Complex Inventory System

So there's been discussion for more than a few days about how the inventory system work. Because of the realistic style of Crimelike, we didn't want to simply have an abstracted inventory system. As in, objects are just stored in a generic pack, of which you can pull out and use, and encumbrance is just a simple measure of how much all the objects on you weigh. Think Nethack, for example.

Everyone knew they wanted a complex system. Weapons can be wielded in hands, naturally, but clothing should have pockets, pants should have pockets, and you can't carry a huge amount of stuff in your hands without getting problems from that (say, if you're carrying stolen goods and it's all visible in your arms), and if you really want to store things you could use a backpack (and some stores won't let you in with a backpack). That kind of idea. So Xegeth went about the task of coding a unique, container-based system that even lets you...shove things up your butt.

Lap playing around with the inventory system

I, the lowly spriter, am extremely excited for this bit of code. It's on the SVN now, though it doesn't seem to be fully integrated, which will change once the things are ironed out. In the meantime, you can see Lap's modification to the map. He's messing around with code trying to find a good way to generate a realistically sized map--a pretty hard endeavor. So far, he's got a few things going on, but the code is very much still in the workings.

Map in the workings

You can see the rudimentary roads and sidewalks, but otherwise, there's not much else generated. Going up or down stairs is a temporary thing, but it does let you see the other coded road layouts; corners, tops, and bottoms of roads and sidewalks. Over to the side is the locational damage indicator, though for now the leg is just showing up as red because it hasn't been changed. At the upper left is the minimap, which is mostly barren in this particular map. You can see parts of the design idea here: http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=64931.msg1546171#msg1546171

Choose your race!

This here is the character creation screen. Races are purely a cosmetic, choice thing, since racism is a little too edgy, and I think the game can be just as good without that kind of thing. Though, race might be a factor later on in the game, when the police identification system gets more complex. The attribute point system is still in the work. We decided that instead of simple points, it'd be more interesting to affect textual changes in the character description, as mentioned before in a previous post. 

So there you have it. Several fun screenshots of work in progress. Everyone's doing a great job, especially the coders Lap and Xegeth.