Recently, Anthem Technical Design Director Brenon Holmes discussed the limitations and considerations that some games, such as Destiny, have when it comes to inventory space. Considering EA wants to turn its newest project into a Star Wars-like franchise, Holmes’ comments on this matter may shed some technical light on the current state of inventory space in video games.

Holmes opened up by stating that, while he can’t directly speak for Destiny, “it might have to do with a few things – storage, UX, bandwidth, architecture.” The Anthem Technical Design Director continued: “If you think about it, your character data…all of your weapons, mods, vanity items, etc… it adds up.” This explanation makes sense, considering games like Destiny have a vast number of players, and their combined data can reach several terabytes.

Moreover, a game's interface was discussed as a key issue: UX, which is an acronym for User Experience, is key in understanding the technical and aesthetical differences in an inventory of 40 vs. 400 items. Holmes also revealed, “another consideration is around bandwidth, if you have at most 20 items (for example) … you know that your cost for sending a character from a server to a client is fixed.” A limited inventory space allows for quicker transmission time and less loading screens, which many gamers may appreciate.

Furthermore, Holmes stated that “in-house technology” may come with its own set of limitations. Not to mention, developers also have to meet demands of publishers; for BioWare, that means EA. Although, recently, Holmes revealed that Anthem would not include the EA patent for dynamic difficulty adjustment, which may be a relief to hear for many gamers.

Holmes concluded, “hopefully this helps shed a bit of light on the types of things that may be happening. Often simple things like “Why can’t I store 100 items instead of 40” are often dependent on a lot of factors.” A final factor undiscussed by Holmes may be the budget, which is why Anthem may contain microtransactions like Overwatch, but it seems that this game may very well be worth the investment.

Anthem is scheduled to release Fall 2018 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: Reddit