How central are items in your game design?

[Digital]

How important are items in your game? Items and inventory management in games are pretty standard, but I have noticed that different games have different levels of use in the items they release and how they are used. Games like Flight Rising and Neopets tend to favor a ton of items, often a lot of misc items included. While I have found a few other games tend to focus on fewer different items, but with more utility.

Which do you favor?

@Boltgreywing @Nate @tiff @Anoua @runeowl @Pepper-Head @Aminirus @judda

 

[Anoua]

I prefer any items to have a usage of some sort. I am okay with collections if there is a built in feature for collections so that collecting the items have some purpose which I have seen before though can't remember where. I don't know that the items were duds otherwise, but their were collections to fill which then gave you rewards for filling them up. But if there is nothing that rewards you for collecting, then the items should have an alternate purpose as well, or there is literally no point to even have them in your game and most people won't use them. 

I can't think of any items in either of my games that don't have some purpose. And I really don't think in general this is that hard, especially if you have creatures that need toys or things to interact with. Most things can be made into toys at the least.

 

[Nate]

Most virtual pet sites employ some form of inventory system purely because items are essentially just another currency the user can trade in (whether they are aware of that or not). It would be interesting to see specifically a VPS operate without an inventory system.

Thinking outside of the VPS bubble however, it's easy to understand why this is such a common (and almost mandatory) feature - Runescape/WoW/Diablo/Pokemon <insert colour here>. Even games which didn't used to feature an inventory system such as CoD or Halo now have offline items/inventory systems for managing your game or character (Think loadouts and unlockables).

I think the requirement for items totally depends on the angle your game is taking and it adds a new level of depth that just isnt possible without it


Edit:

As for items on virtual pet sites.. I LOVE items that have a "unique to this item" functionality - Think of the Wonder Zapper from IcePets

 

[Aminirus]

Wild Howlz uses items in various manners. You'll be able to find all kinds of items, and each one serves it's own purpose. There are items you find and just sell to gain money, there is food items used to feed your wolves and some are good and others can trigger side effects. Then there are collectible items which usually serve a purpose for a quest or you can complete on your own to gain a bigger and better reward rather than selling them individually. There are also items specific for crafting purposes and crafted items can then either be sold, given to a quest giver to complete a quest, consumed, or worn. Lastly there are armory items which can then be attached onto your wolf to boost certain stats or gain new skills. 

I have each item starred for a rarity rating to get an approximate cost as to what that item is worth if you sell or trade it. I enjoy games that put some thought and purpose into the items you collect.

 

[Boltgreywing]

How important are items in your game? Items and inventory management in games are pretty standard, but I have noticed that different games have different levels of use in the items they release and how they are used. Games like Flight Rising and Neopets tend to favor a ton of items, often a lot of misc items included. While I have found a few other games tend to focus on fewer different items, but with more utility.

Which do you favor?

@Boltgreywing @Nate @tiff @Anoua @runeowl @Pepper-Head @Aminirus @judda

@Digital: As to the way I plan to structure my items I have to see. I think it be better to have food items and healing items kind of combined so that way if a pet eats one or the other it gets the benefit of having both its hp restored and hunger healed. What I have in mind for items is that they won't be sold in any shop. The only shops that will exist in the world will be just raffles and mystery boxes which contain random prizes. Inventory will be expanded into two sections. Normal inventory handles typical items and Mystery pouch handles all mystery boxes and sacks.

Each item will come with its own count down timer that once it hits zero it will be removed from the user's inventory. In the case of the user having multiple the qty will be decreased by one. This way all items will at some point in time be removed from the system. This also includes multi use items such as swords, shields, and even toys.