Item information and how to store it?

Unity Engine
1

Hello, I’ve been working on an mmorpg for a bit. I’ve created some odds and ends, prototyped some things and etc.

However, there is a question that I don’t think I’ll be able to answer myself. I’ve written some code for an inventory system, all fine and dandy there, but I can’t figure out a good/efficient way to store item information client-side to query/access when information is needed about a specific item such as itemname, item type, stats and etc.

I’m interested in possible solutions to this problem, aside from a clientside sql database unless that’s the best option, so if you have any ideas or suggestions I’m all ears.

2

SQL? That’s rather overkill. I doubt you will ever have tens or hundreds of thousands of item descriptions.

Seriously, you could just make something like;

public class ItemDescription : ScriptableObject
{
    public string name;
    public string description;
    public Texture2D icon;
    public ItemType type;

    public List<ItemStat> stats;
}

and so on.

You could also be clever and put all those in separated files in Resources folder, and load them by their names only when you need them.
Or you could make yourself a kind of dictionary that contains all the item data into a single ScriptableObject.

3

Hmmmm, and you would attach an ItemDescription object to a gameobject with the item name and store it in some sort of item resource folder?

I’m trying to imagine your solution and how you’d create several non-runtime instances of this ItemDescription class and access them.

Edit: I’ve never worked with a ScriptableObject so maybe there is something I’m missing.

4

ScriptableObject are able to live outside the scope of a GameObject. They are not components.
On top, you can save them in .asset files.

They are basically the answer to the problem of serializing data outside the scope of a level or a prefab.

Some reading; http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/ScriptReference/AssetDatabase.html

And for loading asset at runtime; http://docs.unity3d.com/Documentation/ScriptReference/Resources.html

5

For an MMORPG you want your data store to be centralised on a server. Storing anything on the client would just be silly and open to hacking.

I’d suggest looking at web services, which are basically method calls to post data to and from a server.
http://wiki.unity3d.com/index.php?title=Webservices_In_Unity

You can also look at RPC’s with multiplayer libraries such as uLink to store and retrieve data.

6

Thank you very much LightStriker I think you’ve given me exactly what I need. I’ll be reading that documentation tonight, I’ve been searching around about it to see if it was what I needed and it is perfect. So thank you.

Thank you Meltdown, I know that such things would be susceptible to exploiting which is why I’d be using this method specifically for client-side data that would be for representation only. All stats, when the items are equipped, and all uses, when the items are used, will be calculated server-side. I’m currently using Photon Server and I’ve grown quite fond of it. Do not worry though, I will not allow the user to simply modify the item data so that they can cheat the system. Definitely useful advice though.