Hi everyone, Daryl B. here.
We meet once again for another iteration of our Sweet Friday! This time, we will dive into item management and inventory. Without further ado, let’s get started.
In Sugar Shack, there is no inventory bar, no UI popup or notification when you gather an item. In fact, your character has no inventory at all. You can only transport a single “item” at a time with you. (I put “item” in quotes because it is effectively anything that can be carried out.)
There are multiple reasons why we picked this choice and I want to explain them in this blog post. During development we tried going the usual management game way by using an inventory, toolbars and quickslots but none of them were good enough for what we were doing.
This is an old screenshot of the game with that system.
The main reason for why that was the case was due to being blocked by a menu every time you wanted to use something. For example, a chest would open a popup so that you can select what to pick in your inventory and what to drop - think a la minecraft/stardew. The oven would require you to drop the selected items to pick the recipe and let you know if you could make it. The worst part was in the restaurant: while you were busy browsing menus, you could not see new clients requesting orders or being angry. Everything felt sluggish and we truly felt it prevented people from enjoying the game.
This is why we took the decision to remove the idea of an inventory on the character completely and remove most UI prompts as well! This single decision affected the game a lot. For example, your chests only stock a single item type in them so that you can pick it directly.
The different cooking stations are now very simple to use. A single click and you go right to business. For example, this is how to take a log from a log rack to put it on a chopping block.
And this is a short example of how to cook. Everything is more direct, simple and clear.
You might also wonder: how would that affect gathering? This is one area where you need an inventory and since we have none, well that’s an issue. This is why I started this blog post with “item” in quotes: what if you could carry a bag that can store other items? This way we can keep the simplicity of use.
You can pick up a bag and use it to store items as you move through the world. To prevent back and forth, you can also throw items (and the bag will catch it). To pick an item from it, open the bag and pick it up! We might almost give it some legs… maybe in the future.
I personally think we found a sweet spot between immersion, interaction and action you can do. So far we are pretty happy about it, but it might change in the future. I also wanted to talk about maple trees and syrup but typing this text, I realize that it might be too long. So, it will be for the next edition of the sweet friday in a month.
As a quick note: we will be at PAX East this year! If you have the chance to drop by, come say hi. There will be a short demo to try too. See you there!
See you soon in the Shack!
Daryl Barampanze.