Suggestions for my Shadowgate-esque app Thread

Hello!

I'm currently making a text based clicky adventure game in Construct 2 and will be releasing as an app. On the lookout for an artist too.
For now though, I am looking for any suggestions for the design of the game. Going for a classic medieval thing like Shadowgate on the NES could be a bit samey so I could do with some ideas for theme. Any contributions are appreciated! : D

Current planned ideas :
- Discard button (to drag inv items into and they will appear in original place found)
- Large map button next to mini map (to open up a larger map to help users)
- Puzzle objects that are draggable (but do not get added to inventory)
- Timed puzzle rooms that make use of draggable puzzle objects as well as items from the inventory

Things to consider :
- Should I ask players before they want to add items to inventory / discard ? (currently this is not the case)
- Should I ask players before they want to USE an item on an object?
- How cruel is the game? Can players die a lot? Where do they respawn?
- Potential addition of continuous weapon usage, enemies that can be killed, battle system etc

Here is a vid to show the current functionality :

EDIT
Things I'm adding this week :
- Discard item button - will remove an item from the inventory and leave it in the room you're in
- Map screen - will show items that you have dropped/discarded and any rooms you have entered so far

Edited by: plinkie

ShadowGate required selecting an action before clicking on the object, effectively making that "the ask." I rather like the way they handled it. If you kept "Get" selected, you could click through a few items quickly to pick them all up, for example. If you were prompted for each one, it might be a little annoying in places where you want to take multiple items in a row. Whether you think that fits your game's interface, though, is up to you. Dragging an object to "Use" seems like you've already got their buy-in on that.

Having to pick an action also prevents you from accidentally stumbling onto a solution - Just randomly clicking on things until you find the right answer detracts from the challenge of your game. And some people may prefer to examine an object rather than to pick it up straight away, particularly if you're going to have "cruel" traps.

Edited by: Bolts

Thanks for the feedback. I guess I would only need to ask to USE if the object could be used in more than one place. I had thought about the spamming to allow players to become easily unstuck and yeah that could be an issue. I could go in the way of "do you want to use ITEM on LOCATION" and then you get some feedback in the form of text and (if you have succeeded) some form of animation. This way could be deemed slow and frustrating if it was a timed puzzle though. I like the idea of simply when you drop the item that is when you have decided to do that action. I'll need to sit down and decide what's best. Perhaps create one of my puzzle room ideas to check on the difficulty and usability of the UI.

Edited by: plinkie