New Item System

I have created about 4-5 item systems, all of which get more and more complex. I've started on another one, which is totally new. I am trying not to use the hero's inventory at all or very little. I have everything setup, I just do not know if I should use the hero's item inventory. I have a list, the poll vote, of some things I thought to try out. If you have a cooler idea, or any suggestion at all, please feel free to share ^^

I currently have 7, which is 1 over the hero's inventory, different types of items... Of course, this would mean I would have paging on the main menu if I use the inventory!

Weapons, Armor, Jewelry, Potions, Spells, Text-Based Items, and Bonus Items.

Use The Hero's Inventory!:
I'll use the inventory that the hero normally has, but that's not unique or original? Now is it? Plus it's not to user friendly >;{

Replace The Items With Units:
I'll basically have some triggers to emulate units as items. Basically, the units will look like items, but in truth, they are units. When a player selects "Weapons", it will fade out, and back in, in a different area where it displays all the weapons he has. It also shows, somewhere (left, top, right, etc...) in that region, the weapons he has equipped right now. Clicking on an item (or in reality, a unit), will display floating text over the item showing it's stats and such, while hiding the other items (except the items he has equipped). When he clicks on the item again, the floating text disappears, and the items come back in place (unhidden). Double-Clicking equips/unequips.

Multiboards:
Use multiboards to store and display every item I have... Using the arrow keys I can select what I want to equip and unequip, etc... I find this dull, as I use a lot of multiboards already.

Other/Your Suggestion:
Your suggestion in a new reply!

Multiboards. The players will be more enjoyed by being able to carry more items. I get annoyed when i can only hold 6 items in an rpg. It may be annoying to do another multiboard but the poeple playing it will greatly appreciate not having to choose between a kik ass sword or kik ass armor to carry around in unit inventory.

The thing is, all 3 can hold up to more than 6 items.

I'm assuming its for a multi player RPG. You could try Darky27's backpack system but that uses dialogue menus. I say multiboards cause they are easier to access than the fade out fade in thing.

The key to making an RPG, especially an open RPG, is to not complicate things. Don't try to be too innovative and creative. Don't overwhelm new players (afterall, you want them to keep playing for potentially hours). People associate items with inventories so you should probably stick with that. Inventories, as we've seen, are extremely flexible if you have variables/arrays or know jass.

I say you should have a multi-level invetory with two screens with an item in each that changes the invetory card back/fourth. That way you have 10 items, which is enough.

thats pretty good but how sould u do that?

wow, clearly not many of you visit the trigger repository.
If you'd like to see a propper RPG engine check out the now deprecated in method, but beautiful in style DT4a link in my signature. (The highlighted damn)

Then if your going for simpler item storage ala backpack you can try the beta of my latest project Drag and Drop++
http://www.wc3campaigns.com/showthread.php?t=53832

Yeah, I put your system in my map after I learned how to edit it Weaaddar. However, there is too many things to edit in your system to actually go in with my map. Thus I've been developing my own item system that will integrate altogether.

I don't see flexibility as a problem. You have to edit alot for all the features my system boasts. The two items per item seems like a drag, but when you realize that it allows you to pick up items at anytime (that I allow) you appreciate the effort.

I am not allowed to pick up any item at any time. When I open the inventory, I cannot pick up items, either it bugged that game or I dunno. Here is what I did in that test map last time I ran it.

Picked up 2 empty vials
Oepened the inventory
Tried to pick up an empty vial
Got an error message displaying "Your inventory is full."

I'm talking about items that my system uses (equipable items). I guess I should have been more specific. Anyway if theres interest I could make a "pick up item anywhere" thing that could then add items directly to the backpack if so needed. The problem ofcourse is that you'd need two version of every item to get over the annoying interface problem.

About darky27's backpack ability...

from what he has told me, there is a 2nd unit hidden somewhere, and the items are transfered over to the hidden unit's inventory when the dialogs are used. that being you may only load a maximum of 6 items into the backpack, this though sounds restricted adds a fantastic amount of realism...

what i want to see/have is that the 6 slot hero inventory is what items are equiped... eg. sword, shield, armor, shirt, pants, helm etc. and a secondary inventory for storage and external items... eg. potions, scrolls, un-used swords etc.

what i would also like to see is a published version of your already implemented inventory uses, as your explanations are hard to picture and some might be good use to other mappers... ( just a request noit a demmand )

Almost any inventory related thing is going to require another unit. I use 3 units in drag and drop++ but the 3rd just is for the swap method. Anyway theres a published version of DT4a (the demo map) that you can download. And it basically has the concepts you speak of.
100 slots for item storage of equipables, and 6 for nons. Eventually the DT4a and D+D++ will mix to become some super RPG engine but thats a day that may never happen.

Well actually, in all the systems I made, only two of them used units to store items in them. I find that variables are easier, and that I just hide the items in some remote location that I'll probably not use (most likely the corner of a map).