Inventory management (gamedesign discussion)

[konstantin357]

I am amateur gamedesigner and would like to ask for your opinion on inventory limitations and necessity of inventory management as a result.
Does anyone actually enjoy limited inventory and storage space?!
Before anyone points out, I know that limited inventory can be a tool to solve other problems. Problems like hoarding prevention, save size limitations, necessity to design better UI/UX for unlimited inventory management, realism (if it is a point of the game). And probably there are dozen more. I do not care about those problems in this discussion. I just want to know if anyone actually enjoys managing limited inventory knowing that there absolutely is technical ability to make inventory unlimited.
Please comment if you feel like it.

[B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t]

Nope, I never liked the artificial limiting people on how many items you may have in a game especially single-player when you can mod in or use programs to get unlimited space, now getting unlimited space in-game is not realistic but far more storage space should be implemented as a gold sink or at least a DLC that does it if someone wants it.

I do know the arguments against it and some are valid but most are not.

[Talana 💃]

No I hate limited inventory space ! It`s ok to limit my backpack space - but please do not limit my space to store things
In TQ you can use as many "mules" as you like - but having one unlimited storage would have been so much better . I am absolute ok with buying it, just as long as it`s possible.
It is especially important in games where you can play different characters and classes.
At least TQ lets you share everything between those characters. Some games does not even do that

[mmilleder]

Depends on the overall game design.
It's quite useless in TQ and Grim Dawn, where you can teleport out anytime to the (shared) stash, and where you don't fill up the stash between "savepoints".
It works out OK in Grim Dawn's roguelike dungeons, where you can't teleport out, so you have to limit what you pick up.
It actually has a minor effect in both TQ and GD: You are dis-incentivized to collect all interesting-looking greens, which is good because you won't ever use 99.99% of them.
It is annoying for collecting item sets: You actually must use mules (or a stasher) to have a good chance to ever get a full set - or you have something like GD's set item transmutation and one of the set pieces is craftable (typically the helm in GD).
As a design tip for your own game, I'd recommend you either avoid collectibles or you allow unlimited stash for the collectibles.
Also, the larger the stash, the more important it is to have useful serach functions. I'd consider GD's substring search in item descriptions as a minimum, but you could look at popular stashers for more ideas.

[Psixi]

yes, in survival games, it's a skill that decides a noob vs a good player. The decision between picking up everything at first sight, and only taking the resources necessary will play a big part later in your actual survival. You want to punish someone for harvesting items at non-opportunistic times, definitely when they all can spoil. Assessment and management of time and resources is vitally important.

For ARPGs? I would say no, clearly this games inventorry problems stems from technological challenges. Your incentivised to collect and "hoard" items, but it actively works against you.

But I would say yes, I enjoy limited inventory, just not for this game.

[Superstes]

Yes if it's tied to the game design and enhances the experience. If it forces you to prioritise, make hard choices, and makes specific items and item combinations that much more useful. This game has that to some degree when it comes to your equipment. Slots are limited and you need to think about what you really really want. And the consequences are massive.

No if it's just there. This game has that with the loot. It is basically a given that you will play multiple characters and they will share loot among. And most items are just source of money. You look at them for 3 seconds and know you will just sell them. And since you have unlimited and convenient teleport... what's the point? Might as well have magical fairies that will take 10 % cut and drag most of the stuff away and sell it. The only thing this does is to break the flow of the game.

As much as I dislike that game look at Darkest Dungeon. In that game, especially early and mid in the run, you are constantly managing a very limited inventory space and every choice is important. Do I take valuables to sell for gold? Do I take heirlooms to get closer to my next permanent upgrade? Do I prioritise items for my characters to use in future dungeons? What do I drop so I can carry back items of my deceased party members? Do I quit the dungeon now with the reward or continue? Do I risk it and take all the valuables or do I keep the items to disarm traps and treat maladies?

Until late game every item in that game mattered and I spent more time agonising over ♥♥♥♥♥♥ bandages than I do over 99 % items in TQ. And they are not bad items! It's just after playing for a bit you will have a hoard of that 1 % even better items.

And the inventory space in TQ is essentially unlimited. It's just a hassle to manage that without a mod.

[Psixi]

Originally posted by Superstes:

Yes if it's tied to the game design and enhances the experience. If it forces you to prioritise, make hard choices, and makes specific items and item combinations that much more useful. This game has that to some degree when it comes to your equipment. Slots are limited and you need to think about what you really really want. And the consequences are massive.

No if it's just there. This game has that with the loot. It is basically a given that you will play multiple characters and they will share loot among. And most items are just source of money. You look at them for 3 seconds and know you will just sell them. And since you have unlimited and convenient teleport... what's the point? Might as well have magical fairies that will take 10 % cut and drag most of the stuff away and sell it. The only thing this does is to break the flow of the game.

As much as I dislike that game look at Darkest Dungeon. In that game, especially early and mid in the run, you are constantly managing a very limited inventory space and every choice is important. Do I take valuables to sell for gold? Do I take heirlooms to get closer to my next permanent upgrade? Do I prioritise items for my characters to use in future dungeons? What do I drop so I can carry back items of my deceased party members? Do I quit the dungeon now with the reward or continue? Do I risk it and take all the valuables or do I keep the items to disarm traps and treat maladies?

Until late game every item in that game mattered and I spent more time agonising over ♥♥♥♥♥♥ bandages than I do over 99 % items in TQ. And they are not bad items! It's just after playing for a bit you will have a hoard of that 1 % even better items.

And the inventory space in TQ is essentially unlimited. It's just a hassle to manage that without a mod.

Torchlight 2 has a pet, that you can throw items to, and make it travel to Town and sell all of them, and even bring you back items like potions and scrolls. It's a great system, you can keep on going.

[soa]

Everyone doesn't play the same way.
I never share items because it ruins the game for me. I want every new game to be fresh and not inherited from a previous character.
So unlimited inventory is useless to me, but that doesn't mean I like managing a tiny inventory.
I find this issue really dated, and it should be looked upon globally, in relation to the rest of the game design.

I think it's better in terms of game design, to offer a way to recycle the player's finds into gold and other currencies, and then allow the player to turn these currencies into valuable equipment/upgrades that they wish to equip, leaving them some choice in the process.
In this way, every game can be renewed, all findings can have value, and you offer the player a certain amount of choice. And you don't need to worry too much about inventory size stuff.
To avoid the tedium of management, items should be recycled on the fly, without having to teleport to NPCs (again, a very dated way of managing this stuff) to sell them or convert them into currency.

TQ has gold, but relying only on gold is too limited of a currency system. Moreover gold costs are horribly balanced in the game (yellow items are sold for a lot of gold), and the ways to spend your gold depend too much on randomness.
I think Last Epoch has a forge system that you can call anywhere and that allows you to break affixes and reuse them, stuff like that. It think it helps making your gear valuable without hoarding too much. Still, you hoard because the game throws too much stuff at you, but that's another issue.

You could also imagine a game where you allow to share items, with a really big inventory, but that should come with a price, like paying a currency to import/export an item from a shared stash.
The player could either recycle the item for himself into something else, or export it in the shared stash.
It would make things more interesting in my opinion.

As for people who like to collect stuff, maybe think about an ingame library with a slot per possible item (like unique items at least). But that takes some UI work. It looks more like an achievement mechanic to me.

[konstantin357]

Thank you for your feedback. Genuinely appreciate time you all spent on long and nuanced answers.
I suppose general consensus would be "either make inventory management core part of game experience, or make it as easy, streamlined and efficient as possible".