itch.io

I don't think we give enough credit to the player's imagination; or ability for suspension of disbelief.  Less is more.  Inventory management is one of those things that gets me.  I think that a lot of the fantasy genre gets it wrong in putting too much focus onto inventory management, weight and encumbrance.  It's often just an inconsequential obstruction, to have walk back and forth to some vendor.  It achieves the opposite effect of immersing me in the games story, putting focus on "why would any game designer think this was how a hero would be spending their time", or "is this bit of the hero's time that the audience should care about".   To be genre is to be deeply entrenched in cultural habit I suppose.  In my own design, I would prioritize fun, and then bend any story telling to match.  Let the audiences mind selectively fill the wholes, and conveniently ignore what's really not important.  Look at Cook Serve Delicious for example.  We could call that a management sim, where you cook?  Except it's just a keyboardist training game, with a food theme.  But no one cares.  It's fun to press B (for bun) and then P (for patty), and they C (for cheese) and watch a cartoon ham burger slap together.  Nothing about it is anything like cooking.  I don't care, I can feel the heat from the deep fryer now!