We’ve talked about items plenty before, and now that we’re rolling into the beta we are finishing off their implementation and making the time to get them to the level of polish they deserve.
First thing we did is give the 3d objects you see in world and in your inventory a neat outline. This isn’t just a boring uniform one, but one where we can adjust the size of the outline based on the models, giving it a much more hand-drawn feel to match the rest of the HUD and game. We also have functionality with that outline for durability (described below).
To summarize our design for items — they’ll drop plentifully, be found on bodies from what they were carrying, or be in chests and drawers, but you’ll only want to take what you need to resupply. Only specific items can be sold, so you’ll be more often finding money, restocking ammunition that you can utilize, and other utility items to keep going like medical kits, duct tape for repairs, etc. Abstractly, we want it to feel like scrounging for survival and have designed around that.
Durability
So why bother providing tons of weapons that drop from enemies if you only can carry and need the 1 good gun? Things happen, and items deteriorate with misuse, like using your gun like a hammer with the melee attack action, or rolling a critical fail on use.
So visually we wanted a way to show that off without just reading a number or overlaying a 2d image of cracks or something stupid over the item. These are the 3d items you pick up and use after all, why not just change that. So we have 4 colored outlines on the item itself.
Here’s a very cool diagram:
The broken item will either be a broken shattered version or just a different color outline, either way mechanically speaking the player won’t be able to access its actions beyond just throwing it.
You might be thinking that you don’t want to have to inspect items to see the durability, and oh boy, don’t worry about that because you can just check out what everyone’s working with right on the HUD:
What about that weapon you really love? You can go to repair shops and drag in items to repair them for Wondoons (the colonies cash currency), or if you come across some maintenance tape you can repair items up a durability level yourself. Just like in real life, duct tape can solve most issues, pending you remember where you put it last. Plus we think the idea of your gang just duct taping all their gear is wonderful.
Next for Items
So the Items Part 2 post will come before the beta, and will include the following additions after we’ve implemented the remaining things needed:
- Picking up items inside your inventory will subtly tilt them downward, as if you’re actually grabbing them. These are 3d items, we should be making the most out of that visually.
- An improved tooltip for the items, featuring easier to read information. Right now it’s a lot to unpack visually, so we’d like to get a cleaner layout going
- Nested bags — possibly not for the beta, but we’ll eventually get these in for the near future.
- More weapon types — right now we have a bunch of utility items, pistols, SMGs, some stocked items, 1-Hand edge and some light impact items. We’d like to have all item types available for the beta, or namely the alpha death match maps for testing.
