what is the best way to make an inventory for unity

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Our hero is preparing to take on a barbarous two-headed Ogre, whose sole purpose in life is to nail the capital metropolis into utter oblivion. With backpack firmly in paw, our potential savior forks over enough Gil to purchase 100 hi-potions. Only there's ane problem: the 100th won't fit, which seems odd considering he can stash another 99 mid-potions.

The signal of our footling tale is that RPG inventory systems are usually non based in reality, nor should they necessarily exist. The best designers are constantly placing themselves in the shoes of their target audience, developing systems that capture the spirit of their game without hampering the stop-user experience. Finding that delicate balance between ideal design and the context of the game world at large is the key to developing a killer inventory framework.

The Basics: Tried and True RPG Inventory Systems

1 of the clearest paths to becoming a solid game designer is to learn from the triumphs and failures of others. That being said, before designing your own RPG inventory system information technology is imperative that y'all at to the lowest degree familiarize yourself with the most widely accepted practices.

Now, that doesn't mean y'all're dove-holed into using one of the ensuing schemes—quite the contrary. If anything, you lot should report them, acquire their strengths and weaknesses, and peradventure use them as a template for your own innovative design.

The Archetype JRPG Inventory or the "Rule of 99"

Ane of the first true inventory systems to exist widely implemented by RPG developers, inventories based off the "Rule of 99" are well-nigh commonly associated with archetype JRPGs such as Terminal Fantasy Half dozen, Chrono Trigger and early entries into the Pokemon serial. The design epitome behind this organization is exceedingly simple: players can stash an innumerable amount of items in their inventory, but only a stock-still number of each. And while that stock-still number is typically 99, information technology can just as easily exist l, 100 or 1,000. Too, the "Rule of 99" inventories are typically universal, meaning that they're shared between all political party members.

Final Fantasy VI: The "Rule of 99" in its heyday.

Pros:

• Low design risk: The "Rule of 99" inventory system effectively eliminates the need for micromanagement. As long as players can afford an item, storing it will rarely pose an issue.
• Easily scalable: Re-balancing a "Rule of 99" inventory system is hardly a laborious process. Case in point: Past irresolute the number 99 to 200 in code, y'all'll have effectively doubled the size of your game's inventory.
• Hands implemented: Along the same lines, inventories rooted in static quantities are exceedingly like shooting fish in a barrel to implement, and shouldn't swallow up valuable development time.
• Sorting and filtering: Developers have a myriad of options available at their disposal to handle sorting and filtering.

Cons:

• Searching: Regardless of how many filters you implement, navigating through a sea of items tin can be inconvenient and frustrating.
• Realism: The "Rule of 99" makes no practical sense whatever.
• Item value: The only real blueprint limitation of the "Rule of 99" is that helpful items (such as buffs and potions) shouldn't be overly powerful in relation to enemy strength—non when you tin shop so many of them. One solution is to ensure that strong items are priced appropriately, so that the role player tin can only buy them selectively.
• Not-visual: The "Dominion of 99" inventory organisation ofttimes feels antiquated, largely due to a lack of visuals. Walls of text are so 1994.

Pattern Tip: Inventories of this blazon are designed to allow players to comport equally much of a single item as they deem necessary. By lowering the 99 to, say, 10 you would force players to begin managing their resources more finer. If that's what you're going for, fine—simply be enlightened of information technology.

The Weighted Inventory

Weighted inventory systems accept gained a not bad degree of popularity in the past decade, largely due to the growth of the Western RPG. Games like Fallout 3 and Oblivion have made exemplary utilize of the system, harnessing it to add together an actress layer of depth.

In this system, each particular or piece of equipment is assigned a numerical value that represents its weight. And, as you might have guessed, items that are perceived equally heavier are assigned a higher value than those perceived as lighter. For case, a rocket launcher may carry a weight of 20 whereas a first help-kit may only warrant a 1.

Characters tin can merely carry a sure amount of weight earlier experiencing the sick-effects of burden or fatigue, which may ultimately cause them to walk slower or gradually lose wellness. Alternatively, the game can disallow the character from going over the allotted weight limit entirely.

Fallout three: Patently our hero has no problem conveying over 10,000 bullets.

Pros:

• Resources direction: The need to manage resources effectively becomes apparent, without necessarily ever becoming a huge burden.
• Realism: Weighted systems add together a degree of realism not present in the "Rule of 99" organisation.
• Implementation:  Weighted systems are well-nigh as easy to develop as "Rule of 99" systems. However, they do require a bit more than design inventiveness.
• Sorting and filtering: Again, weighted inventories are simply as flexible as "Rule of 99" systems are in regards to sorting and filtering, if not more and so.

Design tip: If you get with a weighted inventory system, it's critical that you allow players to sort items past weight.

Cons:

• Rest: A great deal of playtesting is required to ensure that players tin can conduct the "right" amount of inventory. Permit them to carry besides much and the game loses depth; too little and they'll constantly be suffering from fatigue.
• Item dump: Sifting through items, trying to notice ones to throw away can be cumbersome and frustrating, more and then if the system isn't properly counterbalanced.
• Item value: An particular featuring a weight of two (hand grenade) might be far more valuable than one carrying a weight of 20 (steel pole). Designers are therefore restricted in how many low level items can boast powerful stats.
• Non-visual: Weighted systems are usually text-based, and do little to enhance the visual appeal of the game.

One design idea that you may want to explore is that of a hybridized weighted-banking organisation. Combining the aforementioned weighted system with MMO-style storage, players would be encouraged merely to conduct items they deem every bit essential to the side by side leg of their journey, and store the rest in a vault or bank for later use. Using this system, the amount of item dump would be reduced dramatically. It would also allow for greater design flexibility.

The Visual Grid

Popularized by action RPGs like Diablo 2 and survival horror games ala Resident Evil, the visual grid inventory arrangement is just that: players have a specific number of slots in which to business firm items, represented visually by a rectangular grid. Visual grids are also popular in modern MMOs such equally Globe of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Instead of being assigned a weighted value, equipment and other inventory items are sized appropriately. For instance, a broad sword might be three filigree slots high and one wide whereas a curt battle ax would be two high and two wide. Other, non-rectangular particular compositions accept led gaming fans to liken the system to playing a game of Tetris.

Resident Evil 4: Anyone up for a mini-game of Tetris?

Pros:

• Visual: Due to its visual nature, resource management is a relatively intuitive process. Visual systems are also more highly-seasoned to the senses than weighted or "Rule of 99" frameworks.
• Drag and drop: Because inventory is represented graphically, players can move items from one locale to another with ease. Identifying items is less of a task than it is with "Rule of 99" or weighted systems.
• Realism: Visual systems are pseudo-realistic. Size is but as much a determining gene in how much one can acquit as weight is.

Cons:

• Arrangement: Rearranging items and so that you can complimentary upwardly one or 2 more than inventory slots tin exist a task, especially if they're shaped like Tetris pieces.
• Size balancing: Smaller grids crave players to either item dump or make more trips to the vendor. On the other paw, the larger the filigree, the less realistic and harder to explore they become.
• Stash: Due to their finite nature, implementing this system will almost also require your game to characteristic a stash or banking system. That is, unless you keep the number of inventory items strictly limited (better for survival horror RPGs).

Pattern tip: The idea of Tetris shaped inventory items, while interesting on paper, was scorned by gamers and has since been all but abased. If y'all're dead fix on designing a visual organization, I'd recommend using rectangular items only.

Realistic

Realistic systems are generally preferred in rouge-likes, some survival horror games, and games designed to be excruciatingly difficult. Dark Souls comes to mind.

All of the aforementioned systems can exist used as a template for the realistic model. There's only ane caveat: Whatever arrangement y'all utilise, the amount of storage must be severely express. Why? The answer is unproblematic: in real life, people can't carry very much.

That being said, if yous go with a "Dominion of 99" inventory system for your realistic game, item scarcity and intelligent placement is a must. That, and each particular should be extremely valuable to the player. If the decision whether or not to consume a potion at present or later is not painstaking, then the game designer didn't do his or her task.

Due to their real-world confines, realistic inventory schemes are the least flexible, and require conscientious design.

Dark Souls: To gain humanity now or later, that is the question.

Determining the Right Inventory System for Your RPG

Now that you're familiar with a variety of popular RPG inventory systems, its time you started designing your own. Well, not exactly. In order to decide which model, or concoction of models, is best suited for your game, y'all demand to reply some preliminary questions. Oh, and I as well recommend that you design another system offset—more on that in a bit.

Hey, no one said becoming a designer is easy (if they did, don't heed to them). But by post-obit the rules of stepwise refinement, determining a basic template for your RPG inventory organization should be as easy as fitting 99 Statuary Armors into a knapsack.

1. What RPG sub-genre does your game fall under? Allow's first with an easy one. Kick things off past identifying your RPG'southward primary sub-genre. Doing and so will pb y'all in the correct management. For instance, high fantasy-based JRPGs where the real-world rules of logic and reason don't necessarily apply lend themselves to the "Rule of 99" system. Conversely, weighted systems are best suited for gritty Western RPGs set up in worlds that obey sure real-world parameters.
2. Determine the function inventory will play in your game. If emerging triumphant in battle consistently relies on the usage of healing items, thrown weapons and consumable buffs, so either a "Rule of 99" or visual grid that allows particular stacking is probably the way to go. On the other mitt, if the strategic use of resources is an immersive facet of gameplay, a weighted system might evidence more applicable.
3. Begin breaking downward your inventory assets into categories. Remember when we said that y'all should offset design another system before tackling inventory? Merely like a suitcase is valued past what goes inside of it, RPG inventory pattern is dictated by its eventual contents. Thus in order for inventory pattern to become a much more intuitive, streamlined procedure, I encourage you lot to first pattern your inventory items. Let's come across how.

Designing Inventory Items From the Meridian Down

Here's where I similar to use what we technical junkies call elevation-down design. Top-downwards design is a relatively simple concept that tasks designers with looking at the large moving picture first, and then drilling things down into their constituent parts. In the case of inventory items, nosotros first by breaking our game assets into 2 categories (inventory vs. non-inventory avails) and work down from at that place.

Top-down approach to inventory asset design:

1. Which game assets types will exist displayed in inventory and which will not? For instance, weapons, armor and consumables should nigh ever take up inventory slots. Ammo and one-time use special items may not. What about items that your characters accept equipped? Will they be included every bit part of your inventory or person? By answering the aforementioned questions, you'll be able to readily deduce which items belong in your inventory, and which tin be placed elsewhere or remain hidden.
2. Departmentalize inventory nugget types. Begin systematically pairing down inventory categories by type. Beginning at the top; doing and then will allow you to more readily pair downward general types into sub-categories. Information technology'south also a good style to predict the sorting mechanisms your inventory system will need to utilize. High-level types may include weapons, armor, accessories and consumables.
3. Do it again, and again. Consumables tin can hands be broken down further into restorative items, items that inflict direct damage, and items that provide buffs. From there, restorative items might be farther sub-categorized into healing items, items that remove status effects, and items that mimic the effects of an inn.
4. Assign private inventory items' statistics. One time you've reached the indicate where y'all can't drill downward your categories any further, list the assets that fall under each category and assign them stats.
5. Decide asset availability. Differentiate between assets that are sold past vendors (if any) and those that can simply be constitute in either chests or on the corpses of the vanquished. If your assets falls into the latter category, determine each nugget'southward rarity. Designers can justify overpowered items, as long as they're appropriately rare.
6. Count the number of total inventory assets in your game. Simple enough.

Now that you've designed your game's inventory assets—congratulations on that, past the style—we tin can resume our discussion on inventory system design.

Picking up right where we left off, the adjacent facets of inventory design to consider are:

• Usability: When determining how oftentimes inventory items, particularly consumables, volition be used, look no further than your hero party'southward perceived battle efficacy. This will dictate their reliance on items. For example, in 16-bit RPGs, political party members take a righteous beating, necessitating the abiding use of potions and healing spells and, in turn, the "Rule of 99" inventory system. Other games implement more advanced healing schemes, such every bit "Life on Striking" or "Regen", which reduce item reliance. (That said, these games tend to clog upwardly player inventories with equipment instead.)
• Quest functionality: How does your questing organisation function? Games like Diablo three make use of Waypoints, which let players to travel back and along to town with relative ease. Thus, resource management becomes less of  an outcome—although the constant trips to the vendor can exist annoying. Skyrim, on the other mitt, sees your hero traveling bang-up distances en route to his or her destination. Items are therefore more scarce, just nevertheless plentiful plenty that players must weigh their decisions advisedly. The "Rule of 99" system wouldn't work in Skyrim, considering it would make the game besides easy and also reduce actor immersion.
• Is your party comprised of a single grapheme or a collective grouping? Weighted inventories function more intuitively in games featuring 1 protagonist, whereas the "Dominion of 99" is best suited for political party-based play. Visual grids tin office in both settings.

Diablo 3: Waypoints allow players to sell their crappy loot whenever they delight.

Note: A few party-based RPGs take tried to pull off individual inventory systems and, although these attempts were aggressive, most players speedily grew frustrated with them.

Don't exist surprised if this process leads you to conclude that your platonic RPG inventory system doesn't fit neatly into i category. There's no such affair as a catch-all organisation. That'southward why it'south upwardly to you to make up one's mind which template or hybridization of templates works best, and to base your design on that. From in that location, yous tin tweak your preferred inventory system so that its inherit flaws get less apparent, ever keeping in heed the finish-user experience.

Decision

At their best, RPG inventory systems are functionality intuitive and brand sense within the context of your game-earth. At worst, they're a source of frustration that can disrupt your game'due south delicate balance. In this segment we outlined a design process yous tin can implement to forestall that from happening. To aid y'all decide, here'south a flowchart you lot can follow to pick one system as a starting bespeak:

Side by side time, nosotros'll utilise what we learned in a instance study using one of the games I helped pattern: the retro RPG Echoes of Eternea.

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I'm an aspiring independent game developer, logic nerd and game aficionado. When I'm non writing about, developing or playing games, I can usually exist found sleeping. Currently, I human activity as the Game Designer and Project Director of Divergent Games. Our team has released 5 minor to mid-sized games for various platforms, and are presently working on a crowdsourced RPG entitled Hiro Fodder: A Blue Promise. For more than about the game, delight visit its Facebook folio, or follow him @DivergentGames on Twitter.

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Source: https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/articles/designing-an-rpg-inventory-system-that-fits-preliminary-steps--gamedev-14725

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