for the people in the notes who haven't read homestuck - this is one way inventory works, it is not the entire way
see, homestuck eventually becomes this massive narrative heavy emotional epic, but it didn't start that way
it started as a medium for jokes about computer programming
so characters' inventories, at the start, come from data structures, literally how computers store and retrieve data
stack modus means you have to pull your items out of your inventory one at a time from the most recent to the least recent, like a stack. queue works the other way, the accessible item is whatever was put into the queue first
tree if you wanna make life difficult for yourself, or you really like organising. hash table, as op said, assigns numerical values to each item (there are multiple settings on that one as to how each item is assigned a number), and you can only put items in slots that match their number
(array would work like a normal inventory but the characters find that boring so no one uses it)
it should also be noted that if you ever attempt to put an item in your inventory that won't fit, it will fire out any conflicting items at high speed, and weaponising your inventory is also a big thing in homestuck
and then as the plot goes on it becomes less focused on data structures and more on gimmicks. good at memory games? this one splits all your items into 2 cards and then hides them in a deck, find where the two cards are hidden to pull an item out. can talk to ghosts? try the oujia modus! how about one where you have a max physical space in your inventory and you have to tetris shuffle things around to fit? here's one where you can only put items in your inventory next to other items if they rhyme, so you have to figure out creative ways to name whatever you pick up. better at drawing than typing? just draw your item and let the pictionary modus figure out what item you want to retrieve! (results not perfect)
(here for a full list if you're interested)
it's also made clear in homestuck that you can pick up items without putting them into your inventory, but it's difficult and requires a fair amount of focus. the reason some characters choose not to put items in their inventory? their modus is really inconvenient to retrieve items from (or in the case of karkat's first one, it locks every item into a lockbox and then drops the lockbox in front of you. trying to put it back in your inventory just puts the box in a bigger box. eventually this broke a hole through his bedroom floor)
and yeah op's right, i would love to see the absolutely bullshit character specific inventories other things could come up with
vaporwave
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
pixelskylines
