Role: Systems Designer | Unreal Developer

Genre: 3D | First-Person | Horror | Couch Co-op

Release Date: October 2021

Platform: PC

The House Where They Dwell is a 4-player couch co-op Horror Game that is currently under development. I am working as the Unreal Developer and Systems Designer for the game.This is a breakdown of the Item System that is currently being designed and developed by me for the game. The system and the game are still currently a Work-In-Progress and are subject to change.

Every Item is derived from a main parent Item Class. This parent Item is defined with a default Static Mesh, Item Structure and Quantity value and declared with the functions ‘Use Item’, ‘Passive Effect’ and ‘Remove Passive’.

There are two major types of items, Throwable Items and Consumable Items, that are the children of the main parent item.

Each of these Item types can be further classified into various Item Sub-Types such as ‘Non-Inventory Items’, ‘Passive Items’ and ‘Stackable Items’.

For every new item that is created, these default values of the Item Structure must be updated.

An example of the item structure updated for an item is show below:

Throwable Item

A child class of the Item Class where the ‘Use Item’ function causes the item to be thrown forward a certain distance depending on the player’s throw value.

Any specific item that needs to be thrown apart from having another effect is derived from this item.

Example:

Consumable Item

A child class off the Item Class where the ‘Use Item’ function causes the item to be destroyed. For this Item type, ‘IsConsumable’ must be set to true.

Any item that must be consumed after its use implements its effect is derived from this item.

Example:

Non-Inventory Items

Item is attached to the player’s hand when picked up and is not added to the inventory. This is used for specific scenario-based items.

Passive Item

Item’s effect implemented on the player right after it is added to the inventory. Typically used for making stat-based changes to the player.

Passive Item

Item with ‘IsStackable?’ true is added to a stack of the item existing within the inventory. Will be used mostly for ammo-based items.

The system was built into a component that could be added to any player or actor (entity) that was required to store items.

We decided on a quick-access inventory system that would always be visible on the screen. The items in the inventory system could be accessed using either the number pad on a keyboard or the D-Pad on a gamepad. This solved the issue of readability from a small screen area since the player did not have to open any new menu to view or access any of the items that were collected. The input mapping made for keyboard and gamepad are included at the end of the page for reference.

The inventory was also given just 4 slots per player. This decision was made not only to limit screen clutter but also to encourage a more fast-paced gameplay and smarter item usage.

• Slot 0 is the handheld slot while Slots 1,2,3 are the stored item slots.
• Only the handheld item could be used by the player.
• When an item is used, the handheld slot frees up immediately.
• Handheld item can be swapped with any of the stored items with the swap item buttons.
• Items picked up fill inventory slot from slot 0 to 3 respectively, or the first available free slot.
• Only stackable items will stack up in the same inventory slot with an item count at the top right corner of the slot. Other items each take up a new slot of their own.
• The slot thumbnail is filled by the thumbnail texture,

A video showcasing the Item and Inventory System is provided below:

Gamepad

Keyboard/ Mouse