Hi Kingdomseed,
Thanks for your kind words. I don’t believe I have a webcam right now for a video skype call. I could potentially do a voice skype call. However, the “inventory system” is not really an elaborate system in this game. As the game only really contains three items that can be held/worn, I simply had a set of integer variables that I set to a specific number, much like an on off switch to determine what items were held at any given time.
Then a short series of “IF” statements determine which of the appropriate text’s to display, based on which items were held.
So, something like, Int spacesuit; // are they wearing the suit? 0 = no, 1 = yes, Int Drill; // are they holding the drill? 0 = no, 1 = yes
When the player decides to pick an item up, I would set the appropriate integer to the number corresponding to the correct decision.
(players picks up drill)
Drill = 1;
Then, during the update function, the text window for the inventory area would have something like:
if (Spacesuit == 0 && Drill == 0) { inventory.text = " " }
else if (Spacesuit == 1 && Drill == 0) { inventory.text = “You are wearing the spacesuit” }
else if (Spacesuit == 0 && Drill == 1) { inventory.text = “You are holding the drill” }
else if (Spacesuit == 1 && Drill == 1) { inventory.text = “You are holding the drill, while wearing the spacesuit” }
This of course was sufficient for such a limited number of potential conditions, as the scope of the game was limited. I am not quite sure how I may have tackled the situation differently if I wanted to include additional inventory items into the game, as this option would have very quickly exponentially scaled out of proportion.
I considered looking into setting up a specific function or even public script that was focused on tracking inventory in some fashion that the main game could call at any period to have the current inventory status be displayed, but as it wasn’t really required for this game, I decided it was likely something we would be taught later.
I personally, think what makes this game unique compared to the standard prison escape game we were taught, is the challenge of being able to lose the game.
The basic game we were taught, has a very linear, feel and seemed to lack any consequence to the decisions the player made. They could continue to retry options until they succeeded, failure, was not an option, which also (I felt) reduced the feeling of accomplishment, when they finally finished.
Another video I had watched on game development, (albeit after doing this game) described how the most important part to making a game (beyond actually doing it) is considering the “player experience”. What is the core experience('s) you’d like to provide to the player. Then build the game around that.
