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The inventory

Edward VanHelgenEdward VanHelgen
edited June 2009 in Tales of Monkey Island
In this video http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6211409/, at 8:42, we can see the inventory, that you bring on the right. What do you make of it?

inventoryp.jpg

Generally, I think i prefer always-visible inventory, like it was in Monkey 1 and 2. Monkey 3 had a seperate inventory view as a chest, wich wasn't bad and had you dragging the items. As for the 4th, its probably most confusing of all as for the inventory goes with rotation of items, part of it because of the keyboard contols.

I also love some more details and extra options in it.

As for Tales, i like the design because of nice choice of colors and pirate motives for the look of it. Its not distracting also, but we can probably say more after we take on controls and interface.

Comments

  • Toothless GibbonToothless Gibbon
    edited June 2009
    The only concern I have is that there doesn't seem to be any scrolling for inventory items - does this mean we will never have more than can be visible in that area? i hope not!

    Or maybe next/back arrows will only visible once that area is full, a'la MI1 and MI2.
  • Edward VanHelgenEdward VanHelgen
    edited June 2009
    Toothless Gibbon wrote: »
    Or maybe next/back arrows will only visible once that area is full, a'la MI1 and MI2.

    i guess this would be the case
  • Toothless GibbonToothless Gibbon
    edited June 2009
    Also, what are the two empy circular areas? Presumably this how we combine items? Would seem easier to just click on one then the other as usual.
  • Edward VanHelgenEdward VanHelgen
    edited June 2009
    yes, i guess for combining the items. maybe they don't want to players to randomly ran over all items while holding one, but sometimes its an effective way to get over with the game if you are stuck.

    "places for items" reminds me of a Return to Mysterious Island, they were sometimes a little tedious, but it can be fun if the puzzles themselves are inspiring.
  • ArodinArodin
    edited June 2009
    I like the inventory -- I think it's stylin'

    About scrolling -- if you look close, the graphic is actually a paper scroll. In the area with the inventory items, there is some kind of watermark that we can't fully see - a skull and crossbones maybe? This leads me to believe that as you get more items, the scroll opens wider to give you more space.
  • Toothless GibbonToothless Gibbon
    edited June 2009
    Arodin wrote: »
    I like the inventory -- I think it's stylin'

    About scrolling -- if you look close, the graphic is actually a paper scroll. In the area with the inventory items, there is some kind of watermark that we can't fully see - a skull and crossbones maybe? This leads me to believe that as you get more items, the scroll opens wider to give you more space.

    Good shout.
  • IrishmileIrishmile
    edited June 2009
    I dont have any problems with the inventory... Im glad TTG finally have combinable inventory items
  • serweetserweet
    edited June 2009
    Looks good, better than the Sam and Max inventory if you ask me.
    And as item combining is back, it should be sweet.
  • doodo!doodo!
    edited June 2009
    Watch the video intentively . Watch when he clicks on the wooden plank and Guybrush tries to walk on it. Aside from that the mouse is used to select dialoge , but it appears that controls are sometimes used to move the character about. All this may suggest that the control system is both the mouse and the keyboard
  • BaggeBagge
    edited June 2009
    doodo! wrote: »
    Watch the video intentively . Watch when he clicks on the wooden plank and Guybrush tries to walk on it. Aside from that the mouse is used to select dialoge , but it appears that controls are sometimes used to move the character about. All this may suggest that the control system is both the mouse and the keyboard

    The demo uses the W&G-controls.
  • ArodinArodin
    edited June 2009
    I see a lot of people say TMI uses W&G controls - for those of us who have not played W&G, can anyone elaborate on how those controls work?
  • Secret FawfulSecret Fawful
    edited June 2009
    Arodin wrote: »
    I see a lot of people say TMI uses W&G controls - for those of us who have not played W&G, can anyone elaborate on how those controls work?

    You walk with the keyboard arrow keys and use the mouse to interact with the hotspots.

    As far as the inventory, I love the look. I'm sure it'll be as functional as it needs to be. I do miss it being on the bottom of the screen though, but I suppose it's more cinematic the other way?

    EDIT: However these are not the final controls for TMI.
  • BaggeBagge
    edited June 2009
    Secret Fawful wrote: »
    You walk with the keyboard arrow keys and use the mouse to interact with the hotspots.

    As far as the inventory, I love the look. I'm sure it'll be as functional as it needs to be. I do miss it being on the bottom of the screen though, but I suppose it's more cinematic the other way?

    EDIT: However these are not the final controls for TMI.

    What he said. Also, there is a demo of W&G, if people want to see how the controls work in that game.
  • onlyamonkeyonlyamonkey
    edited June 2009
    there's some games where you can combine items inbthe inventory and then the inventory is just freaking annoying, closing after every test. you'd think thyey wouldn't think up of crazy combos then, but they still do it. who? T-H-E-M. Aaaah!
  • Edward VanHelgenEdward VanHelgen
    edited June 2009
    Like for example in Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express, combine of items was tedious, where you also have spaces to put objects and click on button to combine them, and if you are wrong you have to start all over again.

    But if the puzzles are enough interesting and if the game is giving you everything you need to know as to solve it, then you can forgive everything else.

    Also, some inventories would have you click on item and when you click on another item which you can't combine the cursor is changing back to original state, and then you need to click on first object again.
  • RMJ1984RMJ1984
    edited June 2009
    Sadly the game developers, have gotten this idea that less stuff on the screen gives more immersion, but also that games should be like movies :/ its a sad trend.
  • onlyamonkeyonlyamonkey
    edited June 2009
    RMJ1984 wrote: »
    Sadly the game developers, have gotten this idea that less stuff on the screen gives more immersion, but also that games should be like movies :/ its a sad trend.

    I'm really happy taht we see no more of Simon the Sorcerer's pick up/talk/push/pull menu which would cover 1/2 the screen. yeah, like 1/2 the screen! Nah, more picture is good I tell you! But the inventory obv should be really easy to access in all kinds of way.
  • Secret FawfulSecret Fawful
    edited June 2009
    As long as we don't ONLY use this combining items feature like one or two times per episode I don't have any complaints.
  • MatakuMataku
    edited June 2009
    I love the way the inventory looks.
  • MardukMarduk
    edited June 2009
    I don't think it has anything to do with immersion, I think if you have the inventory onscreen all the time then you have to cram the rest of the image into a much smaller area. I think that's ultimately detrimental.

    I’m sure that’s why adventure games started using inventories that can be collapsed or hidden and probably why they’re doing it with TMI.
  • S@breS@bre
    edited June 2009
    According to Purcell, the game interface was originally moved off-screen in the old LucasArts adventure games (starting with Hit the Road) to "expand on the excellent backgrounds and also make interaction much quicker and less laborious than LucasArts' previous adventure games". (See Retro Gamer, March 2006, "The Making of: Sam & Max Hit the Road": pp. 32–35 if you really want to look it up) So not really about immersion, but art direction and user-friendlyness.
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