Inventory
Learning paths through this topic
Tell the player on which second the food runs out
Dividing the stock by today's shortfall is wrong when more farmers arrive in a minute, or when the barn was already full and wasted the surplus. This entry looks ahead through changing phases and returns the moment the shelves are empty, or nothing if they never are.
Let a full warehouse stop production instead of deleting it
A mill keeps running while the granary is full, and the grain just vanishes. Here is how a building learns that its output has nowhere to go, how a half-delivered batch is handled, and what happens when the limit shrinks below what you already hold.
Score a gift to a character from taste, repeats, birthdays and dislikes
Giving gifts is the quickest way to win someone over, which is why players will try to give the same favourite thing every day. This entry decides how many points a gift is worth, what repeats do, what a birthday changes, and why a disliked gift should never be cheap to repeat.
Find a place for a big item in a grid bag, turning it if needed
In a bag made of little squares a long sword needs a long free strip, and the game says no even though the space exists, just turned the other way. This entry searches the grid for a spot and tries the turned item too, so the bag feels fair.
Show fake items in the bag when the character is losing their mind
A frightened character may see things in their pockets that are not there. For that to feel eerie and not buggy, the false items must not jump about each frame, must keep the real order intact, and must go away without harming the real ones. This entry shows how.
Decide which items a captured player manages to hide from the guards
When the story takes the hero's belongings, a clever player will ask whether something small could have stayed hidden. This entry decides which items escape a search, how many hiding places there are, how a thorough guard differs from a lazy one, and where the taken things wait.
Make soldiers desert when the food runs short, not all at once
An army that eats more than the camp has should not vanish in one turn, and it should not stay loyal forever on empty bowls either. This entry feeds the units that matter most first, lets the others go hungry for a while and only then lets them walk away.
Turn an item into something else at a chapter break without breaking old saves
A photograph in chapter one may become evidence in chapter three and an exhibit in chapter five. Players who load an older save or skip ahead must end up with the right thing, once, with the right count. This entry applies those changes in order and never twice.
Change what an item says as the player learns more about it
A photograph in your pocket should read differently before and after you recognise the person in it. This entry lets one item carry several descriptions, picks the right one without a tangle of conditions, and lets looking at it teach the player something once.
Write the line "you found three candles" correctly in English and German
Story games say what you picked up in full sentences, and a sentence like "You found 1 candles" or "Du hast ein Schlüssel gefunden" breaks the mood at once. This entry builds the line from a word list in both languages, with the little rules each one hides.
Keep gifts apart from plain items so the story can say who gave them
A pressed flower from a friend is not the same as any flower. If the bag merges them into one pile, the game can no longer say who gave it or when, and the scene where the friend notices it cannot happen. This entry keeps such things apart and finds them again for the right character.
Lend an item to a character and make sure it comes back, or is lost for a reason
Handing your lantern to a companion is a nice story beat, until the companion leaves, dies or is forgotten and the lantern is gone for ever without a word. This entry tracks borrowed things, separates having from owning for scenes, and settles the loan at each chapter break.