What you’ll learn
- Create and manage inventory systems in Unreal Engine
- Code item interaction systems in a robust and scalable way
- Code multiplayer inventory and item systems
- Create spatial inventory grids with item categories
- Implement stackable, consumable, and equippable items
In this course, you will learn how to create inventory systems for your games in Unreal Engine 5 using C++ and Blueprints.
We will create a spatial inventory with item grids for different categories (Equippable, Consumable, and Craftable) and the ability to switch between grids filled with items. Items can be different sizes, each taking up a different number of squares in the grid, and items can be stackable, allowing for splitting, combining, consuming, and dropping items.
This inventory system is architected for scalability, modularity, and uses Unreal Engine C++ best practices. The inventory is coded in its own separate plugin, which can be added to multiple game projects or simply kept in a single project.
Assets are provided for this course, including:
- All 3D meshes for items used, including consumable potions, equippable cloaks, masks, and weapons, and craftable foraging materials.
- All 2D textures for icons, widgets, menus, borders, and messages.
- Niagara effects for picking up items
This project uses Unreal Engine 5.5 and works in Unreal Engine 5.6 – you may use the latest version of Unreal Engine for this course!
Features of this course include:
- Spatial inventory grids and the ability to switch between multiple grids in the inventory to house items of different categories (we implement Equippables, Consumables, and Craftables),
- An Item Fragment system whereby items can be customized by adding modular “Fragments” to give them functionality (a well-established software pattern in the games industry). Add a Grid Fragment to make the item capable of taking up multiple squares on the grid – add an Equippable Fragment to make the item equippable, etc.,
- Item tooltip popups showing item attributes and the use of design patterns to make a highly-flexible system where tooltips adapt to an item’s fragments to display item information,
- The ability to move items in a spatial inventory,
- Stackable items with stack counts (just add a Stackable Fragment), supporting max stack sizes, and the ability to split, combine, and drop items in the inventory,
- Consumable items, the ability to consume and apply custom behaviors upon item consumption (we will implement potions),
- Equipment with equippable slots, and actually equipping items of different types (we will implement cloaks, masks, and weapons),
- Assets will be provided for this course, including the character, weapons, equipment, potions, and craftables, as well as all UI textures for inventory menu widgets. Though you are free to use your own assets!
- Everything is programmed to work in a multiplayer environment, both Listen Server and Dedicated Servers. It also works in single-player, Standalone games.
- Items are functional – not just affecting what we see in the menus, but also what happens in the game – the system is coded to be flexible, allowing you to program your own functionality when items are consumed/equipped/used, including incorporation with the Gameplay Ability System (GAS).
My students have easily incorporated this inventory into their own projects with little effort.
We will cover topics from intermediate to advanced Unreal Engine C++. If you have taken my course titled Unreal Engine 5 C++ The Ultimate Game Developer Course or have equivalent knowledge, you are ready for this course!
You will also have access to the Druid Mechanics Discord Community, a community I have created for my students, designed to be your most helpful resource when learning. We are going on 35,000 students and climbing! We’re all here to help each other out!
I hope you enjoy this course as much as I did while creating it!
Jump in, and let’s make some inventories!
Who this course is for:
- UE5 devs who want to implement inventory systems in their games
- Those who want to learn how items are handled in serious games
- Those who want to implement equipment systems
- Those who need multiplayer solutions to items, inventory, and equipment
