus]

The most inventive inventory I've encountered is the coinpurse from Kingdom. The coins are physics objects that fall into the UI coinpurse when picked up. That means that the coins can fall out if it overflows, but also that the amount you can carry changes slightly if the coins happen to stack nicely once they get past the top and there are other cool interactions as well. It also encourages you to use the treasury system once you unlock it. It greatly influenced the UI and mechanics of a 2d survival I've been working on. it's meant to be both grounded and heavily obfuscated in its mechanics. So I try to abstract the mechanics as little as possible, and find intuitive, diegetic ways to provide the player with feedback. Hunger, stamina, and health don't any meters, instead they play sounds, tweak shaders, change animations, make particles, and so on. It also means that I can heavily fudge the behind the scenes stuff to prevent frustration and boredom, without clueing the player in on just how much they're potentially being lied to to help them have fun. For example, slowing starvation based on location, nearby objects, or predicted behavior. Or slowing drowning if the player is close to air or has a habit of pushing their luck. Or a secret disease that gives the same feedback as starving or dying, even though you're actually totally fine. Giving your stamina a seconds wind at the expense of hunger and eventually health, etc. I enjoy making these interwoven systems with fun and mysterious quirks. I've even encountered a couple emergent behaviors that were completely unintended. I ended up having a situation where the player just died out of nowhere and it took my way too long to realize that one of the foods had a buff that, when combined with the disease above, completely prevented the low health feedback from triggering, so you couldn't see that you were actually dying. Reminded me of a few real life things, so I left it in. Oh, and spontaneous combustion. I still haven't figured out what causes it, but it only ever happens when the player is relatively still and not hungry. Like, sometimes if you ate and then slept, you'd wake up and after a few minutes you'd just catch fire for no apparent reason. Somewhere in my math, the temperature must randomly become exponential in some weird edge case, but I have no idea how that's even possible. It is kinda hilarious though, because it doesn't last long enough to kill you on its own. You only die if you start other stuff on fire.

[@Kicon28jc]

That moonlighter music is great

[@harrison298]

I think it's interesting that you consider the guns in Doom to be part of an "inventory." Before watching this video, I would have said that most first person shooters, despite having usable items like grenades, bullets, and sometimes other equipment, do not have an inventory. But really they just don't have an inventory *interface*. Call of Duty Nazi Zombies takes that concept pretty far, sometimes giving you multiple different ammo types per gun that you can swap between (think M16 grenade launcher attachment), grenades, monkeys, easter egg items (e.g., the film reels you can pick up in Kino Der Toten), and even temporary equips like the minigun. And they do all of this without any kind of inventory interface, instead relying on context-specific interactions (for example, buying ammo off of the wall is done without a separate interface).

[@GermsOilCotten]

Neat, this channel seems to be kind of like game makers toolkit which is one of my favorites. Needless to say you just got a new subscriber.

[@lucass3485]

The last of us has a great UX for the backpack, letting you both craft and change your equipment in a very fast way. That menu feels so natural that i only really noticed how brilliant it is after a friend of mine (who messes around wirh a little bit of game development) was impressed by it

[@MaximG.]

I don't know about other games, but A Hat in Time's hat wheel also works sooooo good with a mouse!

[@john_john_john]

Inventories are also another way to measure how much care was given to a PC port. Usually a PC game doesn't need the big, few per screen items that console games usually have to make it easier to read on TVs.

[@jackpfefferkorn3734]

The time-slowing effect of DOOM 2016 and DOOM Eternal's weapon wheel is great for normal gameplay, but unfortunately introduced a lot of unintended side effects. For example, the BFG's energy tendrils will spend longer zapping enemies if you bring up the weapon wheel after firing. Slowing down time in DOOM Eternal also caused you to be able to do a super jump by pressing the jump key repeatedly. That effect was leveraged by speedrunners to be able to jump to the skybox of each level and just run to the exit, meaning that Doom Eternal speedruns are really boring to watch.

[@binli1725]

You are awesome!

[@trevinbeattie4888]

Would have liked to see a mention of Dungeon Master when talking about weight management. Every item has a certain weight, and each character has a maximum weight limit determined by their strength stat. When they are carrying close to their limit, moving drains their stamina; above their limit they can’t move at all. The game also used chests to increase the inventory space: you could hold 8 items in a chest and the chest itself only takes 1 slot in your inventory, but you have to hold the chest in your hand to move items in or out of it.

[@aljongreat1900]

Im an rpg and also a big castlevania down, but alltp and links awakening were hands down has the best inventory ive seen in any game as every item were useful and thought out prettry well.

[@matt4193]

100 paperclips are heavier than a kilogram of feathers.

[@emibondo]

100 f76 bobbypins weigh more than a gun

[@Kjajo]

@@emibondo Wait... They weight in that game?

[@cajunseasoning1846]

I liked the iterm weight distribution in dragons dogma. Not necessarily it having item weight but more the fact that depending on how much you carry your run speed is affected. And when you carry very little, boii do you run FAST

[@takatamiyagawa5688]

10:14 Ratchet and Clank's quickselect? (quickwheel) 11:55 Metropolis bgm from Ratchet and Clank right before you mention quickwheels?

[@rifasclub]

7:54 Funny you paused over Aeron, as Pandora's Tower has such a top Tier inventory.

[@MrMarinus18]

13:55 It also serves a secondary function to slow the action. Doom sometimes can get so fast and hectic that it feels you lose track of it completely. At least I do like opening the weapon menu without switching weapons. Just to slow it down and take a breath and take in the situation again.

[@dm_ex_machina3395]

Fable 3 had this with the pause menu taking you to a physical place. It really did feel like I could escape in a tense moment and come back. They used this against the player if you tried to go to the Sanctuary during the midpoint of meeting the Darkness. You'd arrive to see your safe haven all overgrown and corrupted. Scary stuff. I didn't even know about it my first playthrough because I didn't pause the game so I was extra surprised on my second playthrough when I did.

[@alyendragon4209]

The dragon in Skyrim watching me pause time to eat 100 wheels of cheese.

[@strawberrana]

MK8's gamepad wasn't wasted! You could honk your horn, see the placing and items of other racers, use it as a second screen, see a map of the track, or change your controls!

[@PScoopYT]

I think it's that more than 1/3 of the screen was given to a button that doesn't serve much purpose in the game. Not to mention Mario Kart DS and 7 handle this better too.

[@incandescence5547]

12:07 Honestly, I hate quickwheels. I have a difficult time being precise enough to use them when there are more than a few items on them, so it takes a while, and I often end up with the wrong option selected anyway. The snapback on the analog stick can select the wrong item, too.

[@Xizilqou]

I quite like the "tetris" style of inventory based on physical space.

[@danielhale1]

That Jack and Casie game looks adorable and really interesting! Too bad it's uhh... never gonna finish. Looks like its kickstarter hasn't been updated since 2019, with the dev's last message saying they were taking a hiatus for mental health reasons. The chances of a kickstarter project getting back on track after such a long hiatus are historically almost zero. :( That sucks, since it's a neat idea with some great art and ideas.

[@jaroftar]

First, sorry if I misspell, english is not my first language I was thinking about an encumbrance system with different characters having a different capacity. I wanted to encourage the use of a varied party (teams of 3) and having varing, unchangable stats to each unique character could tell something about that character while encouraging using different characters instead of a universal meatgrinder

[@wilott90]

Prey had a great quick wheel that changed into a looping spiral once so many weapons were obtained. Never seem anyone else do that

[@howmuchbeforechamp]

To me the best quick menu was in infamous 2 You had so many different powers and being able to quickly change what each button will do was super immersive for me Because if i had those powers i woukdnt have to slug through menus to use it Just a tap and attack

[@graysongdl]

Random inventory pro tip: If you're making your game for PC, remember that PC players are more accustomed to menu functions and shortcuts than anyone. Expanding your inventory controls to add functions for right click, shift, and ctrl goes a long way when done well. For the kinds of games where you "select" items before choosing what to do with them, copying shortcuts from Windows explorer is the easiest way to give the player more control. Ctrl to select multiple items, shift to select all items between your currently selected item and the one you clicked, ctrl+A to select all, and so on. Besides that, if your game is the kind to have your player move items between containers, it's common practice to have right click split stacks, or pick up or put down a single item from a stack. Shift clicking commonly moves whole stacks to the other container instantly. And don't forget to think about what kind of functions you can give holding and dragging! Minecraft, for example, allows you to split the items in your cursor evenly between any empty slots you click and drag between. Similarly, right clicking and dragging deposits 1 item from the stack into every slot you hover over.

[@N12015]

Do you know something funny about the inventory system? Majora's mask 3DS didn't fix it at all even though it could. The d-pad had 3 unused buttons and one for the Ocarina. If you know anything about the game you know that there's 3 main masks related to the plot you will be using constantly (Deku, Goron and Zora). Needless to say, the unused buttons could easily fix the chore that item management was in that game.

[@killymxi]

Would've been nice to see a mention of Beyond Good & Evil

[@shoofle]

for games as heavily item-focused as zelda, a dedicated inventory screen is a fantastic use of a second screen

[@0ptera]

One thing few games do, and sadly was not mentioned here, is using different systems tailored to input device. For example on PC having hotkeys for dozens of items and actions is no problem. Console to PC ports often feel more cumbersome than they have to simply due to inventories and the wheel being unnecessary. I remember TES4 feeling like a huge step back from TES3 just for this reason.

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

By the way, when talking about Skyrim's inventory, maybe just mention SkyUI, which lists the most important attributes of the specific item group so that you don't have to check items one by one when trying to decide what to sell and what not, which might not be important in other games, but is very important in games like Skyrim since you get junk loots all the time.

[@moresnqp]

in the doom part: i mean yeah, but the combination of the weapon wheel button and the direction selects the weapon, half the time i selected a weapon without opening the wheel at all.

[@silvertheelf]

Take the door ajar… actually the door is a jar… wait a minute.

[@manamaster6]

A very good and informative video. Menu design has never been my strong point.

[@EternalYoshi]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Terranigma and how it handled inventory when you mentioned how the world would handle you looking in inventory.

[@FlameRat_YehLon]

I think, notably, Final Fantasy XIV and Fallout 4 did a great job at dealing with inventories and hotbars. Fallout 4 allows you to peek and loot lootboxes without opening them, even though you still can if you want, and the hot bar is diamond shape and the item you use depends on the amount of D-pad clicks you did, which basically solved the issue some people might face (at least me) with diagonal D-pad clicks or rotation wheels, with the only down side being that you can't instantly use an item (though you can always just pause the game). (Secondary screen? Won't add a lot besides map viewing actually, but it's not like Fallout 4's map is that useful anyway.) FFXIV used RB (or R1) to switch between one of the 8 available hotbars, with each using LT and RT (L2 and R2) and all the face buttons and D-pads to provide 16 slots. It's really good for MMOs that needs tons of hotbar spaces just to fit all the skills needed, though requiring more additional buttons (in this case, the possibility to use FPS style layout is eliminated) to activate, and the learning curve is of course steeper.

[@clayton_games]

"They fixed it in the remake though. " By doing what???

[@thatonegaminglatias4345]

Maybe by letting you hotkey it? IDK Tho.

[@Linksond]

They made the Iron Boots an item, like the bow, so you can activate it and de-activate it without even pausing (I know this is a year late but better late than never I guess)

[@dmas7749]

@@Linksond i knew this but the clarification is nice

[@ars1618]

I really like earthbound's menu, it has nice font, style and sounds.