Weighted inventory systems have gained a great degree of popularity in the past decade, largely due to the growth of the Western RPG. If that's what you're going for, fine-just be aware of it. By lowering the 99 to, say, 10 you would force players to begin managing their resources more effectively. Walls of text are so 1994.ĭesign Tip: Inventories of this type are designed to allow players to carry as much of a single item as they deem necessary. Non-visual: The 'Rule of 99' inventory system often feels antiquated, largely due to a lack of visuals.One solution is to ensure that potent items are priced accordingly, so that the player can only purchase them selectively. Item value: The only real design limitation of the 'Rule of 99' is that helpful items (such as buffs and potions) shouldn't be overly powerful in relation to enemy strength-not when you can store so many of them.Realism: The 'Rule of 99' makes no practical sense whatsoever.Searching: Regardless of how many filters you implement, navigating through a sea of items can be inconvenient and frustrating.Sorting and filtering: Developers have a myriad of options available at their disposal to handle sorting and filtering.Easily implemented: Along the same lines, inventories rooted in static quantities are exceedingly easy to implement, and shouldn't eat up valuable development time.Case in point: By changing the number 99 to 200 in code, you'll have effectively doubled the size of your game's inventory. Easily scalable: Re-balancing a 'Rule of 99' inventory system is hardly a laborious process.As long as players can afford an item, storing it will rarely pose an issue. Low design risk: The 'Rule of 99' inventory system effectively eliminates the need for micromanagement.Also, the 'Rule of 99' inventories are typically universal, meaning that they're shared between all party members.įinal Fantasy VI: The 'Rule of 99' in its heyday. And while that fixed number is typically 99, it can just as easily be 50, 100 or 1,000. The design paradigm behind this system is exceedingly simple: players can stash an innumerable amount of items in their inventory, but only a fixed number of each. One of the first true inventory systems to be widely implemented by RPG developers, inventories based off the 'Rule of 99' are most commonly associated with classic JRPGs such as Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger and early entries into the Pokemon series. The Classic JRPG Inventory or the 'Rule of 99' If anything, you should study them, learn their strengths and weaknesses, and perhaps use them as a template for your own innovative design. Now, that doesn't mean you're pigeon-holed into using one of the ensuing schemes-quite the contrary. That being said, before designing your own RPG inventory system it is imperative that you at least familiarize yourself with the most widely accepted practices. One of the clearest paths to becoming a solid game designer is to learn from the triumphs and failures of others.

The Basics: Tried and True RPG Inventory Systems

Finding that delicate balance between ideal design and the context of the game world at large is the key to developing a killer inventory framework. The best designers are constantly placing themselves in the shoes of their target audience, developing systems that capture the spirit of their game without hampering the end-user experience. The point of our little tale is that RPG inventory systems are usually not based in reality, nor should they necessarily be. Only there's one problem: the 100th won't fit, which seems odd considering he can stash another 99 mid-potions. With backpack firmly in hand, our potential savior forks over enough Gil to purchase 100 hi-potions. Our hero is preparing to take on a vicious two-headed Ogre, whose sole purpose in life is to smash the capital city into utter oblivion.

Game system designer