Introduction:
Now that a few weeks have passed, I have had some time to get more acquainted with my new teammates at Adjective Noun, along with the inner workings of our game, Guilded. This has given me a great opportunity to start developing new systems alongside the other designers, such as the quirk system I showed off in my last post. One of these systems - and the one I have devoted the most time to over this past week - is Guilded's new inventory system, where each character has a unique inventory of items that can impact them in a variety of ways.
Designing the Inventory System:
Originally, our team approached the inventory system with the idea that each of the player's adventurers would have a fairly small array of items, including a weapon, armor, gold, and trinkets. I liked most of these ideas; they read well, and most players who are familiar with Dungeons & Dragons (or similar tabletop games) would likely be able to understand them without too much trouble.
However, I realized that armor did not make much sense in Guilded, since there isn't any direct combat in the game, and having something like that would likely just confuse players (or worse, add extra, unnecessary mechanics for us to handle down the line). This led me to refine this list while further defining each item's usefulness. It also led me to creating the current setup, which allows each character to have one weapon, one accessory, two consumable items, and as much gold as possible.
Gold: Each adventurer has a separate gold inventory from the player's, which they can increase by earning their weekly salary or by finding gold on quests. Adventurers can use their gold to purchase new objects, such as weapons or consumable items, or upgrade their current weapon.
Weapons: Each adventurer in the player's guild will always wield a weapon, and each of the five class lines (Brawler, Cook, Hunter, Healer, and Bard) wields a specific weapon type. With rare exceptions, all weapons provide a high bonus to their class line's main skill, a low bonus to a constant secondary skill, and moderate bonus to a random tertiary skill. For example, most Tomes (Healers' main weapons) currently give +6 to Restoration, +2 to Magic, and +3 to a random skill. This means that if a player's Healer swaps out their current Tome for a new one, the player should not have to worry about their Healer losing too much - if anything - in terms of important stats. Once we have a chance to implement the town's blacksmith, adventurers will be able to go there between days to purchase a new weapon or to upgrade their current one, further increasing their power.
Accessories: As with weapons, each of the player's adventurers can equip a single accessory at a time. Unlike weapons, any class can equip any type of accessory. Accessories currently come in three categories: Amulets, which improve or weaken an adventurer's personality traits while equipped; Talismans, which improve an adventurer's skills while equipped; and Contracts, which provide an incredible bonus in exchange for an equally incredible cost.
Consumable Items: Consumable items are temporary inventory objects that provide a short-term bonus when used. For example, a Potion of Bravery may increase a character's Bravery for a single check, while a Leading Liquor may improve their Leadership for a single check. Adventurers will always use a consumable item if the opportunity arises, so players should not expect them to stay in an adventurer's inventory for too long.
While this inventory system is still only in its infancy, I hope that as the semester progresses, I can continue to help it grow over time into a form that will help expand Guilded's systems even further.