MINECRAFT INVENTORY
Independent Project
ui/ux design
Oct 2019 (1.5 weeks)
adobe XD
OVERVIEW
Minecraft is an amazing game that has evolved over time, however its simple inventory system has not scaled well alongside the game’s success.
For this project, I had 1.5 weeks to identify pain points in the current inventory system and use them to develop an intuitive and future-facing inventory system. Near the end of the process, I also had to revise my design according to a design pivot that my professor gave to each of us on a case-by-case basis.
ANALYSIS
While there have been improvements to Minecraft’s inventory system over the years, there were still some issues that could be resolved. Most notably, there were two issues that came to mind:
Not being able to select and move multiple items into chests and inventory slots.
Constantly having to move items around in chests to keep common items together.
RESEARCH
Next, I interviewed users who were avid Minecraft players to identify if they were experiencing any of these problems.
Interview Results
Agreed it was a pain to not be able to move multiple items from inventory to chest.
Thought it would be nice to be able to group items and sort through them in the chests.
After looking at the results, I researched games that I could reference to gauge solutions to these problems.
Resident Evil 4
Has a grid like system similar to Minecraft, but players still have to organize their items manually.
This player made it so that each of their items had their own place in their inventory.
*Pokémon Sword & Shield
Grid system similar to Minecraft.
Allows the user to select multiple Pokémon in their boxes and move it into different boxes.
*This project was completed before this game was released. I did not have an example for multi-selecting things before and so I added this afterwards.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
“The current Minecraft inventory system has potential for more features that could be added to help players in managing their inventories and items in Minecraft.”
PRE-PIVOT DESIGN
I came up with two solutions to solve both of these problems:
Smart Select
Allows the player to be able to select multiple items in their inventory and drag them into a chest or vice versa. Also compatible with compartments.
Compartments
Allows the player to structure their chests by adding compartments.
Compartments can be customized to hold a type of item, E.g. swords or food.
Players can assign colors for each compartment to help differentiate it from others.
Furthermore, I wanted these two features to work in tandem with each other.
SMART SELECT
COMPARTMENTS
SMART SELECT & COMPARTMENTS
PRE-PIVOT USER TESTING
I was pretty pleased with the design, and decided to go through with testing it with users. These were the results:
Users thought that it would be a nice addition to the current inventory system as it keeps it organized.
However, some felt that it did not belong in Minecraft due to it being different to what it originally was.
While it was valid for the users to feel this way about it not belonging in the game, the intention of this project was to build off of the inventory system to create a better experience for players.
POST-PIVOT DESIGN
After my professor looked at my project, she gave me a design pivot which required me to modify some parts of my design.
There were two additions she wanted to see:
The ability to see which compartment an item belonged to.
The ability to make your own custom compartments.
IDEATION
Tooltips already exist in the current game so I thought the info for what compartment an item belonged to could be added onto it.
Custom compartments can be added onto the existing compartment system. I would just have to focus on ensuring that players to have control in creating compartments and being able to choose which items belonged to a specific compartment. This additional feature also allows the player to see which compartment an item belongs to.
TOOLTIPS & CUSTOM COMPARTMENTS
POST-PIVOT USER TESTING
After adding the new additions, I tested both the pre & post pivot designs with new users. These were the results:
They liked the changes, felt like it would be a nice feature for players.
Seemed like a seamless upgrade to Minecraft. However, they wondered what would happen if player has a chest full of items that doesn’t have compartments and they add them in? Would the items sort into their respective compartments?
Thought it might be too complicated for an average player but for people who like organization it could be good.
FUTURE ADDITIONS & REFLECTION
While this project has come to an end, there are improvements that could be made in the future to help solidify the design. These include:
Prevent players from putting an item in two different compartments.
Auto sorting items if a player adds compartments to a chest full of items that does not have compartment.
This project was interesting in that it gave me a taste of designing something and then having to change or add onto it based on a design pivot. I gained a new perspective and learned that anything can happen during the design process, and we need to adapt to changes.
Furthermore, it was enjoyable to identify problems in a game and improve upon them and I cannot wait to do more of these in the future!