Something smells funny in the design here.
This is a CompanionManager.
Usually “manager” implies ONE of these things, not many.
Yet this thing has a single “recruit” field in it.
So if you have more than one of these, eg, one per recruit, your JoinParty doesn’t have any checks in it, so of course all would join if all were told, like if you added that JoinParty delegate right to your button.
This feels like it might need to be pulled apart a bit more:
- a stack of possible recruits
- a UI that presents all of them, perhaps highlighting based on type
- a UI that lets you pick one to add, and sends ONLY that one the Join Party message, which it then tests based on type.
These things are quite hairy… hairy enough that I keep a handy list:
These things (inventory, shop systems, character customization, crafting, etc) are fairly tricky hairy beasts, definitely deep in advanced coding territory.
Inventory code never lives “all by itself.” All inventory code is EXTREMELY tightly bound to prefabs and/or assets used to display and present and control the inventory. Problems and solutions must consider both code and assets as well as scene / prefab setup and connectivity.
Inventories / shop systems / character selectors all contain elements of:
- a database of items that you may possibly possess / equip
- a database of the items that you actually possess / equip currently
- perhaps another database of your “storage” area at home base?
- persistence of this information to storage between game runs
- presentation of the inventory to the user (may have to scale and grow, overlay parts, clothing, etc)
- interaction with items in the inventory or on the character or in the home base storage area
- interaction with the world to get items in and out
- dependence on asset definition (images, etc.) for presentation
Just the design choices of such a system can have a lot of complicating confounding issues, such as:
- can you have multiple items? Is there a limit?
- if there is an item limit, what is it? Total count? Weight? Size? Something else?
- are those items shown individually or do they stack?
- are coins / gems stacked but other stuff isn’t stacked?
- do items have detailed data shown (durability, rarity, damage, etc.)?
- can users combine items to make new items? How? Limits? Results? Messages of success/failure?
- can users substantially modify items with other things like spells, gems, sockets, etc.?
- does a worn-out item (shovel) become something else (like a stick) when the item wears out fully?
- etc.
Your best bet is probably to write down exactly what you want feature-wise. It may be useful to get very familiar with an existing game so you have an actual example of each feature in action.
Once you have decided a baseline design, fully work through two or three different inventory tutorials on Youtube, perhaps even for the game example you have chosen above.
Breaking down a large problem such as inventory:
If you want to see most of the steps involved, make a “micro inventory” in your game, something whereby the player can have (or not have) a single item, and display that item in the UI, and let the user select that item and do things with it (take, drop, use, wear, eat, sell, buy, etc.).
Everything you learn doing that “micro inventory” of one item will apply when you have any larger more complex inventory, and it will give you a feel for what you are dealing with.
Breaking down large problems in general: