The item management system in Ultima 6 was pretty awesome; you could use any container to store bodies, and as far as I know when you dropped something anywhere, it stayed there.

For the most part you could pick up anything in the game that was under your weight (memories of having Dupre carrying a skiff). To get around not being able to carry certain items you could cast "Vanish" and "Appear" which would work on just about anything; (memories of casting vanish on a cannon for those desperate encounters!)

They had an encumbrance system with nested containers that worked very well but must have been a real pain in the ass to code as there were problems with items disappearing.

Another game that had a wicked inventory system was a shareware game called "Castle of Windws"; this is now I beleive a legal piece of abandonware and I have seen it on a number of sites. It works exactly the same way, but each item has an AD&D style Encumbrance value to depict that general Bulk of an object as well as a weight value. had a properly working nested inventory system (At least nothing vanished on me!). It also had a really nifty feature that let you "rename an item", so instead of having a generically named "Enchanted Long Sword" you could change the name to "Long Sword of Regeneration" or "Use against fire creatures".

Very nifty way to have an "at a glance view".

I think that it might be good to have a backpack with a specific place for certain things (for better organization). For example: Say you have a couple side pockets for potions (they must be pretty small), and maybe a few holes for wands (where pencils and pens would go on a real one). Then you could hold your swords in their scabbard or axes on your hip (there might be a maximum 2 or 3 swords) and a bow on your back. There would be a pocket where you could store plot items such as letters and amulets. There would also be various other pockets on your clothes where you can store stuff (this would be a good reason to buy new clothes other than style). Maybe cloaks could have those pockets on the inside. The rest of the player''s crap you could store in either some sort of portal stash thing that you can get at the nearest inn, or maybe you could have luggage that you would get transported with you (this could be free if you''re sent on a quest?). I think this minimalist approach would be good because you basically only carry what you''re wearing, a sword or axe and maybe an extra dagger, a bow or battle-axe on your back, and little stuff like potions, letters, scrolls, money, etc. on your clothes''s pockets, in your cloak''s pockets, and a little extra space for things you might find on your journey, in your backpack. This way, you won''t have people taking 417 crappy orcish swords and then either keeping them or selling them for 2 gold a piece.

Hmm, here is what i was kindov thinking, i wqas thinking how could i get a more diabloii-like system to a ps2 like system.

___________________________________|Sword          |                 |   Okay, the left is the thing |Axe            |     SWORD       |   u use to scrole through the|Healing Potion | str req 73      |   things in your inventory|Dirk           | dex req 51      ||Breast plate   | char lv req 10  |   the right tells you the |               | dmg 55 - 60     |   stats of the item|               | vit + 2         ||_______________|_________________|   the bottom is where you see | /\    __                        |   the pic of the item and the| ||   \  \    /\                 |   area it is taking up in the| ||   |__/    ||   /\/\          |   inventory. For example the|-()-  |       {}   |__|          |   inventory might be 5 down| []   |   U                      |   by 10 across and an axe|_________________________________|   4 up The list would have options like use, toss, organize, equip ect...

just my idea, kindov simple but i think would work nicely.

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"yuo have it all wrong. admiralbiunary is me not the other way reorubnd poppet. just becuase hea was here first doesnt meean hes any mopre valid than me yuo rassit pigf." YodaTheCoda

The item/storage system depends a little on how to handle items in the game. If the game require or at least encourage the player to carry around a lot of stuff, then the character much have a natural means of doing so. If I were to design a game I''d like to get away from the "take everything and carry as much as you can since that''s the way to get by". I also dislike the loot and sell system. Each item in the world should be accounted for and have a meaning. If it doesn''t it should be considered a useless item. So what does this mean. When it comes to the actual character the pocket or rather limited storage slots should work out. You only have room for a certain amount of objects limited both by weight and volume (or rater area since 2D should be enough). Like the Diablo-system where weight is accounted for as stacking similar items in one slot. Carrying much should encumber the player I think.

As for mobile storage I think car/cart/horse/ship whatever is a good thing since you can use that to travel between places but not use it inside the dungeon. This together with the conscept of not benefitting to much from grabbing all items that''s available to you. I think personalizing items help a lot here. If the item as custom made for you and carries your name you tend to stick to it more. For more permantent storange like random barrels the possibillity to rent rooms/buy houses and such where you can store items is good I think. But of course this also depends on the story. Are the player on one great adventure? Or is it more of a place where you live and tries to earn a living and so on..

As for items been there when you return I had this idea where you store information about the game time when an item has been dropped. And the next time you returna calculation is made to see if the item''s still there or if it''s been looted..

Of course there are many aspects of this like having different chanses depending on where you place the item and so on.

To conclude, which ever system you use it must fit with the idea of the world. If it''s a loot and sell system I say unlimited storage capacity with no encumberance. If it''s the abilities rather than the items that makes a character better then little storage capacity with weight and size as well as penalties for carrying to much.

/ Phasma

" If I were to design a game I''d like to get away from the ''take everything and carry as much as you can since that''s the way to get by''. I also dislike the loot and sell system. Each item in the world should be accounted for and have a meaning. If it doesn''t it should be considered a useless item. "


I think you are right in that you shouldn''t NEED to loot everything all the time to just be able to get by, I guess. But at the same time, if I kill someone with a rifle, a armor, and a healing potion, I want him to drop those things (unless I damage one of them when I kill him).

I don''t know what you mean by everything should have a meaning, but if you mean that you shouldn''t be able to find pencils, pointless pieces of paper, empty syringes (like in fallout), then I agree. However, when it comes to guns, ammo, and other stuff that should be expensive, I think you should be able to find them.

If you mean that "have a meaning" = can be used in a quest, or something like that, then it''s more of an adventure game, IMO.


One thing that''s wrong with the "loot and sell"-system, which fallout is a good (or bad ) example of, is that whenever you have to do something against a group, you HAVE to kill them all. There''s like no way to just sneak in and kill the leader and erase their computer records (or whatever) and then try to get out of there. This is more of a flaw when it comes to floorplan/map and quest design, and imo it''s actually one of the more important things a good RPG must deal with. (almost new thread material )


Also, maybe you shouldn''t be able to loot the 10 guys you just killed, and go to the nearest general store and sell the 10 automatic rifles (or battleaxes, for that matter, but for SOME reason it doesn''t seem to matter as much in a fantasy setting). The player could get the option of
A) give the police the money and maybe get a small reward
B) find some crime boss or something who is willing to pay more
C) I dunno?

Heh, I guess loot and sell could be enough material for a whole new thread



And about the owning or renting a house for storage purposes: If there isn''t an "automatic go there and back"-function described above when selling (and buying?) items, it''s quite pointless in my opinion, unless you''re forced to have some kind of huge Quest Item for a long time...

How about having a list of all the items, their weight and space usage. Kind of simple, but in that way you won''t have to deal with inventory matrixes, auto-sorting, etc.
And give ''em a donkey for extra stuff.

True, that would be the simplest way to do it, and maybe the most realistic way too?

The space limit would then be a limit that couldn''t be broken, but breaking the weight limit would encumber the character.

Not bad.

Just consider what you do in real life.

You have a house with all your stuff in. Now if you go on a long journey you put everything, that you think your going need, into the back of your car. When you get to your destination just take your backpack, maybe a picnic basket and go for walk. (Oh don''t forget your broadsword )


Don''t use a matrix system they annoy me. just a list of stuff being carried that can be sorted by their various attributes e.g. weight, size, HP etc.

Yeah matrix systems annoy me too, greatly.

quick technical question. How do people handle items in there code? Do use an item base class and then have sub class for diffrent kinds of items such as weapons and potions. Then you have the items themselves is a broadsword a variable of type weapon that you have pointers to, or is it a subclass of weapon, that you create instances of when every a broadsword is needed?