What the fuck is taking so long?!!

[Claw]

Well, placing leafs/roots and small piles of sulfur/black powder on the ground would have made the game look like HoMM. I've always liked single window pickups (Realms of Arkania), so that's why we went with this option. At first, we didn't have any pickup options during combat, but ever since the disarming got implemented, we had to do something.

Couldn't you just implement items dropped during combat being visible? Or just weapons? Maybe with a number of more or less generic pickup icons/models, like sword/axe/spear/shield so players have some idea what's lying on the ground.

 

[Lumpy]

Would showing items on the ground and being able to pick them up manually be that big a problem? It would be worth it IMO.

 

[merry andrew]

Would showing items on the ground and being able to pick them up manually be that big a problem? It would be worth it IMO.

That would involve too much player skill lol I kill me.

 

[Kingston]

Just put a marker on the square, and when you hover your mouse over it a box appears with a pic of the item. This way you don't have to create any extra resources, just use the same pics as in the inventory.

Edit: teh pix

 

[Fryjar]

Kingston's idea sounds good too me.
Still, I think that I could live with bags instead of chests either.

 

[bluecuracao]

Hmm, you already have 3d-models of weapons and shields (like the ones the guys are holding in their hands in the screen above). What's the problem to simply drop/display them on the ground instead of just a marker? Some deeper technical issue i don't understand?

 

[Keender_surprise]

You do realize that Space Romans is actually the premise of the excellent story VD's been talking about, right?

hmmm, reminds me of a heavy metal comic I once read.

 

[Woetohice]

__

 

[Ivy Mike]

Would showing items on the ground and being able to pick them up manually be that big a problem? It would be worth it IMO.

Hmm, you already have 3d-models of weapons and shields (like the ones the guys are holding in their hands in the screen above). What's the problem to simply drop/display them on the ground instead of just a marker? Some deeper technical issue i don't understand?

I'd like to know this too. While I agree that the system used in Realms of Arkania is a good way to go, you have to remeber that that system was only used in the context of instanced combat areas. Not for hunting herbs and whatnot as that was implemented by way of menues when you set up camp (you weren't in any area as such, just a dot on the world map) - as I remember it anyhow.

Anyway, let me give an example and you tell me if I got it right: You enter a town/map, click the EYE icon and are shown ALL the items you can pick up NOT contained within containers (chests, bags etc) of some sort, even in areas of the town/map you haven't visited?

If the above example is true I'd say it would be quite an immersion breaker, if not carry on. When it comes to hunting herbs and such why not just implement the same system that RoA has and make it work through menues: Klick EYE, choose "Foraging" or something similar.

If you have instanced combat areas like RoA I agree that a menu for acquiring dropped items is the way to go.

Just put a marker on the square, and when you hover your mouse over it a box appears with a pic of the item. This way you don't have to create any extra resources, just use the same pics as in the inventory.

I like your idea. It would still be hunting the pixel in a way, but I actually enjoy doing that to some extent.

 

[Nedrah]

Kingston's idea sounds good, better than the plain text window solution at any rate.
If it can be done within a reasonable (read: damn short) amount of time, just do it.
Otherwise, screw it, I want to play already.

 

[Koby]

Just put a marker on the square, and when you hover your mouse over it a box appears with a pic of the item. This way you don't have to create any extra resources, just use the same pics as in the inventory.

What happened if there are several item on the square?

 

[ixg]

Just add them to the same tooltip thingy.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Kingstons idea is great.
If not possible I would prefer a generic Daggerfall-like treasure-heap icon to a chest. Real men don't drop chests, they drop with hairy chests (painful pun!). A treasure heap would be slightly less grating than a nicely packaged chest.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

VD, I have complete faith in you. Don't fuck up now.

 

[Dhruin]

Yep, Kingston's idea works and failing that, a generic pile of coins/treasuer or something. A chest would really seem out of place.

 

[Mikser]

"Silent Storm" had a pretty convenient system for handling dropped items. You'd hold down ALT and it'd overlay the name of all objects on their approximate location. Clicking the name of the object was interpreted as a "pick this item up" command.

 

[Balor]

Well, actually, it was first introduced in Diablo .
But it does not mean that it's not good idea.
In fact, you may drop ANY 'generic drop markers' and go 'Alt for textual hint' way.
So, if you drop something, you NEVAR FORGET! how where it is .
However, it may become cluttered if a LOT of items will get dropped... but same goes for 'chest mode'.

 

[M0RBUS]

Avoiding pointless pixel hunts = GOOD.

QFT!

Overall (even though this is a relatively late reply from a relatively unknown member) I think the solutions they came up with is good...

 

[miles foreman]

Our general pick-up system is simple. You click on the eye icon* and get a window that shows you all available (not in containers) items in each map(!).

Is there any fog of war in the game or can you see what's going on in the current map at all times? If there's a FoW, does the magic eye chest only show you what you've uncovered currently or is it still all items?

All ingredients (leafs, sulfur, etc) are also in the container (different areas have different items - there are no leafs in desert locations, obviously). The access to the ingredients is skill-based. Let's say there are 40 "healing" leafs in an area. If your alchemy is 50, you only see 8 leafs in the pickup box.

If you increase your skill in alchemy or whatnot, will additional items show up later or is it basically a one time only thing? I suppose that can be negated by having respawning ingredients after a certain amount of game time has passed...

 

[Vault Dweller]

Is there any fog of war in the game...

No.

All ingredients (leafs, sulfur, etc) are also in the container (different areas have different items - there are no leafs in desert locations, obviously). The access to the ingredients is skill-based. Let's say there are 40 "healing" leafs in an area. If your alchemy is 50, you only see 8 leafs in the pickup box.

If you increase your skill in alchemy or whatnot, will additional items show up later or is it basically a one time only thing? I suppose that can be negated by having respawning ingredients after a certain amount of game time has passed...

The balance will show up later if your skill is high enough.

 

[miles foreman]

So based on the other comments on this thread, are you still going through with the magic chest and no items being displayed on the map?

 

[Nick]

So based on the other comments on this thread, are you still going through with the magic chest and no items being displayed on the map?

Chest / treasure pile / bag / whatever. We may go with piles based on item type, if I won't be too lazy.

 

[Claw]

I see that issue is truly close to your heart, Mr. Programmer Guy.

 

[Nick]

I see that issue is truly close to your heart, Mr. Programmer Guy.

Can't sleep at nights, always thinking about it.

Seriously, though, personally I don't really care about what the visual representation of goodies on the ground will be. I offered VD to make them look like bags and forget about it, he thought that the chest should look better, then some good ideas in this thread... but I still think that "bags" are fine.

I'm more then eager to implement anything you offer, it's all about time. If I'd have plenty of it, I would sometimes even add shaders 3.0, stencil shadows and soil eroshun. But, unfortunately, I don't have it, so I just don't touch low-level engine stuff and things that already work - rendering, sound system, scripting, etc. I'm adding new and game-specific features, rather then updating old TGE's stuff. And when I'm adding features, I'm trying to pick the most simple and effective solutions, to save everyone's time and to finish the game faster - you see, I want to make more games before I'll get old and die.

 

[Ander Vinz]

Seriously, though, personally I don't really care about what the visual representation of goodies on the ground will be. I offered VD to make them look like bags and forget about it, he thought that the chest should look better, then some good ideas in this thread... but I still think that "bags" are fine.

Pile-of-junk from Arcanum is da best variant.