Thinking about the GUI...
I wonder if the things-in-square-cells model is the only way to arrange things. There are other possible models. If I think of how I'd like my inventory to be laid out, I can think of lots of other visualizations. Like,
- tabbed sections (like pages in a book) with color-coded "collections" the user can rename, like "tools" and "materials" and "food" and such. I've noticed that a lot of people arrange their inventories in MC by "sectioning off" different areas for tools, weapons, food, building materials, torches, ores, etc. I wonder if a more explicit sectioning would be useful?
- some kind of network nodes-and-sticks view where things are linked to each other, and when you click on something it comes to the center, and all the similar-in-some-way things cluster around it (like in those visual thesauri); you click on an iron sword, and all your swords, or all your iron things, or all your nearly-used-up things cluster around it, and maybe you hit space to toggle which criteria drive the clustering
- a way to "favorite" some items so you can get to them faster (not "you are holding them" but "you put them in your most accessible pocket"), or to give things markers like the Mac file colors so you can find them again quickly (they "stick out" of the mass of things)
- several ways to sort: by color, by age, by weight, by usage, by caloric value, by hit points dealt, by who gave it to you, by where you found it, by name, by experience needed to use...
- a "detail" view where you can see lots of info about each thing on its own line: when you got it, where you got it, how much use is left in it, etc - I notice that people are doing that for MC with TMI and other mods, like looking at how much use is left in tools, because you do want that info!
- recursive nesting: you carry a backpack, and it can have backpacks/chests in it, and you never look at an inventory but always at a container of some kind; your "inventory" is just "the container you carry" (this is my all time favorite for which I would give up all else)
Anyway my point is that it might be fun to think of more ways to show inventory and the "hot bar" than the usual grid of cells. I know I'm not volunteering to actually code any of this so I can't speak! But I'll bet other people in this group have some ideas in this line too?
I wonder if the things-in-square-cells model is the only way to arrange things. There are other possible models. If I think of how I'd like my inventory to be laid out, I can think of lots of other visualizations. Like,
- tabbed sections (like pages in a book) with color-coded "collections" the user can rename, like "tools" and "materials" and "food" and such. I've noticed that a lot of people arrange their inventories in MC by "sectioning off" different areas for tools, weapons, food, building materials, torches, ores, etc. I wonder if a more explicit sectioning would be useful?
- some kind of network nodes-and-sticks view where things are linked to each other, and when you click on something it comes to the center, and all the similar-in-some-way things cluster around it (like in those visual thesauri); you click on an iron sword, and all your swords, or all your iron things, or all your nearly-used-up things cluster around it, and maybe you hit space to toggle which criteria drive the clustering
- a way to "favorite" some items so you can get to them faster (not "you are holding them" but "you put them in your most accessible pocket"), or to give things markers like the Mac file colors so you can find them again quickly (they "stick out" of the mass of things)
- several ways to sort: by color, by age, by weight, by usage, by caloric value, by hit points dealt, by who gave it to you, by where you found it, by name, by experience needed to use...
- a "detail" view where you can see lots of info about each thing on its own line: when you got it, where you got it, how much use is left in it, etc - I notice that people are doing that for MC with TMI and other mods, like looking at how much use is left in tools, because you do want that info!
- recursive nesting: you carry a backpack, and it can have backpacks/chests in it, and you never look at an inventory but always at a container of some kind; your "inventory" is just "the container you carry" (this is my all time favorite for which I would give up all else)
Anyway my point is that it might be fun to think of more ways to show inventory and the "hot bar" than the usual grid of cells. I know I'm not volunteering to actually code any of this so I can't speak! But I'll bet other people in this group have some ideas in this line too?