Hi Justin,
Since I am making an RPG I would like to have a robust inventory system. I was planning to use Inventory Pro, but since there isn't an integration package for UCC and IV Pro, I am taking into account maybe extending the UCC Inventory instead.
Your current implementation has only equipable items, mostly weapons. The itemCategory could be used to create categories such as Weapons, Materials, Consumables, Tools, Armor, etc.. I could then make, for example, a health potion itemType under consumable.
Let's say that I have an inventory filled with many many weapons and consumables and that the player should choose 4 consumables and 3 weapons which he/she can easily use/swap during gameplay (no need to go to the inventory window). My character can have 4 (D-pad directions) consumable items in his pouch (equipped), and 3 "ready to be equipped" weapons that you can switch through with a button. To do such a thing I would need a new inventory class right?
There is also the need to have item subcategories. For example, a small or a big health potion would be a Consumable > potion > health, while a fish stew would be a Consumable > Food. To give another example you could have a bronze pickaxe be a Tool > Pickaxe and a silver axe be a Tool > axe. You would then be able to "soft equip" (actually equip when using the relevant ability: mine/chop) one tool of each tool category, in your inventory "Tool" tab.
For itemTypes such as health potions, I would need to specify a healing amount. since the health potion is not an equipable item I wouldn't create health potions using the Item Manager. So I would probably want to extend ItemType too.
Having subCategories would require to extend ItemTypes and ItemCategories. How would that work with the ItemTypes Manager window?
Is it a good idea to extend the UCC inventory and item/Type/Category classes or should I consider making my own inventory system and use the UCC inventory only for equipable items. Should I reconsider the entire thing and stick to getting Inventory Pro to integrate correctly with UCC?
At this point I wouldn't know if I would want to use the itemAbility or the Ability to use Consumable items considering that in my case they'll probably only play a simple animation and give the character health/man and stat boost, although having consumable scrolls that shoot magic abilities could be cool.
I would guess that making items that are only used for quests or crafting should not be too hard since they are just numbers, it could be set up similarly to the bullets in your examples.
On another note, there is something I am slightly confused about when it comes to items. The inventory only stores itemTypes right? so if you pick up an item at run time, the item will not only be added to the character but its itemType will be added to the inventory. So now if I change scenes, I save my inventory, and on the other side I have the itemType in the inventory but I don't have the weapon on my character (can't equip something that does not exist). This inconsistency feels like a flaw to me. Would I need a script that spawns the equipable weapons in my inventory every time on start? How would I know which weapon to spawn if I have two weapon prefabs using the same itemType (normal, upgraded)? Maybe I should only have one item prefab per itemType.
Please let me know if I misunderstood anything about the item solution.
What are your thoughts on the subject?
Thank you for your time
Since I am making an RPG I would like to have a robust inventory system. I was planning to use Inventory Pro, but since there isn't an integration package for UCC and IV Pro, I am taking into account maybe extending the UCC Inventory instead.
Your current implementation has only equipable items, mostly weapons. The itemCategory could be used to create categories such as Weapons, Materials, Consumables, Tools, Armor, etc.. I could then make, for example, a health potion itemType under consumable.
Let's say that I have an inventory filled with many many weapons and consumables and that the player should choose 4 consumables and 3 weapons which he/she can easily use/swap during gameplay (no need to go to the inventory window). My character can have 4 (D-pad directions) consumable items in his pouch (equipped), and 3 "ready to be equipped" weapons that you can switch through with a button. To do such a thing I would need a new inventory class right?
There is also the need to have item subcategories. For example, a small or a big health potion would be a Consumable > potion > health, while a fish stew would be a Consumable > Food. To give another example you could have a bronze pickaxe be a Tool > Pickaxe and a silver axe be a Tool > axe. You would then be able to "soft equip" (actually equip when using the relevant ability: mine/chop) one tool of each tool category, in your inventory "Tool" tab.
For itemTypes such as health potions, I would need to specify a healing amount. since the health potion is not an equipable item I wouldn't create health potions using the Item Manager. So I would probably want to extend ItemType too.
Having subCategories would require to extend ItemTypes and ItemCategories. How would that work with the ItemTypes Manager window?
Is it a good idea to extend the UCC inventory and item/Type/Category classes or should I consider making my own inventory system and use the UCC inventory only for equipable items. Should I reconsider the entire thing and stick to getting Inventory Pro to integrate correctly with UCC?
At this point I wouldn't know if I would want to use the itemAbility or the Ability to use Consumable items considering that in my case they'll probably only play a simple animation and give the character health/man and stat boost, although having consumable scrolls that shoot magic abilities could be cool.
I would guess that making items that are only used for quests or crafting should not be too hard since they are just numbers, it could be set up similarly to the bullets in your examples.
On another note, there is something I am slightly confused about when it comes to items. The inventory only stores itemTypes right? so if you pick up an item at run time, the item will not only be added to the character but its itemType will be added to the inventory. So now if I change scenes, I save my inventory, and on the other side I have the itemType in the inventory but I don't have the weapon on my character (can't equip something that does not exist). This inconsistency feels like a flaw to me. Would I need a script that spawns the equipable weapons in my inventory every time on start? How would I know which weapon to spawn if I have two weapon prefabs using the same itemType (normal, upgraded)? Maybe I should only have one item prefab per itemType.
Please let me know if I misunderstood anything about the item solution.
What are your thoughts on the subject?
Thank you for your time