"Grandfather has disappeared, and he has left me this backpack.
I remember when I was a little girl: I was fascinated by it. With him we could remain away for two whole days, far from home, thanks to that backpack alone. Inside there was everything we'd need... to make a fire, to build a shelter, to cook what nature gave us...but also it held some special ingredients for those strange rituals only Grandfather knew about. He said it was old, that it had belonged to his father, perhaps to his ancestors.
Each of them, over time, had added something useful, a small fragment of themselves. He would open it and lay a cloth on the ground to arrange each object with care: everything found its place, as if in a mysterious and perfect order. As a child he would let me watch, but he always warned me not to touch the Vaky box -"not yet, Anna". He never parted from that backpack.
It is strange to think that he set out without it."
We’ve talked a lot in previous devlogs about how survival is key in Among The Trolls, so it won’t be hard to imagine how important this month’s focus is for our protagonist, Anna: her inventory. Every explorer knows how essential it is to have the right tools with them - their backpack becomes an indispensable adventure companion. That’s why we spent quite some time designing and developing the inventory system in Among The Trolls, which is likely one of the elements you’ll use the most throughout your experience.
Instead of the traditional slash eternal 2D inventory management, we opted for the versatility of 3D to allow players to physically interact with their resources. Being able to open Anna's backpack within the game world itself - with the same dynamic lighting and weather effects - felt like the best way to provide you with a better sense of immersion. Opening the backpack, you'll be able to interact with all you've discovered thus far, and a simple 2D overlay will display the contextual information you need. In addition to managing your resources, the inventory will also allow you to craft tools, weapons, and additional materials by dragging the necessary items to the crafting space, with the help of Anna's journal for recipes. Similarly, you will be able to cook meals by taking items out of your inventory and placing those items in a certain area (the campfire, for example). Stay focused, though - your dinner could burn to ashes in the blink of an eye. We hope that our blend of a 3D inventory with just the right amount of 2D elements will make your experience both immersive and intuitive, giving you all the information you need to move through it easily - and the freedom to experiment, succeed, fail, and learn.