How to Design Game Inventories That Players Can Use

First published as an Acagamic Tip Tuesday on acagamic.com. Edited for this archive.

Designers often overlook inventory systems, yet an inventory can make or break a game. It affects how easy the game is to play and how deeply players sink into it. A good inventory lets players manage items without breaking the flow of play, and its visual cues and organization give players a sense of progress. So what makes inventory design hard, and how do designers solve it?

Looks versus function

The hardest part of inventory design is balancing looks with function. Players want an inventory that fits the game world, and they also want it fast and easy to use. Designers can start by building the inventory around the most common tasks and keeping frequently used items within reach.

The Zelda series shows both sides. In Ocarina of Time, the Iron Boots counted as equipment rather than items, so players had to open the menu again and again in the infamous Water Temple. Constant menu trips slowed play and made a frustrating level worse. Later Zelda games fixed this.

The original Resident Evil 4 had a similar problem. Its attaché case looked great and fit the theme, but players spent ages rearranging items to fit the limited grid. The fiddling broke the game’s pacing. Later entries cut down the micromanagement.

How do you find out whether your prototype’s inventory gets this balance right? Ask players questions like these in a user research session:

1. How easy is it to find your way around the inventory?
2. Can you find and use frequently used items quickly?
3. How appealing do you find the inventory’s look?
4. Does the layout help or hinder your play?
5. Does anything in the inventory distract you or feel unnecessary?
6. How would you rate the inventory’s overall usability?
7. What would you change to make it work better or look better?
8. How does it compare to inventories in similar games you’ve played?
9. Does the inventory add to or take away from your overall experience?

A second screen

Some games move the inventory to a second screen. The Wii U port of The Wind Waker lets players open their inventory with a tap on the GamePad without stopping play. The change made the inventory easier to use without reworking the original game.

ZombiU goes further and turns the GamePad into a real-time inventory. Players must manage items while zombies can still attack them, which adds tension. The Nintendo DS and 3DS made the most of two screens: Pokémon, Professor Layton, and The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass often used the lower screen for inventory, maps, or extra gameplay.

Quick wheels

Without a second screen, designers need other shortcuts. The quick wheel uses the precision of an analogue stick to offer many item slots at once, so players can switch items without pausing or opening menus. It has become standard in console games with limited buttons.

Dishonored lets players hold a button to pause and pick a power or gadget from a radial wheel with the stick. Ratchet & Clank uses a weapon wheel to cycle through its arsenal mid-fight. Red Dead Redemption 2 splits its wheel into weapons, consumables, and other items, so players can manage their inventory in the heat of battle. More slots mean fewer menu trips and faster play.

What happens to time

Designers must also decide what happens in the game world while the inventory is open. Each option changes how the game feels, so choose based on your game’s core values and the feeling you want players to have. There are three options:

1. Stop. Pausing the game gives players a safe space to plan and organize without rushing. This suits games where players need time to think, but in fast action games it can break immersion and flow.
2. Slow down. Slowing time keeps players in the game while giving them a moment to choose. DOOM’s weapon wheel slows time so players can pick their next weapon without stopping the fight. Urgency and tension survive.
3. Continue. Dark Souls and ZombiU keep the world running while the inventory is open. Players must check their surroundings and wait for a safe moment, which adds strategy and risk. If the inventory is slow or clumsy, though, this choice frustrates players who are always in danger.

Opening an inventory under threat is like trying to unlock a door in the dark when you can’t find the key. You fumble, and you can’t focus because you know something terrible is coming.

Fit the inventory to the game

An inventory has to balance how it looks, how it works, and how it makes players feel, and it has to fit the genre. A role-playing game’s inventory should give players freedom to build their character. A first-person shooter’s inventory should get players the tools they need for the next fight. Start from your game’s core values and the feeling you want to create, test with players, and keep refining.