I bring this up because if I choose to code a list over a grid in my projects that have inventory systems it's a remarkable difference in the work load, lists are definitely easier to deal with and take less code compared to complicated grid systems if all you want to do is let people pick up and drop stuff or equip things and there's not much else going on.
Not really. It's a 2d array vs multiple 1d arrays. Yes, if you're letting people drag and drop into the grid it does complicate things a little bit, but list-based inventories have added complications of their own assuming you're letting players favorite items (which I'm hoping any list-based inventory does)
The other thing to keep in mind from both a code and UI design point of view is what limitation(s) if any are you going to have on the player inventory cap. If it is weight-based, then I think a list-based inventory makes more sense as (in my own experience anyway) when you get back to town you just grab the heaviest things out of your inventory and sell them. If it is number of items-based, then I think grid makes a ton more sense as you can quickly see everything you have in the inventory.
The main player advantage grids add is they allow much better organization of items than lists do, as players can group items in whatever category they want, whereas with lists things are broken into a couple categories that the devs decided and the players need to work around that. How important that is comes down to how the game itself works - if the overwhelming majority of what you find is just vendor trash, then a list works fine. But the more things have non-selling uses (keeping activatable items on hand, storing a variety of different types of crafting ingredients, keeping various items for specific fights (say, fire resistance armor for a particular boss), etc) grids make life much easier for the player.
Not really. It's a 2d array vs multiple 1d arrays. Yes, if you're letting people drag and drop into the grid it does complicate things a little bit, but list-based inventories have added complications of their own assuming you're letting players favorite items (which I'm hoping any list-based inventory does)
The other thing to keep in mind from both a code and UI design point of view is what limitation(s) if any are you going to have on the player inventory cap. If it is weight-based, then I think a list-based inventory makes more sense as (in my own experience anyway) when you get back to town you just grab the heaviest things out of your inventory and sell them. If it is number of items-based, then I think grid makes a ton more sense as you can quickly see everything you have in the inventory.
The main player advantage grids add is they allow much better organization of items than lists do, as players can group items in whatever category they want, whereas with lists things are broken into a couple categories that the devs decided and the players need to work around that. How important that is comes down to how the game itself works - if the overwhelming majority of what you find is just vendor trash, then a list works fine. But the more things have non-selling uses (keeping activatable items on hand, storing a variety of different types of crafting ingredients, keeping various items for specific fights (say, fire resistance armor for a particular boss), etc) grids make life much easier for the player.