TACTICAL SCREEN AND TEAM INVENTORIES // D-LOGS #10 & #11
// DISPATCH UPDATE
We’re also posting two D-logs today to pull everyone into sync on where Burned Horizons is headed. D-logs post every Monday.
For the latest versions — with edits, notes, and extras — you’ll always find them first on our Discord and the D-logs channel.
PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK'S D-LOG:
⬤ D-LOG ENTRY [00010]
[// DEV]
[2025-07-28-0815]
[POE // DVG-98]
[NAFOSEC // NCC-RIGA]
[RE: TACTICAL SCREENS]
Pushing forward on the tactical screen interaction set. These are ~95% complete — a few subscreens still need to be built and some polish remains, but the core structure is locked.
Each mock-up represents a different interaction layer:
Mission-Critical Left Rail
Always visible: squad roster, health, ammo count, encumbrance flags. What you need right now.
Bottom Panel / Hotbar
Expands focus on the selected operator. Players can set 10–15 hotbar slots by clicking the “+” in the final box. Each slot supports A/B states, effectively doubling capacity (20–30 actions). Hotbars can also be toggled minimalist — roll-over only if you want a cleaner HUD.
Field Intelligence Kit
A tactile, in-world screen for intel, documents, and recovered items. Keeps some interaction outside the SPARTA notebook to preserve immersion.
Character / Inventory Panel
The maximalist layout. Displays all loadout layers at once — rucksack MOLLE attachments, drop bags, plate carriers, sidearms, and kit slots. Most equipment supports A/B (sometimes C) layering (undershirt / shirt / coat, for example). Gray X marks show unused capacity when a smaller carrier/ruck is equipped.
Top Bar / Status Strip
Shows the operator’s vital stats and role context: codename, role ID, theater, “rank,” scars, traits, attributes, skills, and conditional flags (hunger, cold, wounds, etc.). It’s not the full service jacket, but it’s everything you need at-a-glance.
As with the rest of the interface, visibility here is fully configurable. By default, all layers are shown at once, but players can pare it down — set panels to roll-over or click-only states — so the view feels less like a system readout and more like being physically present in the field. (edited)Tuesday, September 2, 2025 2:38 AM
[ NOT FINAL BUILD ]
[ NOT FINAL BUILD ]
/// ===============================================
⬤ D-LOG ENTRY [00011]
[// DEV]
[2025-08-04-0815]
[POE // DVG-98]
[NAFOSEC // NCC-RIGA]
[RE: TACTICAL SCREENS // INVENTORY TRANSFERS]
Granularity. It would just be much easier to have one big bag of holding and call it a day. If that was the case though, I'd probably be playing someone else's game.
So... here we are. Once again balancing immersion, authenticity, intuitiveness, and aestethic fidelity on one of the last remaining Tactical screen subpanels - the Character-to-Charcter/Team Inventory trasnfers. And this is by far one of the hardest because of all the things you have to accomplish in a tight space.
>> You have to try and give players as much as an overview as you can of all team members/gear on the same screen, and make it easy to move that gear between them. If each character had a limited inventory it would be so much easier. But we have a rather detailed and realsitic one. <<
// FOCUS OPERATOR: The Operator you're focused on gets priority. So, Widow goes on the left. Keep her gear order matching the previous panel for continuity. Reduce icon/slot sizing AMAP. This takes up less than a quarter of the total screen space; any smaller gets tough to read. The focus operator (and team members) have rucksacks that can be expanded/opened upwards (covering the space above them) if there isn’t enough room. Not perfect, but it adds to the immersion of opening the ruck. Immersion +1.
// TEAM(S)
Now for the Teams. You’ll never get everyone on screen with all gear showing if you have more than 3–4 members, unless you shrink things until they’re unreadable. So, the solution is a compromise: everything viewable at once, with vertical scrolling if you exceed 3–4 members. Players can also toggle collapsed inventory as default or expand it per use.
Collapsed view shows operator profile and two rows of gear. The PWS moves to row two so it stays visible if collapsed, with everything else bumped down. On both focus operator and team members, the Bandolier and Drop Bag are stacked vertically to match the main layout. The only difference is A|B states are now two columns — this fills space and makes those gear slots easier to interact with on this screen.
[ NOT FINAL BUILD ]
>> Proximity During Combat (Turn Based) and Non Combat (Real Time): TIC - Team members must be within 2 meters of the character they’re swapping gear with. Operators outside that range still show, but their profile is greyed out and an action message below their callsign indicates they need to move closer. OOC - players must be within X meters (e.g. 100m) to trade gear. These settings can also be toggled in SOPs. <<
// STAGING AREA: This serves two purposes: 1) a "table" for swapping — gear can be pulled from operators and placed here to be reassigned manually; 2) auto-sort — place gear here, select an operator by clicking their profile, and hit transfer. Items move according to sort settings; if something won’t fit, it stays in the SA and the player is notified. A confirmation also shows what moved and into which slot.
All transfers cost (1) AP during combat, no matter how many items move. Closing and reopening the screen during tic charges another AP. OOC transfers are free.
// KIT CHECK: This works like calling an 'ammo check' to see who has extras. You can filter for specific items, and any operator carrying them will have their name highlighted along with the slots those items are in.
/// ===============================================
SUPPORT THE OP
👉 WISHLIST + FOLLOW // Every mark adds weight to the push ahead.
OPN-FULCRUM // PHASE 2 -KICKSTARTER \[JAN 2026] → JAN 2026. Mission-critical funding op to carry Burned Horizons forward. Stay locked in — followers get the deployment notice first.[/p]
We’re also posting two D-logs today to pull everyone into sync on where Burned Horizons is headed. D-logs post every Monday.
For the latest versions — with edits, notes, and extras — you’ll always find them first on our Discord and the D-logs channel.
PREVIEW OF NEXT WEEK'S D-LOG:
⬤ D-LOG ENTRY [00010]
[// DEV]
[2025-07-28-0815]
[POE // DVG-98]
[NAFOSEC // NCC-RIGA]
[RE: TACTICAL SCREENS]
Pushing forward on the tactical screen interaction set. These are ~95% complete — a few subscreens still need to be built and some polish remains, but the core structure is locked.
Each mock-up represents a different interaction layer:
Mission-Critical Left Rail
Always visible: squad roster, health, ammo count, encumbrance flags. What you need right now.
Bottom Panel / Hotbar
Expands focus on the selected operator. Players can set 10–15 hotbar slots by clicking the “+” in the final box. Each slot supports A/B states, effectively doubling capacity (20–30 actions). Hotbars can also be toggled minimalist — roll-over only if you want a cleaner HUD.
Field Intelligence Kit
A tactile, in-world screen for intel, documents, and recovered items. Keeps some interaction outside the SPARTA notebook to preserve immersion.
Character / Inventory Panel
The maximalist layout. Displays all loadout layers at once — rucksack MOLLE attachments, drop bags, plate carriers, sidearms, and kit slots. Most equipment supports A/B (sometimes C) layering (undershirt / shirt / coat, for example). Gray X marks show unused capacity when a smaller carrier/ruck is equipped.
Top Bar / Status Strip
Shows the operator’s vital stats and role context: codename, role ID, theater, “rank,” scars, traits, attributes, skills, and conditional flags (hunger, cold, wounds, etc.). It’s not the full service jacket, but it’s everything you need at-a-glance.
As with the rest of the interface, visibility here is fully configurable. By default, all layers are shown at once, but players can pare it down — set panels to roll-over or click-only states — so the view feels less like a system readout and more like being physically present in the field. (edited)Tuesday, September 2, 2025 2:38 AM
[ NOT FINAL BUILD ]
[ NOT FINAL BUILD ]
/// ===============================================
⬤ D-LOG ENTRY [00011]
[// DEV]
[2025-08-04-0815]
[POE // DVG-98]
[NAFOSEC // NCC-RIGA]
[RE: TACTICAL SCREENS // INVENTORY TRANSFERS]
Granularity. It would just be much easier to have one big bag of holding and call it a day. If that was the case though, I'd probably be playing someone else's game.
So... here we are. Once again balancing immersion, authenticity, intuitiveness, and aestethic fidelity on one of the last remaining Tactical screen subpanels - the Character-to-Charcter/Team Inventory trasnfers. And this is by far one of the hardest because of all the things you have to accomplish in a tight space.
>> You have to try and give players as much as an overview as you can of all team members/gear on the same screen, and make it easy to move that gear between them. If each character had a limited inventory it would be so much easier. But we have a rather detailed and realsitic one. <<
// FOCUS OPERATOR: The Operator you're focused on gets priority. So, Widow goes on the left. Keep her gear order matching the previous panel for continuity. Reduce icon/slot sizing AMAP. This takes up less than a quarter of the total screen space; any smaller gets tough to read. The focus operator (and team members) have rucksacks that can be expanded/opened upwards (covering the space above them) if there isn’t enough room. Not perfect, but it adds to the immersion of opening the ruck. Immersion +1.
// TEAM(S)
Now for the Teams. You’ll never get everyone on screen with all gear showing if you have more than 3–4 members, unless you shrink things until they’re unreadable. So, the solution is a compromise: everything viewable at once, with vertical scrolling if you exceed 3–4 members. Players can also toggle collapsed inventory as default or expand it per use.
Collapsed view shows operator profile and two rows of gear. The PWS moves to row two so it stays visible if collapsed, with everything else bumped down. On both focus operator and team members, the Bandolier and Drop Bag are stacked vertically to match the main layout. The only difference is A|B states are now two columns — this fills space and makes those gear slots easier to interact with on this screen.
[ NOT FINAL BUILD ]
>> Proximity During Combat (Turn Based) and Non Combat (Real Time): TIC - Team members must be within 2 meters of the character they’re swapping gear with. Operators outside that range still show, but their profile is greyed out and an action message below their callsign indicates they need to move closer. OOC - players must be within X meters (e.g. 100m) to trade gear. These settings can also be toggled in SOPs. <<
// STAGING AREA: This serves two purposes: 1) a "table" for swapping — gear can be pulled from operators and placed here to be reassigned manually; 2) auto-sort — place gear here, select an operator by clicking their profile, and hit transfer. Items move according to sort settings; if something won’t fit, it stays in the SA and the player is notified. A confirmation also shows what moved and into which slot.
All transfers cost (1) AP during combat, no matter how many items move. Closing and reopening the screen during tic charges another AP. OOC transfers are free.
// KIT CHECK: This works like calling an 'ammo check' to see who has extras. You can filter for specific items, and any operator carrying them will have their name highlighted along with the slots those items are in.
/// ===============================================
SUPPORT THE OP
👉 WISHLIST + FOLLOW // Every mark adds weight to the push ahead.
OPN-FULCRUM // PHASE 2 -KICKSTARTER \[JAN 2026] → JAN 2026. Mission-critical funding op to carry Burned Horizons forward. Stay locked in — followers get the deployment notice first.[/p]