Dev Question: Making the sort button better

[Citan]

Hi guys, I've got a question I'd like feedback on. I want to improve the way the inventory sort button works. (We'll eventually have more sorting options for inventory, with a little drop-down menu so that you can sort by e.g. item value or item name. But even when we have multiple sorts, we'll still have a default "smart sort" option, which is what the current sort will become. So I want this smart sort to be as smart as it can be!)

The current sort hasn't been updated much since it was added in pre-alpha two years ago. It's definitely got some weird stuff in it, and some weird ordering, and that can be very frustrating when you're trying to find stuff. So if you have suggestions on how to improve it, please share! I'll incorporate your suggestions when I update the sort logic.

Here's the current way the sorting works:

• First comes helmets. If you have multiple helmets, the currently-equipped one comes first, then the ones with highest rarity, and further sorted by item value. Broken helmets come last.
• Then come chest armor, sub-sorted in the same way.
• Then leg armor
• Then hand armor
• Feet armor
• Main-hand weapons
• Off-hand weapons
• Necklaces
• Rings
• Belts
• Racial jewelry (all of these equipment categories are sub-sorted in the same way as helmets)
• Next come "kits": first aid kits, then armor patching kits
• Next are healing potions
• Next are cheese
• Next are other prepared food
• Next are decoctions
• Next are other alchemy potions
• Next are Bottled items
• Magic oils
• Poisons
• Dyes
• Arrows (sub-categorized by regular, then barbed, then long, then dense, then reservoir, then snare)
• Fletching stuff
• Augments
• Augment-related stuff (phlogiston etc)
• Magic dusts (e.g. fire dust)
• Maps (sub-sorted by motherlode, mineral, mining)
• Treasure clues
• Treasure maps
• Recipes
• Work orders
• Other documents
• Tools
• Armor stakes
• Crystals and gems (sub-sorted only by crystal value atm)
• Metal slabs
• Leather rolls
• Tannin
• Flawless skins
• Other skins
• Textiles
• Wood
• Carpentry items (sub-sorted by barrels, stools, benches, chairs, storage crates, other furniture, then misc carpentry)
• Flowers
• Plants
• Seeds
• Skulls
• Other Bones
• Body Organs and corpse trophies
• Gadgets (e.g. vending machines)
• Grass
• Skill ingredients not yet covered (such as inks, papers, metal slabs(?))
• Recipe ingredients not yet covered (anything else that can go in a recipe)
• Fish
• Meat
• Herbs
• Other vegetables
• Other ingredients (?)
• Figurines
• Game chips
• Coins and moneybags
• "Vendor trash"

So just typing that out I see some weird stuff. Items can only be in one bucket in this list, and they go into the first bucket that matches. So the item "Evil Grass" could theoretically fit into the "grass" category, the "recipe ingredients" category, and possibly the herbs category -- whichever one comes first is the one they get sorted into. Since the "grass" category comes first, that's where they go. And that's correct! (Although the grass category should probably be sorted closer to the flowers and plants...)

But it's a problem with fish, meat, and vegetables -- those categories come AFTER "recipe ingredients not yet covered", which means most raw ingredients fall into "recipe ingredients not yet covered", so your meat and fish and veggies are all intermixed (sub-sorted by item value). The only thing in the "meat" category is meat that isn't used in any recipe yet!

I'm already fixing this for the next update: I'm moving the "skill ingredients not yet covered" and "recipe ingredients not yet covered" categories to be below "other ingredients". And I'm moving the "grass" category to be right below "seeds".

So how can I make this work better? Are there new categories of items we should add to the list? Should things be reordered?

Again, this isn't "what kinds of different sorts do you want" -- that will come later. Right now I want to make the smart-sort button less stupid.

I realize this is a tricky somewhat-technical topic. If the above list makes your eyes water, just let me know when the sorting doesn't work for you: "I want to find my snacks, but they're sorted in with the meals", for instance. Whatever makes you go "wtf" when you're trying to find stuff.

I won't be able to make everyone happy -- a single sort can only be so useful -- but it can definitely be improved!