Is this the best way to store my data? It doesn't feel like it.

Questions & Answers
1

Hi guys, I’m fumbling my way through an RPG… I’ve been hesitant to ask this on here as its kinda big.

Question:

I have a script that creates a class for Sex. In this Sex are strings to call names (his, her, she, him, male, female) and designate the character’s gender. Problem is, I can only seem to access these Male and Female Sex classes if I put them in an array and reference their count in the array. See my code below:

using System.Collections;

public static class SexData {
	
	public static Sex NoGender;
	public static Sex Male;
	public static Sex Female;
	public static Sex[] sexList;
	public static int maleIndex = 1;
	
	public class Sex {
		public string name;
		public string possesiveName;
		public string thirdPersonName;
		public string youngName;
		public string grownName;
		public Vector3 sexScale;
		public int[] hairIndexes;
	}
		
	static SexData(){
		Sex NoGender			=	new Sex();
		NoGender.name			= 	"No Gender";
		
		Sex Male 				= 	new Sex();
		Male.name				=	"Male";
		Male.possesiveName		=	"his";
		Male.thirdPersonName	=	"he";
		Male.youngName			=	"boy";
		Male.grownName			=	"man";
		Male.sexScale			=	new Vector3(1, 1, 1);
		
		Sex Female				=	new Sex();
		Female.name				=	"Female";
		Female.possesiveName	=	"her";
		Female.thirdPersonName	=	"she";
		Female.youngName		=	"girl";
		Female.grownName		=	"woman";
		Female.sexScale			=	new Vector3(.8f, .9f, .8f);
	
		sexList = new Sex[] {NoGender, Male, Female};
	}
}

To access these values outside the script, I cant just do “characterSex = SexData.Male”, I need to do “characterSex = SexData.sexList[1]”

I cant believe this is the proper way to do what I’m doing, but it works for now. Should I be using a struct? Is this a case of value type vs reference type?

Thanks all!

2

You should google MSDN dictionary or hash which can let you access things by string.

And/or you can make an enum like Gender { Male, Female } and use that as an index like SexData.sexList[Male]

That said, you code can also be condensed by making a constructor for Sex