Game Mechanics Inventory Changes

[Llama_Cat]

--the following is from my old TO account. I didn't have that many posts, so I didn't mess with the transfer. I just made a new account here-
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With over 3000 items in the game (or at least, on the way) the invenory needs a new system. And I'm not just talking about more space (in fact, I'm not talking about space at all)

First some basics: quick sorting. When pressing escape to bring up your inventory, you should be able to quickly sort your inventory. Items that are the same and in different stacks will combine, and it will make a splotchy scattered inventory look clean. As for order, I don't really know (sale value, maybe?)

Second: item searching. Any time you need to find out where you placed an item, you should be able to bring up a sort of "spotlight search". The chests where the item(s) are in will glow yellow, as if it were being highlighted, and If they are farther away, a sort of crazy taxi arrow will point in the direction(s) of the chests that contain at least one of the item.
Details:
-this will only locate items in chests
-the only chests that will be searched are ones that have been placed by players. (So no spelunk-cheating)
-if there are multiple chests that contain the searched item, multiple arrows will appear.
-distance from chest containing item will also be displayed.

Just those 2 features would be awesome, but here's another thing I'll throw in:
breaking down things into their original components. I do not know how this would be executed, whether by an npc or an item, but these rules would apply all the same:
-weapons, armor, and ammo cannot be 'undone'
-only basic crafted blocks (i.e. copper bricks or minetracks)
-some additional cost should be added to avoid just looping items. Maybe currency or only a partial refund of materials.

Also, this thread is not posted in the items category, because it isn't an item I'm talking about, it's the entire inventory system and HUD.

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I just copied and pasted what I posted on the old forums. Hopefully more people will see this then.

 

[bwdy]

I strongly agree with the idea here, though I have a couple suggestions for the implementation.
First off, a search is a bit OP- instead, you know those fancy tooltips when you hover a chest on the map? Hovering a chest that you have opened could bear a few icons in addition to the chest name. For example, if the chest contains a weapon, it would have a generic, simple sword icon. Accessories? A jewel icon. Crafting related? Hammer icon. Gold? coin icon. You get the idea.

A lot of games use a highlight-based inventory search - this could be quite useful. For example, a small text field next to the inventory - if I type "iron" into the field, any inventories I view would have all item icons dimmed unless the item name includes the word "iron". Visual-only, but would greatly expedite searching for things. Combined with the above "hints", it would greatly speed up chest and inventory scouring.

The mouse-over-to-read signs in 1.3 will help drastically as well, I look forward to that.

Anyway, in short, I love that someone is thinking about this.

 

[Llama_Cat]

I strongly agree with the idea here, though I have a couple suggestions for the implementation.
First off, a search is a bit OP- instead, you know those fancy tooltips when you hover a chest on the map? Hovering a chest that you have opened could bear a few icons in addition to the chest name. For example, if the chest contains a weapon, it would have a generic, simple sword icon. Accessories? A jewel icon. Crafting related? Hammer icon. Gold? coin icon. You get the idea.

A lot of games use a highlight-based inventory search - this could be quite useful. For example, a small text field next to the inventory - if I type "iron" into the field, any inventories I view would have all item icons dimmed unless the item name includes the word "iron". Visual-only, but would greatly expedite searching for things. Combined with the above "hints", it would greatly speed up chest and inventory scouring.

The mouse-over-to-read signs in 1.3 will help drastically as well, I look forward to that.

Anyway, in short, I love that someone is thinking about this.

Thank you for posting such an amazing and detailed reply! I really think that the inventory dimming you're talking about could totally work. Or instead of having to right click to view what's in a chest, you could just hover your mouse over it and instantly view the contents (as long as it is visible on screen and you have your 'expanded' HUD on. To actually take items out, nothing would change.

 

[bwdy]

Thank you for posting such an amazing and detailed reply! I really think that the inventory dimming you're talking about could totally work. Or instead of having to right click to view what's in a chest, you could just hover your mouse over it and instantly view the contents (as long as it is visible on screen and you have your 'expanded' HUD on. To actually take items out, nothing would change.

If mouseover viewing of contents is enabled, it should only apply to previously opened chests, and still only in game (not on the map). Would take away some of the thrill if you could psychically know that a certain glowing chest (thanks to spelunker potion) is the one you have been looking for

My only concern is the amount of screen real estate it would take up - showing that many slots, or even just names, for a full chest, would be quite an overbearing "tooltip".

 

[Llama_Cat]

If mouseover viewing of contents is enabled, it should only apply to previously opened chests, and still only in game (not on the map). Would take away some of the thrill if you could psychically know that a certain glowing chest (thanks to spelunker potion) is the one you have been looking for

My only concern is the amount of screen real estate it would take up - showing that many slots, or even just names, for a full chest, would be quite an overbearing "tooltip".

Oh sorry, I didn't word myself properly.
what I meant is that the same "it doesn't scan unless you've already opened it once" rule is still in effect.
here's some more details on THIS particular scanning.
OK, so you know how when you open a chest, the inventory pops up? Well the mouse over scanning would be just like that. It wouldn't be overbearing, because if you moved your mouse to a new chest, it would just replace the old chest with the new one, just like if you had a bunch of chests in a line and we're clicking on them one after another rapidly. The inventory just changes while the HUD stays the same.
also (and this is an important one), yes, you cannot scan chests from all the way across the world using the map. Only if you are ON site (like inside your house, with the chests on screen, would you be able to scan it.
this is a long shot, but kind of think how the Crimson rods cloud range is limited to your screen. It would be like that.

 

[Llama_Cat]

Well, with 1.3.1 out, one of my wishes has been granted! Thanks for the 'sort' button Terraria devs!

Also, I've sort of re-thought how that search would work. I was thinking of a large piece of furniture (a 3x2 or 3x3) called "terminal" you can edit the name similar to editing a chest name.

What it does: it has about 2/3 the range of a fireplace for its active effect which is "locate".
All chests in range gain a new button called "register" that switches between the different wire colors.
When you have the terminal set to red and all the chests in its range registered to the red frequency, you can now use the terminal. Right click it to open a dialogue box. Your options here are: search by name, search by item, or edit terminal name. The previous concept of chests being highlighted and arrows going on still applies, as you can extend the range by building another terminal, and if their areas of effect cross AND they are set to the same color frequency, they will sync and act as one unit, extending range and copying the same name. Editing ones name would change the other's as well. You could search for items in both's ranges from either console. To avoid overlap, simply change the channel to another color. Chests register button will only show available terminal colors to connect to so if you have a chest within a green terminal and a red terminal, green and red are the only two options you could cycle to.

Crafting Recipie : 50 wire 20 iron/lead bars, 10 gold/platinum bars 30 glass
Made at an advanced crafting table.