Welcome to Project: Gorgon!


Project: Gorgon is a 3D fantasy MMORPG (massively-multiplayer online role-playing game) that features an immersive experience that allows the player to forge their own path through exploration and discovery. We won't be guiding you through a world on rails, and as a result there are many hidden secrets awaiting discovery. Project: Gorgon also features an ambitious skill based leveling system that bucks the current trend of pre-determined classes, thus allowing the player to combine skills in order to create a truly unique playing experience.

The Project: Gorgon development team is led by industry veteran Eric Heimburg. Eric has over a decade of experience working as a Senior and Lead Engineer, Developer, Designer and Producer on successful games such as Asheron’s Call 1 and 2, Star Trek Online and other successful Massively Multiplayer Online Games.



User Tag List

Page 1 of 4 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 31
  1. #1
    Junior Member Lendari's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    25
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    The Inventory Problem

    Right now I have a whopping 86 inventory spaces. Eighty-six! That's enough for anyone right? Check this out.



    Let's break it down.

    • 8 spaces for a single primary gear set
    • 7 spaces for weapons (admittedly being wasteful with all those instruments)
    • 9 spaces for consumables (food, snack, amethysts, first aid kit, armor patch kit, campfires, speed potions, etc)
    • 7 spaces for tools (autopsy kit, shovel, skinning knife, inkstone, etc)
    • 8 spaces for active quest items and incomplete quest objectives
    • 8 spaces for arrows
    • 4 spaces for dungeon key items


    I think of all these items as my "adventuring kit". Probably 9\10 times when I open my inventory, I don't really even want to see any of this stuff. I don't want it to show on vendors. I don't want it to get confused with loot. I don't want NPC's ripping items out of it to complete quests either.

    I think there's some really concrete an obvious UI\UX improvements to suggest here.

    • Add user configurable "tabs" to categorize the inventory.
    • The user can assign the tab a name.
    • The user can choose how many slots (from a shared pool) are on each tab.
    • A tab can be marked as "hidden" so items in those tabs never show at vendors.


    Okay, so now that that is out of the way... let's talk about something more controversial. Here are a few things that I have just completely given up on because the inventory is too cramped.

    • I gave up on calligraphy. Too much inventory required, too little actual value from the skill.
    • I gave up on alternate skill\gear sets. There just isn't enough inventory available.
    • I gave up carrying health\armor\power potions. They always seemed to be the first tihng I dropped when full. So I started selling them.


    Think about this as a designer, because you are designing all these cool and fun skills, but then they don't integrate well with the inventory system which is frustrating and kinda undermines that effort.

    I think this is a problem.

    The solution I would propose is to split the global inventory pool into smaller, more focused pools. This would allow a lot more flexibility when balancing them such that you can be more generous with some pools while still being stingy with others. Put differently, some inventory slots could have a much higher game balance "weight" than others.

    • Space in the "general" pool would remain limited, perhaps even more limited than it is now. You should have to make some choices when deep in a dungeon about what gets hauled back. This is good.
    • Space in the "consumable", "tools" and "trade" pools would also have sane maximums. You shouldn't be able to carry infinite food or every single tool. However, you also shouldn't feel like you can't do calligraphy because it takes up 3-5 inventory spaces and they would be better spent on other things. You could give more space here when players level up trade skills or industry so it sizes accordingly.
    • Space in the "keyring" and "quiver" could be a lot less restricted. It's just quality of life.
    • Finally, the "equipment" pool would be tied to how many gear sets the character has earned. So each time you gain a new gear set, you get exactly 10 spaces here. To prevent abuse, you might have to mark items placed here as permenately untradable\unsellable.


    To me this would feel a lot more logical and restricted in the right ways. It would be less frustrating for the player while simultaneously increasing the flexibility for the developer to balance each pool independently and add more skills without them being unintentionally gimped by the inventory system.

    What does everyone think?
    Last edited by Lendari; 03-26-2017 at 10:31 AM.

  2. #2
    Member rastaah's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    75
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I can really only add I feel the inventory is a bit restrictive, I deal with it and it has not been a deal breaker for me but it is an annoyance for me too.

    I have been figuring I'd eventually figure out better ways but so far, not so good !
    ~~Sparkle~~

  3. #3
    Junior Member cheaptoad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    9
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I find it a bit annoying that gear/armor I'm wearing is in my inventory. So, it's in my bag AND on my body?

  4. #4
    Senior Member Crissa's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Santa Cruz, CA
    Posts
    861
    Mentioned
    24 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I would add, I rarely use potions mostly because I can't find them in combat. My alternate bar is already filled with my repeatable heals like first aid and dig deep.

  5. #5
    Junior Member asalts's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    East Coast
    Posts
    10
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I noticed this as well. Perhaps they could implement something like the pack system in AC: You can buy/obtain multiple backpacks which have different tabs in the inventory window. This way you can sort your stuff however you want in your different bags.

    Another feature could be "packs" which take up one slot in your inventory but can hold multiple items of a certain type. For instance, a "weapon pack" which takes up 1 inventory slot but you can put five swords in it.

  6. #6
    Member rastaah's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    75
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    These are all great ideas and I agree on all of them including the potion bit and love that last idea, also agree not sure why armor is in pack and not on body I guess maybe that just figure those slots as your body so they added extra in already? Not sure.
    ~~Sparkle~~

  7. #7
    Member Dragone's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Posts
    45
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Not much help but would be right if anything you got equipped it shouldn't be in your backpack!

  8. #8
    Senior Member Greyfyn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Posts
    240
    Mentioned
    8 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    When you decide what you carry around, that is a major part of the game. Most of what you have in your bag, I would have in storage. Problem solving is an enjoyable part of the game and I don't think the answer is more bag space, or different bag space. It's prioritizing. I don't carry my instruments, for example. Also I think we're lucky to not have a weight assigned to items and have to decide based on how heavy things are.

    There is a lot more storage in game than is readily apparent. Check /wiki storage to see the complete list: http://projectgorgon.com/wiki/Storage . A lot of the storage is dedicated as you describe. But I don't want to spoil that for people who want to find out on their own.

    Once you've opened up and used all this storage and figured out that you don't need everything you carry, perhaps reevaluate. You may have the same answer, but possibly not. Most people in the game apparently hoard. That does make storage pretty tight. But NOT hoarding also has advantages as well, including not fretting over inventory space. Citan has more than once told everyone to sell their stuff!

    As for additional storage bags, Archers do have a serious disadvantage regarding inventory. If something were to be improved, that's a priority I would pick.
    Last edited by Greyfyn; 03-27-2017 at 06:48 AM.

  9. #9
    Member Yertle's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Posts
    37
    Mentioned
    4 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by asalts View Post
    I noticed this as well. Perhaps they could implement something like the pack system in AC: You can buy/obtain multiple backpacks which have different tabs in the inventory window.
    I was thinking about this and comparing to AC, but the difference is that AC had a Burden concept for drawbacks to over-carrying items which PG does not have. So I kind of see it as the trade off between Burden vs Slots. So while I like the ideas presented on the thread, I found I wasn't comparing correctly at first.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dragone View Post
    Not much help but would be right if anything you got equipped it shouldn't be in your backpack!
    Really seems like "inventory" could be your carrying capacity, in which case I can see how items equipped should be in your pack.

  10. #10
    Junior Member Caustic's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2017
    Posts
    24
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Sometimes I run around with 60% of my slots full of "needed" items and yet I can hit my storage and got to Labs with 85 slots free and still have all the gear I need......



Thread Footer

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •