Zelda: Breath of the Wild Inventory System
As a game designer, I understand the importance of creating immersive and functional gameplay elements. One of my recent projects showcases my ability to design and implement critical game mechanics within a game engine. I developed a fully-functional hearts and inventory system inspired by “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.”
Hearts System
The hearts system is a vital component of the player's health management. I designed it to mimic the intuitive and visually appealing system seen in Breath of the Wild. The system includes the following features:
Damage Handling: The player can take damage, which reduces the current hearts displayed.
Health Upgrades: The player can increase their maximum number of hearts through gameplay, providing a sense of progression.
Hearts Component: This component encapsulates all functionality related to managing and displaying the player's hearts. It includes methods for setting the initial number of hearts, updating the current hearts, and calculating the remaining health after taking damage.
Inventory System
The inventory system I created is comprehensive and user-friendly, designed to handle various in-game items and equipment. The system includes:
Components and Widgets: The inventory system is built using a series of components and widgets, each serving a specific purpose:
Main Inventory Widget: Displays the player's entire inventory.
Action Menu Widget: Allows the player to interact with items (e.g., use, drop, equip).
Slot Widget: Represents individual slots within the inventory.
Description Box Widget: Provides detailed information about selected items.
Render Target Widget: Shows a real-time render of the character when equipping items like swords or shields.
Item Management: Players can pick up, drop, and use items. The inventory updates dynamically to reflect these actions.
Health and Equipment Integration: Players can eat food items to regain hearts and equip weapons and shields. Equipped items are visually represented on the character render.
Data Structure: The inventory system uses a Struct of Arrays (with each array containing Structs) to efficiently manage item data and relevant variables.
Conclusion
Although my primary focus is game design, using game engines for prototyping is important for many teams and projects. This project required creating custom components and widgets, implementing a robust data structure, and ensuring seamless interaction between the hearts and inventory systems
