This
suggestion has been implemented and hell it's nice! I love the new look of the pickups. They're even animated!
However, I'm afraid the core of the problem hasn't been solved yet. My concern was a thematic one, and as the names of the pickups remains the same, I feel they are still off. I think their names must hint what they are and why they do what they do. Here is the long version of my suggestion. The TL;DR part at the end has been posted on Mantis (
here).
Pickups should have a mouseover that hint their gameplay usage, and the console should display a more flavorful description when the item is picked up.
Health Pack (spinning yellow little box): why does it instantly repairs a ship? Is this a box containing nanobots that weld themselves to the ship's cracks and "wounds"? What about "welding nanobots box"? I understand this doesn't clearly convey the sense of "healing". Then the suggestion would be to display "healing" when the mouse is over the yellow box (because it needs to clearly say what it does) and display "welding nanobots box: 1 healing" in the console when picking it up.
Credits (green or blue pair of bubbles within a ring): I love their new outfit! They're mysterious! They sound valuable! But when I pick them up, I gain "credits". How disappointing. My proposal here would be to give them a strange name, something science-ish, maybe with "particles" in it (that would be coherent with their bubble/ring aspect). The mouseover text would clearly say what it is: "wealth", and the console would explain better what it is when picked up: "strange particles: 1 wealth".
Keycard (blue narrow circuit): the new look of the keycard is gorgeous, IMO. However, I'm still concerned with the generic and one-time use of what is supposed to be a global or specific unlocking credential : a key is supposed to unlock only a certain set of things it has been designed for, and it can do so multiple times. (For example, I don't consume my house's key each time I use it and it can't open my neighbor's door.) My suggestion would be to change the legit credential theme of this item by a disposable hacking device. The fact that it can unlock anything is now coherent, and the one-use-only is justified by the "disposable" adjective. The mouseover would be "unlocker", which is its function, shared with keys and keycards, but the console log would display "disposable hacking circuit: 1 unlocker". (Or maybe "disposable hacking circuit: unlocks one door or coffer".)
TL;DR:Health Pack:
mouseover = "healing"
console = "welding nanobots box: 1 healing"
Credits:
mouseover = "wealth"
console = "strange particles: 1 wealth" (or 3 for the blue version)
Keycard:
mouseover = "unlocker"
console = "disposable hacking circuit: 1 unlocker"
