More intuitive item transferring options between containers

[Yoko99]

While I am very grateful for all the recent updates and fixes, two of the most recent fixes catch my attention:
Let's look at the first one first:

• - Fixed bug with items not correctly being added to stacks inside of containers when trying to do the Store action.
  While this is great and all, I think a small extra detail couldn't hurt. The way it is now is if your container has all its item slots taken, and you try to put in an item that doesn't correspond it'll still say the container is fuland will not show you the contents. Same thing if you do try to put an item that's already in that container, but that particular stack is full:
  
  You'll get the "It's full" message, but it won't open.
  
  My thought was: At this point, you may want to put it in another container that you think isn't full, or you might want to persist in using that particular container, by reshuffling things around in your inventory and freeing space, maybe. And if you don't you don't it's fine you move away or click another container and the container that was full doesn't show anymore.
  
  Now, I know what you'll say, that you can always put the item back into your inventory for a moment, or on the floor or whatever, yeah sure, but  your cursor is already close to the chest holding exactly that item that you wanted to move around in the first place. It feels like a chore each time you get the "it's full" info to have to put the item back, then open the chest, then moving things around. I think it would make for more streamlined execution and wouldn't hurt gameplay in any way, if the chest could open, no matter what. More info in this case is better, and it gives more choice of action to the player without too much backtracking with the cursor (even if minimal).
  Also might be more .. realistic, I guess?
  I know, this is Don't Starve... don't go there.
  
  It may seem like nothing, but... well think about it.
  Now, the second one:
   
• - You can now have a chest (or ice box or chester) and crockpot open at the same time.
  
  Ok, while this is awesome and all, I must say as far as I'm concerned this had been for the longest time an actual feature of the game, and even if a little faulty, it was a bit more expanded than it is now and than it has been after it had been bugged and fixed during the All's well that Maxwell phase., and it was a pretty awesome one, imo.
  
  The way I remember it was this. You actually somehow could have a chest and a fridge "open" at the same time, but that was decidedly faulty behavior. I would drop stuff in a chest get closer to my fridge, but my chest was still close enough that it was still opened, even though I wasn't seeing the contents anymore, I was seeing those of the fridge, and at that point shift-clicking items in my inventory to send them to the fridge would put them in the chest instead (and I would look for them everywhere later on).
• 
  And that was the only gripe I had with an otherwise perfect feature which allowed me to use both Chester and the crock pot as a kind of special container. The shift-clicking option, according to what was open at the time, would assign default priorities for destination and origin. I think this should be looked into, again for purposes of streamlining execution.
  
  With the thought I've given it, this is the ideal setup as far as I can figure out:
  
  Fridge + Chest: No, should never be opened together
  
  Fridge + Crock Pot: Yes, already in effect and just as it should be, it's a given (crock pot is destination and Fridge is origin).
  Chester + Fridge: Yes, destination is always Fridge, unless it is origin in which case destination is inventory, Chester is used only if both inventory and backpacks are full
  Chester + Chest: Yes,same thing exactly except switch Fridge for Chest
  Chester + Crock Pot: Yes, same thing exactly except switch Fridge with Crock Pot (already in effect)
  Chest + Crock Pot: Yes, Chest acts just like Fridge (already in effect) Of course, few would use this, but it still wouldn't make sense if it didn't work.
  
  Chester + Crock Pot + Fridge: Yes, destination is always Crock Pot, unless it is origin, in which case Fridge has priority on destination, then inventory, then backpack, then Chester.
  
  The idea is basically that Chester just acts as a second backpack in the priority order, Provided he's close enough to you and the other container(s), he should also act as a "special" container (like the Crock Pot) that allows for simultaneously opening another container type:
  
  Basically, make Chester+ Chest, Chester+ Fridge and Chester + Fridge + Crock Pot possible is what I'm saying.
  
  And Chester + Fridge + Chest if you want but I don't care about that one lol.
  
  That is all.
  I hope you guys care about this. It may seem like a couple of small details, but I'm pretty sure it would make a certain difference.
  Please don't see this as an attempt to make things easier.
  I just think we don't want the difficulty to lie in constant item juggling. Item management, yes, not juggling.
  
  Please, give your opinion about this if you have a minute, I'm interested to know what you guys think, and you guys at Klei, of course.
  
  Thanks for reading!

[UnderwearApp]

For the first point, right clicking will usually place the item back in your inventory, allowing you to open the chest without moving your mouse. The second I have never really had issues with so it doesn't matter to me.

[porps]

i totally agree for the first point, and im sure it worked like that in vanilla

[Yoko99]

For the first point, right clicking will usually place the item back in your inventory, allowing you to open the chest without moving your mouse. The second I have never really had issues with so it doesn't matter to me.

No, it will not. ---->

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=237948244

(How the hell do you embed the picture in the post...?)

[Mr_E_Fox]

(How the hell do you embed the picture in the post...?)

 

Bottom bar kinda in the middle between text color and similes

 

 

The idea is basically that Chester just acts as a second backpack in the priority order, Provided he's close enough to you and the other container(s), he should also act as a "special" container (like the Crock Pot) that allows for simultaneously opening another container type:

Basically, make Chester+ Chest, Chester+ Fridge and Chester + Fridge + Crock Pot possible is what I'm saying.

 

I'm inclined to disagree with Chester + Fridge + Crock Pot. Not that it couldn't be done or that I'd request it be returned if it is implemented, but I like the push towards inventory management where given that there's even more stuff I have to leave tools behind that I'd prefer to have just-in-case. I'm even used to just raw inventory w/o backpack or Chester in vanilla winters. Although with all these additions I might have to employ Chester, even if it means taking him into dangerous situations  . That and Snow Chester will also basically be a fridge, so I'm really not bothered 

Otherwise I agree, keeping 2 storage items open in addition to your inventory and backpack just feels right, although that might be because it's what I've always done. And chest + fridge I sometimes use for transferring large amounts of rot. I like to generate rot for farms/fuel, but also have the food ready for emergencies.

[SethR]

Hey @Yoko99, thanks for the thoughtful feedback. Let me address these one at a time.

 

 

• - Fixed bug with items not correctly being added to stacks inside of containers when trying to do the Store action.
  While this is great and all, I think a small extra detail couldn't hurt. The way it is now is if your container has all its item slots taken, and you try to put in an item that doesn't correspond it'll still say the container is full and will not show you the contents. Same thing if you do try to put an item that's already in that container, but that particular stack is full:
  
  You'll get the "It's full" message, but it won't open.

 

This is totally valid. It would make for a better user experience if the chest shows you how it is full and you don't have to manually open it if you want to manage its contents. That's a usability thing that I'll look into adding.

 

It not starting a second stack for you is a bug and we'll fix that ASAP.

 

 

• - You can now have a chest (or ice box or chester) and crockpot open at the same time.
  
  Ok, while this is awesome and all, I must say as far as I'm concerned this had been for the longest time an actual feature of the game, and even if a little faulty, it was a bit more expanded than it is now and than it has been after it had been bugged and fixed during the All's well that Maxwell phase., and it was a pretty awesome one, imo.
  
  The way I remember it was this. You actually somehow could have a chest and a fridge "open" at the same time, but that was decidedly faulty behavior. I would drop stuff in a chest get closer to my fridge, but my chest was still close enough that it was still opened, even though I wasn't seeing the contents anymore, I was seeing those of the fridge, and at that point shift-clicking items in my inventory to send them to the fridge would put them in the chest instead (and I would look for them everywhere later on).
• And that was the only gripe I had with an otherwise perfect feature which allowed me to use both Chester and the crock pot as a kind of special container. The shift-clicking option, according to what was open at the time, would assign default priorities for destination and origin. I think this should be looked into, again for purposes of streamlining execution.
  
  The idea is basically that Chester just acts as a second backpack in the priority order, Provided he's close enough to you and the other container(s), he should also act as a "special" container (like the Crock Pot) that allows for simultaneously opening another container type:
  
  Basically, make Chester+ Chest, Chester+ Fridge and Chester + Fridge + Crock Pot possible is what I'm saying.

 

While it may have been a "feature" of the game in the past, the way that our container UI works is such that there are basically categories of container UI and the various categories occupy different parts of the screen. Chests, ice boxes and Chester always open directly over the player's head. Crockpots (and the Teleportato) open off to the right a bit. Backpacks open on the far right side of the screen. It isn't really viable to do it any other way (not to mention inconsistent, which can be confusing). As you said, it's undesired to have a container's UI open and hidden behind another container's UI. Because of that, we are limited to having one chest, one cooker and one backpack type thing open at any given time.

 

I'm a very strong proponent of clear and convenient user experiences, so I understand fully what a significant difference the small details can make. We'll do what we can to minimize the niggling parts of Don't Starve. I hope that my comments address your concerns!

[Yoko99]

 

It not starting a second stack for you is a bug and we'll fix that ASAP.

 

I'm sorry I guess I wasn't clear there. Way off actually:

No, all the item slots were taken.
A second stack will be created as normal if there is a free item slot in the destination container.
That's what you meant, right? Sorry about the confusion.

Could you not simply implement a function where if two containers that belong to the "top of your head" category are opened, they both kinda move each to the side a bit, to make it so the gap between them is what gets centered on top of your head?
Wouldn't be possible with two containers of the same type, of course, like with two chests.

And of course, more than two would be overkill and confusing, but I think that as long as both containers are in range, it also is more realistic.
After all I could totally open two trunks I have and provided I'm close enough, look at both contents simultaneously, to figure out how I want to organize them.

And to further avoid any confusion, you could slightly rework the GUI for the various container types? Blue outline on the fridge, and a furry orange one for Chester?
And with respective colors for respective Chesters. That'd be a nice touch regardless.
Teleportato and Crock Pot are unique enough as it is, I guess


I guess the "rot from fridge to chest" from @Mr_E_Fox also makes sense somehow, and I don't think it'd hurt.
If shift-clicking from one container, it goes to the other.
If you close one of the two, shift-clicking would send to your inventory.

I understand if it's something that you don't see much use in, or if you would have trouble implementing it, but I just can't help being sad that it's gone.

I remember I would come back from exploring or whatever, lure my Chester close to my fridges and crock pot, and I would basically start sorting out the food AS I was doing some cooking, and all very quickly and efficiently thanks to shift-clicking working exactly as I'd expected.
After dealing with the food, I would move him towards my chest, open him up, and start shift-clicking items from him and from my inventory into the chest, all in a jiffy.
That would make me ready to go again in seconds and it made for a very organized "return to camp and unload the goods" routine.

Of course, there's the chance it would make things too "easy" even just from an item management standpoint.
If that turned out to be the case, of course, I wouldn't want any of it . But I actually don't think it would make much of a difference on that aspect.
 

Which takes me to what you said, @Mr_E_Fox, I'm not sure I understood it.
If what you meant is that you like the difficulty that stems from having to make a choice as to going exploring with or without Chester or a backpack, I totally agree with you, but I think my point focues on something else. It's basically, in case that's what you've decided, to go with a backpack and Chester, that when you come back to your camp, you're allowed to open several containers at once just to eliminate some of the opening-closing redundancy. Which I think doesn't have anything to do with the challenge that is item management itself.

Just give it a quick try eventually? Maybe please? with some sugar on top? Here, here's candy.

EDIT: I tried looking for older footage of myself playing, but I couldn't, yet I could swear I'm not imagining this, Somehow I'm sure I remember having a fridge, a Crock Pot and Chester all opened at the same time.
Could it be that fridges' UI or Chester's UI used to appear to the left?

For the life of me, I can't remember how it used to work. I sincerely hope I'm not imagining it.

[Mr_E_Fox]

@Yoko99 I guess mostly since I'm a bit OCD with optimization it's kind of a challenge even though it isn't really one. I guess from my view challenges from this game (and I guess games in general) come from essentially inconveniences if that makes sense? And since storage and organization are now more under that category I'm applying it even though it's not as big? Either way I guess I would say that since it takes additional time when you are pressed for time it would technically be an addition to difficulty.

I don't think I'm arguing on the side of what I actually believe, but I suppose some sort of scenario where you went out gathering food and resources, exhausted your weapon(s) and filled your inventory, then are set upon by the hounds or deerclops? Or perhaps something else to do with nightfall/freezing/overheating/wetness. Essentially I'm trying to change to a position of arguing time management.

My argument isn't a good one. I'm satisfied with solid consistent game mechanics over ability to multitask.

EDIT: multitask/task more efficiently.