Inventory & Items

Items are defined in YAML and added to the player’s inventory through dialogue effects. Since this is a text-based game, items aren’t picked up from the ground; they’re given through story events.

Defining an Item

Create content/items/old_coin.yaml:

id: old_coin
name: '@item.old_coin.name'
description: '@item.old_coin.description'
icon: old_coin_icon.png
image: old_coin.png
location: inventory
stats: {}

Field	Description
id	Unique identifier
name	Display name (supports @key localization)
description	Full description shown on inspection
icon	Small image for inventory grid
image	Large image for detail/inspection view
location	Starting location: a location ID, "inventory", or a character ID
stats	Extensible stats object

Adding Items via Dialogue

Items are added to inventory through dialogue effects:

NODE find_coin
  BARTENDER: @bartender.found_something
  ADD item old_coin
  NOTIFY @notification.found_coin

Removing Items

CHOICE @merchant.choice.trade_coin
  REQUIRE hasItem old_coin
  REMOVE item old_coin
  ADD variable gold 25
  GOTO trade_complete
END

Moving Items

Move items to specific locations:

# Move to a location
MOVE item sword armory

# Move back to inventory
ADD item sword

Checking for Items

Use hasItem to show choices only when the player has an item:

CHOICE @merchant.choice.show_coin
  REQUIRE hasItem old_coin
  GOTO coin_conversation
END

Use itemAt to check if an item is at a specific location:

IF itemAt sword armory
  GOTO sword_available
END

Inventory Display

The default GameRenderer shows inventory in the sidebar with a grid of item icons. Players can click an item to inspect it, and a modal shows the full image, name, and description.

In a custom renderer, use the Inventory component:

import { Inventory } from '@doodle-engine/react';

<Inventory items={snapshot.inventory} />;

Or build your own using snapshot.inventory, which contains SnapshotItem objects:

interface SnapshotItem {
    id: string;
    name: string; // Localized
    description: string; // Localized
    icon: string;
    image: string;
    stats: Record<string, unknown>;
}