Feedback on my Inventory System

I hope you’re all doing well :3 . I’ve been working on a Roblox inventory system, and I’m looking for your feedback and insights to help me improve it.

I’m reaching out to request your feedback and critique on both the code and the system design. While I believe it’s functional, I want to make sure it’s efficient, well-structured, and follows best practices.

I’ve never tried scripting an inventory system before, so I’m a bit concerned about how well it’s designed.

One thing I’m having trouble with is reliably identifying the hovered GUI element. It doesn’t always work as expected, and I’d appreciate your insights on this issue.

ALSO, some features of the inventory system:
Merging Stacks: To merge two item stacks, simply hold the Ctrl key and click on one stack while dragging another. This action combines the items into a single stack. ( but doesn’t exceed the MaxStack limit)

Taking One From the Stack:If you press Mouse2 you take only one item from a stack

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–inv link deleted–

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Hey! It’s great to hear you’re working on a Roblox inventory system. I’ll be happy to provide some feedback and insights to help you improve it.

Key Points for Inventory System Design

  1. Data Structure:
  • Use Tables: For an inventory, using tables (arrays and dictionaries) in Roblox Lua is effective.
  • Items: Each item can be a table with properties like id, name, quantity, maxStack, etc.
  1. Event Handling:
  • Signals/Events: Use BindableEvent or RemoteEvent for handling interactions such as item drag-and-drop, stack merging, etc.
  1. GUI Elements:
  • Button/Frame Interaction: Use MouseEnter, MouseLeave, MouseButton1Click, etc., to handle GUI interactions.
  • Reliable Identification: Ensure each GUI element has a unique identifier and possibly use GetMouse() to track mouse position accurately.

so uhm here’s an example script:

Inventory Script (Server)

-- Inventory management module
local Inventory = {}
Inventory.__index = Inventory

function Inventory.new(maxSlots)
    local self = setmetatable({}, Inventory)
    self.slots = {}
    self.maxSlots = maxSlots or 20
    return self
end

function Inventory:addItem(item)
    for i, slot in ipairs(self.slots) do
        if slot.id == item.id and slot.quantity < item.maxStack then
            local spaceAvailable = item.maxStack - slot.quantity
            local toAdd = math.min(item.quantity, spaceAvailable)
            slot.quantity = slot.quantity + toAdd
            item.quantity = item.quantity - toAdd
            if item.quantity == 0 then return true end
        end
    end

    for i = 1, self.maxSlots do
        if not self.slots[i] then
            self.slots[i] = {id = item.id, quantity = item.quantity, maxStack = item.maxStack}
            return true
        end
    end

    return false -- Inventory full
end

return Inventory

and for the gui handling

GUI Handling (Client):

-- GUI management script
local Player = game.Players.LocalPlayer
local InventoryGUI = script.Parent -- Assume this is the Inventory GUI
local Inventory = require(game.ReplicatedStorage:WaitForChild("Inventory"))

local inventory = Inventory.new(20)

function onHover(itemFrame)
    -- Highlight the item frame or show item info
end

function onLeave(itemFrame)
    -- Unhighlight the item frame or hide item info
end

function onClick(itemFrame, button)
    if button == Enum.UserInputType.MouseButton2 then
        -- Handle taking one item from the stack
        takeOneItem(itemFrame)
    elseif button == Enum.UserInputType.MouseButton1 then
        -- Handle drag and drop or other interactions
        startDrag(itemFrame)
    end
end

for _, itemFrame in pairs(InventoryGUI:GetChildren()) do
    if itemFrame:IsA("Frame") or itemFrame:IsA("ImageButton") then
        itemFrame.MouseEnter:Connect(function() onHover(itemFrame) end)
        itemFrame.MouseLeave:Connect(function() onLeave(itemFrame) end)
        itemFrame.InputBegan:Connect(function(input)
            if input.UserInputType == Enum.UserInputType.MouseButton1 or input.UserInputType == Enum.UserInputType.MouseButton2 then
                onClick(itemFrame, input.UserInputType)
            end
        end)
    end
end

Features Implementation

  1. Merging Stacks:
  • Use a key binding (like Ctrl) and mouse events to detect dragging and merging.
  • Ensure that the quantity does not exceed the maximum stack limit.
  1. Taking One from the Stack:
  • Handle right-click (MouseButton2) to decrement the stack by one.

Troubleshooting Hover Issues

  • Ensure Correct Layering: GUI elements should not overlap unless intended. ZIndex can help manage this.
  • Accurate Mouse Tracking: Sometimes MouseEnter/MouseLeave might not work well if frames are too close or overlap slightly. Use GetMouseLocation to track mouse position if necessary.

Best Practices

  1. Modular Code: Keep inventory logic separate from GUI handling.
  2. Optimize Network Usage: Minimize frequent remote calls. Batch updates if possible.
  3. User Feedback: Provide visual feedback for interactions like merging, splitting, or taking items from stacks.

Feel free to share more specific parts of your code if you need detailed feedback on particular sections. Good luck with your inventory system! :D.