Chapter 6: Satisfactory experiments

Good day, dear Viewers.

As you may recall, I started working on the new Items and Character panels, and the basic work is finally done. We are almost done with the transition from the floating "Main Panels" to the "Hybrid System". I'll give you a quick rundown of what you see in the image below.

At the moment, some elements look unsightly. A lot of space is empty, most of the cells in the panels need to be filled with various slots with information and other functionality. In some places there are still placeholders. However, this is only a matter of time. The most important thing is that I managed to create an architecture (quite practical, although not ideal), which allows implementing the Inventory and Equipment system as I see it in the game: the left and right panels are flexible in configuration and independent of each other, but they can be configured in parallel and apply some settings that affect the usability of both at once.

The left panel is named the Character Panel. It's divided into two sections, which are interchangeable in terms of content: slots (small squares on the sides) can be dragged between them for ease of viewing. For example, the Equipment slot can be at the top, and below there will be a slot (with its panel in window) with Character Stats. In the middle there is a slider that allows you to freely change the size of the windows, and also allows you to leave only one window if you think that one, but large, window is good for you.

The right panel is divided into Bulk and Inventory and named Items Panel. Here you can't drag slots between windows, as they are logically different. The Bulk panel is responsible for all items "outside" the player. It has a "Bulk" slot, which displays all storages within the character's reach (Floor, cabinets, bags, etc., which are also slots and will appear in the side panel automatically depending on "A" button, which switches auto-add sides), as well as a "Floor" slot, but only items on it, without storages. For convenience, it will show only those items that are on the floor. I think you get the analogy, and the same is true for the Inventory Panel (which is below). They can be swapped vertically with one click (Move the Bulk panel down and the Inventory up).

I will show you how some elements work most clearly in this short video.

In August, I'm going to solve all the remaining tasks related to Inventory and Equipment and move on then. Some of them:

• Finish the functionality of the multi-slot item placement system (tetris-like).

• Add missing slots to the Character Panel (other slots, there are 9 of them so far, I will gradually add and fill them).

• Floating panels (storages with items for interaction outside the main panels).

• Equipping items from the Bulk and from the Inventory.

• Interaction with items on the floor (in the Bulk, Floor slot).

This is just a part of what needs to be done "here and now".

In practice, everything feels more intuitive and understandable than described in the text. I spent a month converting the old system to the new one, and I'm happy with it. If it turns out that you don’t like it when the first demo version of the game appears, we will think together about how to improve it. My goal is to release a product that you like.
I will try to do more so that by the end of the year we already have an idea of "what this game is about".

Yours,
Absent.Dogma