Inventory - Unity Game Development Scripting - page 65

have as many objects as long as there are slots and the weight of an object either
doesn't matter or isn't tracked at all.
An example of a weight-limited inventory is found in games such as The Elder
Scrolls V: Skyrim . The player can keep items in their inventory up to a certain ac-
cumulated weight limit. An example of a slot size limited inventory is found in games
such as Borderlands . In Borderlands, the player's backpack is set to a certain num-
ber of slots where they can keep items; if the limit is reached, the player can't pick
up any more items.
There is a third way to limit inventory, which is to combine the slot size method with
the weight method. An example of this combination method is Baldur's Gate 2 . In
this game, the player has a backpack with multiple slots, but also a weight limit. So
they may at times reach the weight limit in the inventory, but still have slots open in
the inventory. Alternatively, they can reach the slot size limit of the inventory but still
be holding less than the maximum weight limit.
Accessing the inventory
To access the inventory, you, as the designer, have a few options to choose from.
Some of the more common ways to allow the player to access the inventory are a
menu system, quick-items, and an item bar. You can also combine any or all of these
methods to allow to the player to utilize the inventory in dynamic ways.
In a menu-based inventory, when the player presses a key on their keyboard or a
button on their gamepad, they are taken out of the gameplay to the inventory menu.
Depending on the game, this can be a single menu showing their entire inventory, or
a menu broken up into submenus to organize their items.
When a quick-item method is used to access the inventory, the player just presses
a key or button and their item is instantly selected. For some games, this item might
need to be assigned first in an inventory menu, or in some games it may be pre-
defined as to which item is assigned to which key or button.
If you create a game where the player will need to use a lot of items and you don't
want them to open a menu stop the gameplay, then an item bar might be what you
need. An example of an item bar can be seen in Massive Multiplayer Online games
such as World of Warcraft . This is where the player has a GUI-based bar with but-