[RESOLVED] RPG Inventory

[Scarum]

Hi,
I've been using the search page and dug out some really old posts telling me the basics of what I need to do to create a functioning inventory for an RPG. Basically, I need to create a table containing the name, type, description, price, etc. where the primary key is an ID, most likely an integer.
Anyway, I was wondering... Is there any way to make an array in a MySQL table cell? Because I need somewhere to place all the item IDs, and I hate long tables that could be done a better, more compact way.
As one last thing, if there is a way to make an array of a cell in a MySQL table, then what would be the syntax for getting it out of the table to a variable, and then to break it down into its unique IDs?

[MarkR]

Probably you want to store a master table of items in your game .This need not be in MySQL, as it won't ever change during games. In the past I've used a PHP array for this. Then you can have a table of item instances which contains one row per item.

You can have a column or columns containing the location of the item - which could be either in a player's inventory, or in a room, chest etc. You'll have to design the method of storing this yourself.

Things like the price of an item will likely be calculated based on its attributes - so if items have wear etc, that will affect its price. So you shouldn't store the price in the database as this will be dependent purely on other columns.

Then to find the players inventory, you just select from the item instance table where the location is in the player's inventory. Likewise if it's a NPC's inventory (shopkeeper etc), chest etc.

Mark