So, I lied! No 3D models or brewing today. I started to work on a prototype and quickly realized that I need at least some basis that I can work with and some initial game design ideas what I want/need to do.

So, well, I played a lot of KCD lately and I was always very fond of its, let's say, spiritual predecessor (at least in terms of gameplay mechanics) - The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion. Aaaaand Skyrim as Oblivion's successor.

I liked Oblivion imersiveness and beautiful world. I played a bit, remembered some of the stuff there was and decided to try and rip it off completely :D Just to lay some basics. At least this is what I started with. Because some time later I realized that some of the design decisions were not really suitable for me. And, yeah, some things like "speech" mini-game or overall quality of dialogues is... weird or mediocre at best. But those are just a two things for a game that filled with activities of such kind! So, yeah, I figured that I need to analyze it (at least somewhat), write it all down and then decide what to do with it and in which order to implement.

Dear heavens, that is a lot of fish browser tabs

So, I started digging and the first step for me was... actually playing the game. The second step was a bit less pleasurable. I needed archivists. Possessors of ultimate knowledge. I needed people responsible for game wikis. Or the actual wiki.

So, few links here and there and I was filled with encyclopedia-size manuscripts filled with all the deets I needed and don't. I still keep a lot of them opened in my Arc, waiting to be researched properly. But for now, I stopped with few of them and gained the necessary data to start with.

I probably needed inventory of some sorts. I mean, every RPG has it in some way, right? And I needed activities and mini-games. Oblivion was filled with different items. And some of them gave you ability to, for example, brew potions or fix your armor. And, of course, basic items like food or potions could be eaten, or be putted into inventory, or grabbed and relocated in the game world!

I realized that I need to do a list...

Lists and dictionaries

I needed to write a list of items by type and try to classify them by their mechanics. I came to realization that specific item type is basically equal to specific game mechanic. And, after slicing, and dicing, and cutting ontology of Oblivion and Skyrim items, I came up with this list, consisting of items and interaction types. Each one of them is available for grabbing and storing in inventory, so I left only special interactions:

• Ingredients to eat
• Equipables to equip (wands, clothes, jewelry)
• Books to read (also journals, notes, spell books, scrolls, etc.)
• Misc for, well... nothing (cups, plates, knives, sculls, vases, magic balls, gems)
• Keys, special or quest items to give you ability to interact with special game objects or actors
• Craft items like hammer for fixing something, alchemy equipment, etc. Basically special items that gives you ability to craft, or fix, or conjure something

And also we had three progress bars for health, stamina and mana, selected weapon and spell, compass and level up notification. And a crosshair, of course!

So, I got a list and all the elements to build something! Now I can finally go and turn my Blueprint Widget into something resembling of real in-game UI! But...

Then I started cutting again

First - get rid of "selected weapon" and "selected spell" icons. Skyrim already did that, I don't see any point in keeping them around.

Second - KCD already tried and invented screen effects for letting player know about character's state, whether he's tired, or seriously wounded, or got hit in the head (at least that's all you get in hardcore mode and, well, that is the least thing I complained about in hardcore mode). We don't need progress bars, throw 'em in garbage truck!

Third - do I really need Oblivion's "level up" notification? It was useful in Oblivion, because the only way you could actually level up is by going to sleep. Skyrim got rid of this and I don't see any point in keeping that mechanic around. Burn!

Fourth - compass is kind of an okay idea, but we already almost completely wiped out the whole interface from the game, so... I have an excellent example of basically a pretty inventive way of navigation in an open world (or any world, really). Glimmering pathway from Fable 2! Or magical thread, if we're talking about a witch :)

So, it seems, I have a pretty diegetic interface on my hands here. Wow. Well, in that case...

Am I going insane VR?

I don't have VR, but I know and like the concept. Particularly the thing that in VR you have your hands as a main instrument you use to interact with game world. So, what can we make more immersive?

Fifth! Wands and clothes. I already though that clothes system could be much better if we'd have an actual wardrobe rather than simple UI with small clothes icon in it. So, yeah, I decided to cut the whole "equipables" part of inventory out - to hell with it! "Wardrobe" system is a way to go! You're gonna change your appearance by magically swapping your clothes right in the moment! Maybe you'll have a mirror in front of you and a wardrobe with all your latest fashions. And wands?.. they will be simply placed in your hand! You grab them, equip them on your belt and then use them whenever you need them! Basically, I need to come up with "belt system" for it.

Sixth! Okay, we have a belt system. What if?.. there would be pouches for specific types of items and one big "undetectable extension charm" bag. We'll have separate bag for ingredients, we'll have separate place for keys, little book with notes, and scrolls, and personal diary, and an "infinite" bag for everything else? Other books? They stored on the shelves of a real bookcases! If we need to read them - we take them and physically read! And if we need to sort stuff out or put it elsewhere, we can go inside and have some ghost henchman (or any other creature from witchy folklore) to sort it out for us! Hey, we almost got rid of last piece of in-game UI! Only one thing remained...

Seventh! Taking all of your alchemy stuff into a wilderness is pretty inconvenient. When I first read about Oblivion alchemy system I was a bit hyped about it. There was four different things to cook with, a lot of ingredients, you could eat them to try and find some other effects it gives you or the potions you're making, but... it turned out to be not that deep or interesting at all. So, the idea of Skyrim, where you have an alchemy table seems to me more convenient, more realistic and more flexible, really! Once we have an alchemy table, it means that we can actually interact with it in a game world! We can grab ingredients, we can put them into the cauldron by our hands and not by drag-and-dropping stuff in our inventory or in some mini-game!

So, yeah. I think I just killed the entire need in in-game UI completely.

So... 

So, yeah, what about RPG stats? No stats! No inventory, no schematic RPG lists with... words, numbers and all that stuff! We're going immersive-sim and we're going HARD. Stealth? You need to pace yourself and wear close to nothing! Alchemy? Well, stir and boil - character stats won't help you! Fractions and reputation? You don't need "friendly" icon - just show NPC's reactions (like in Fable, yeah). Magic? Say or draw the figures - it only depends on you as a player! Well, dialogues and trading won't work without lines and numbers... but that is the only exception! Necessary evil! And we still can have some underline RPG system for any of this - how well you can brew potions, how masterfully you bargain and etc. But we don't need to show this to player, really, or we can indicate it in some other way (like witch's personal diary).

That is the way. Probably, an interesting one. At least, it is some idea I can start playing with.

Now I need some time to try and program this in engine. Some progress was made, now it's time to do a bit more. I'll be back with some updates in near future, some prototypes and, probably, with even more ideas.

Y'all have a good day!

P.S. I lied again, I actually have some cringy 3D models!

A beautiful untextured chair

Mesmerizing shelves with witchy potions

And an overgrown leaky cauldron :P