Upgrading Skyrim UI

The highly celebrated RPG, Skyrim, was released in 2011. Since then there’s been only a slight trickle of news about the next addition to the Elder Scrolls series, leaving the community to get very creative with what we have to work with. 9 years ago was a completely different time in gaming and hopefully given that time the next Elder Scrolls will be a huge improvement upon Skyrim.

One thing I’m unsure will change with the next Elder Scrolls game is the user interface used. Bethesda has two main franchises, Fallout and Elder Scrolls, and with both those franchises they choose to utilize a list format for their inventory systems. There are definite pros to using this list format, the main one being it does make inventory management with so many items somewhat manageable. However with so many items in these games I fear that a list format allows items to get lost in the list, allowing items to sort of just take up space. Losing track of what’s in your inventory can be especially frustrating though in Fallout and the Elder Scrolls because they monitor how much weight is in your inventory. Lose track of what’s in your inventory, lose items within the list, and suddenly you’re perpetually going to be over encumbered.

Y’all have no idea how many wheels of cheese I’ve picked up

So what is a solution to this problem? Most RPGs take a more grid format for their inventories, but things often get lost within that too. I did some light research and asked my friends who are active gamers what inventories they enjoy. The most mentioned positive experience with an RPG-esque game’s inventory was The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. This game manages multiple weapons, weapon load outs, items, and crafting in a way that doesn’t overwhelm the player. It displays items in a clear way that doesn’t rely on names or descriptions to define what it is, but instead what the item looks like. Additionally it has a quick changing weapon system that allows for the player to be flexible with their play style. This is a feature that I think would definitely benefit RPGs that allow that flexibility.

I can pick the hydromelon out of the crowd, without relying on knowing the name hydromelon

The goal in mind became clear, time to reimagine what Skyrim would look like with a more modern interface based on a game made 6 years after the release of Skyrim.

First I took the design from Breath of the Wild for the quick changing weapon system and made it fit the aesthetic of Skyrim. Skyrim allows players to switch freely between magic, melee, and ranged, so adding this system seems like a perfect addition to the game. Skyrim also has different spells and enchanted weapons so being able to switch freely between those would be of great help to the player as well.

Are you a third person or first person player?

In addition to the item selection I added a new interface across the bottom. This interface typically exists when the player goes into the original inventory system but making it clear to players how to equip items/spells to specific hands. Signifiers are important after all!

Next I created screens for what it would look like to use the same grid format from Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. In other grid systems the item pictures are often so little you’re not really sure what the item is without further investigation (looking at you Divinity Orginal Sin…), but Zelda made sure this wasn’t the case. They made the items large enough to see and identify without further investigation, but upon selecting the item you could learn more. I think this would greatly benefit Skyrim as relying on the name of an item is putting pressure on the player to remember the name of items in order to make their experience better. If I’m looking for a sword I can use my knowledge of what swords look like to find a sword this way. If I’m relying on the name of an item it could “flaming sword of the light mother short sword”. I don’t realize it’s a sword till 8 words into that name!

I made the grid! I found the image of the player character online.

Above you’ll see this is the new inventory system! I kept the same categories from the original UI and delving into the information architecture and use of misc is a whole other article. (You can check out my Animal Crossing article if you’re interested in Information Architecture!) This grid system would allow players to see their inventory more as an overview instead of needing to scroll. Seeing icons of their items allows them to better see how many of one item they may have, and what they could reasonably store or sell.

Here’s an option for what spells could look like in this new interface

I decided to carry this new interface over to the spells as well. I didn’t get a chance to test this design at all but I think testing would aid in figuring out if this interface does work for spells. For weapons it works well as we know what axes, swords, bows, and daggers look like. From previous experiences in games and life we don’t necessarily know what invisibility, fire, or sleep spells look like. Not knowing what they look like would make a grid system relying on symbols perhaps less effective than the simple list.

This whole case study took about a week to complete and if I gave myself more time I would love to test this design out and see what players thinks. Additionally it would interesting to see how this inventory layout works with accessibility. Would it be possible to allow it to be player controlled whether it was a list or a grid system so as to be as inclusive as possible? Much to unpack when questions of accessibility come up within the gaming industry.

I hope you enjoyed this upgrade to the UI of Skyrim. Let me know what your thoughts are and if this is even an upgrade in your opinion!