Inventory
Learning paths through this topic
Mark new and updated notes as unread without marking them by opening the list
A pile of letters and diary pages is only helpful if the player can tell which ones they have not yet read. This entry keeps that count honest, brings a page back as unread when the story rewrites it, and jumps to the next unread one without losing the order of discovery.
Load a cart that has both a weight limit and a space limit
Hay is light but bulky, gold is small but heavy. Sorting by price per kilo fills the cart's space with hay and leaves it nearly empty of value. This entry ranks goods by how much of the cart they really use up, and loads in that order until neither limit is left.
Make a market price rise as you buy, so bulk buying costs more
If the price of grain is looked up once and multiplied by the amount, a player can empty a market at the price of the first sack. This entry lets every single unit change the price for the next one, rounds in the market's favour, and makes a quick buy-and-sell loop lose money.
Mix healing herbs in any order and give back the ones that added nothing
Two green plants heal more than one, a red one makes the mix stronger, and a third red one does nothing. A player who loses a herb for no effect will feel cheated. This entry works out the strength of a mix and hands back exactly the herbs that were not needed.
Work out what a colony produced while the player was away
Multiplying income by the hours away is wrong when the smithy runs out of coal after twenty minutes or the storehouse fills up. This entry finds out which limit stopped the work first, so the welcome-back screen shows what really happened and why it ended.
Load an old save whose items were renamed, removed or changed in size
After an update, old saves crash the game or silently lose items because an id was renamed or a stack limit was lowered. A good loader never throws away what it does not understand. This entry shows what to rename, what to rescue and what to report.
Make sure a one-of-a-kind item is never in two places at once
When a character can carry the locket, it can also lie in a chest or sit in the player's pocket, and a bug can put it in two of those at once. This entry moves such things between owners safely and repairs a save that already has copies.
Charge a building bit by bit and pause it when the money runs out
Instead of paying the whole cost the moment you place a tower, the builders use up the material while they work. If the stone runs out, the site simply stops, and tearing it down gives back exactly what was used. The cost per step adds up to the full price with no cent left over.
Choose the ending from the items the player carries, with a near miss for the epilogue
Several endings may each be unlocked by a set of objects, and the player can satisfy more than one at once. Which wins? This entry settles that order, lets an item forbid an ending, always has a fallback, and tells the epilogue which ending the player was one object away from.
Choose which of several nearby items the interact button picks up
A table with a key, a letter and a candle on it asks the player to press one button and get the thing they meant. This entry picks the target from distance and the way the player is facing, and keeps the choice from flicking back and forth when two items are about equally good.
Let the player choose a loadout for the final area and keep the rest safe
Before a point of no return many games ask what to bring. The screen must force the things the story needs, refuse a choice that does not fit, and put everything else somewhere it can be found again. This entry builds that check, including what happens when the choice is too big.
Stop players from drinking every healing potion in the same second
With a stack of healing potions and a quick key, a fight can be won by never taking damage at all. A cooldown on one potion type is easy to dodge by switching to another. This entry shares the wait between potions of one kind and avoids wasting a potion at full health.