# In-game Objects and items

In the previous lesson we established what a ‘Character’ is in our game. Before we continue we also need to have a notion what an ‘item’ or ‘object’ is.

Looking at Knave’s item lists, we can get some ideas of what we need to track:

- `size` - this is how many ‘slots’ the item uses in the character’s inventory.

- `value` - a base value if we want to sell or buy the item.

- `inventory_use_slot` - some items can be worn or wielded. For example, a helmet needs to be worn on the head and a shield in the shield hand. Some items can’t be used this way at all, but only belong in the backpack.

- `obj_type` - Which ‘type’ of item this is.

## New Enums

We added a few enumberations for Abilities back in the Utilities tutorial. Before we continue, let’s expand with enums for use-slots and object types.

    # mygame/evadventure/enums.py

    # ...

    class WieldLocation(Enum):

        BACKPACK = "backpack"
        WEAPON_HAND = "weapon_hand"
        SHIELD_HAND = "shield_hand"
        TWO_HANDS = "two_handed_weapons"
        BODY = "body"  # armor
        HEAD = "head"  # helmets

    class ObjType(Enum):

        WEAPON = "weapon"
        ARMOR = "armor"
        SHIELD = "shield"
        HELMET = "helmet"
        CONSUMABLE = "consumable"
        GEAR = "gear"
        MAGIC = "magic"
        QUEST = "quest"
        TREASURE = "treasure"

Once we have these enums, we will use them for referencing things.

## The base object

> Create a new module `mygame/evadventure/objects.py`

We will make a base `EvAdventureObject` class off Evennia’s standard `DefaultObject`. We will then add child classes to represent the relevant types:

    # mygame/evadventure/objects.py

    from evennia import AttributeProperty, DefaultObject
    from evennia.utils.utils import make_iter
    from .utils import get_obj_stats
    from .enums import WieldLocation, ObjType

    class EvAdventureObject(DefaultObject):
        """
        Base for all evadventure objects.

        """
        inventory_use_slot = WieldLocation.BACKPACK
        size = AttributeProperty(1, autocreate=False)
        value = AttributeProperty(0, autocreate=False)

        # this can be either a single type or a list of types (for objects able to be
        # act as multiple). This is used to tag this object during creation.
        obj_type = ObjType.GEAR

        def at_object_creation(self):
            """Called when this object is first created. We convert the .obj_type
            property to a database tag."""

            for obj_type in make_iter(self.obj_type):
                self.tags.add(self.obj_type.value, category="obj_type")

        def get_help(self):
            """Get any help text for this item"""
            return "No help for this item"

### Using Attributes or not

In theory, `size` and `value` does not change and could also be just set as a regular Python property on the class:

    class EvAdventureObject(DefaultObject):
        inventory_use_slot = WieldLocation.BACKPACK
        size = 1
        value = 0

The problem with this is that if we want to make a new object of `size 3` and `value 20`, we have to make a new class for it. We can’t change it on the fly because the change would only be in memory and be lost on next server reload.

Because we use `AttributeProperties`, we can set `size` and `value` to whatever we like when we create the object (or later), and the Attributes will remember our changes to that object indefinitely.

To make this a little more efficient, we use `autocreate=False`. Normally when you create a new object with defined `AttributeProperties`, a matching `Attribute` is immediately created at the same time. So normally, the object would be created along with two Attributes `size` and `value`. With `autocreate=False`, no Attribute will be created unless the default is changed. That is, as long as your object has `size=1` no database `Attribute` will be created at all. This saves time and resources when creating large number of objects.

The drawback is that since no Attribute is created you can’t refer to it with `obj.db.size` or `obj.attributes.get("size")` unless you change its default. You also can’t query the database for all objects with `size=1`, since most objects would not yet have an in-database `size` Attribute to search for.

In our case, we’ll only refer to these properties as `obj.size` etc, and have no need to find all objects of a particular size. So we should be safe.

### Creating tags in `at_object_creation`

The `at_object_creation` is a method Evennia calls on every child of `DefaultObject` whenever it is first created.

We do a tricky thing here, converting our `.obj_type` to one or more Tags. Tagging the object like this means you can later efficiently find all objects of a given type (or combination of types) with Evennia’s search functions:

        from .enums import ObjType
        from evennia.utils import search

        # get all shields in the game
        all_shields = search.search_object_by_tag(ObjType.SHIELD.value, category="obj_type")

We allow `.obj_type` to be given as a single value or a list of values. We use `make_iter` from the evennia utility library to make sure we don’t balk at either. This means you could have a Shield that is also Magical, for example.

## Other object types

Some of the other object types are very simple so far.

    # mygame/evadventure/objects.py

    from evennia import AttributeProperty, DefaultObject
    from .enums import ObjType

    class EvAdventureObject(DefaultObject):
        # ...

    class EvAdventureQuestObject(EvAdventureObject):
        """Quest objects should usually not be possible to sell or trade."""
        obj_type = ObjType.QUEST

    class EvAdventureTreasure(EvAdventureObject):
        """Treasure is usually just for selling for coin"""
        obj_type = ObjType.TREASURE
        value = AttributeProperty(100, autocreate=False)

## Consumables

A ‘consumable’ is an item that has a certain number of ‘uses’. Once fully consumed, it can’t be used anymore. An example would be a health potion.

    # mygame/evadventure/objects.py

    # ...

    class EvAdventureConsumable(EvAdventureObject):
        """An item that can be used up"""

        obj_type = ObjType.CONSUMABLE
        value = AttributeProperty(0.25, autocreate=False)
        uses = AttributeProperty(1, autocreate=False)

        def at_pre_use(self, user, *args, **kwargs):
            """Called before using. If returning False, abort use."""
            return uses > 0

        def at_use(self, user, *args, **kwargs):
            """Called when using the item"""
            pass

        def at_post_use(self. user, *args, **kwargs):
            """Called after using the item"""
            # detract a usage, deleting the item if used up.
            self.uses -= 1
            if self.uses <= 0:
                user.msg(f"{self.key} was used up.")
                self.delete()

What exactly each consumable does will vary - we will need to implement children of this class later, overriding `at_use` with different effects.

## Weapons

All weapons need properties that describe how efficient they are in battle.

    # mygame/evadventure/objects.py

    from .enums import WieldLocation, ObjType, Ability

    # ...

    class EvAdventureWeapon(EvAdventureObject):
        """Base class for all weapons"""

        obj_type = ObjType.WEAPON
        inventory_use_slot = AttributeProperty(WieldLocation.WEAPON_HAND, autocreate=False)
        quality = AttributeProperty(3, autocreate=False)

        attack_type = AttibuteProperty(Ability.STR, autocreate=False)
        defend_type = AttibuteProperty(Ability.ARMOR, autocreate=False)

        damage_roll = AttibuteProperty("1d6", autocreate=False)

The `quality` is something we need to track in Knave. When getting critical failures on attacks, a weapon’s quality will go down. When it reaches 0, it will break.

The attack/defend type tracks how we resolve attacks with the weapon, like `roll + STR vs ARMOR + 10`.

## Magic

In Knave, anyone can use magic if they are wielding a rune stone (our name for spell books) in both hands. You can only use a rune stone once per rest. So a rune stone is an example of a ‘magical weapon’ that is also a ‘consumable’ of sorts.

    # mygame/evadventure/objects.py

    # ...
    class EvAdventureConsumable(EvAdventureObject):
        # ...

    class EvAdventureWeapon(EvAdventureObject):
        # ...

    class EvAdventureRuneStone(EvAdventureWeapon, EvAdventureConsumable):
        """Base for all magical rune stones"""

        obj_type = (ObjType.WEAPON, ObjType.MAGIC)
        inventory_use_slot = WieldLocation.TWO_HANDS  # always two hands for magic
        quality = AttributeProperty(3, autocreate=False)

        attack_type = AttibuteProperty(Ability.INT, autocreate=False)
        defend_type = AttibuteProperty(Ability.DEX, autocreate=False)

        damage_roll = AttibuteProperty("1d8", autocreate=False)

        def at_post_use(self, user, *args, **kwargs):
            """Called after usage/spell was cast"""
            self.uses -= 1
            # we don't delete the rune stone here, but
            # it must be reset on next rest.

        def refresh(self):
            """Refresh the rune stone (normally after rest)"""
            self.uses = 1

We make the rune stone a mix of weapon and consumable. Note that we don’t have to add `.uses` again, it’s inherited from `EvAdventureConsumable` parent. The `at_pre_use` and `at_use` methods are also inherited; we only override `at_post_use` since we don’t want the runestone to be deleted when it runs out of uses.

We add a little convenience method `refresh` - we should call this when the character rests, to make the runestone active again.

Exactly what rune stones do will be implemented in the `at_use` methods of subclasses to this base class. Since magic in Knave tends to be pretty custom, it makes sense that it will lead to a lot of custom code.

## Armor

Armor, shields and helmets increase the `ARMOR` stat of the character. In Knave, what is stored is the defense value of the armor (values 11-20). We will instead store the ‘armor bonus’ (1-10). As we know, defending is always `bonus + 10`, so the result will be the same - this means we can use `Ability.ARMOR` as any other defensive ability without worrying about a special case.

``

    # mygame/evadventure/objects.py

    # ...

    class EvAdventureAmor(EvAdventureObject):
        obj_type = ObjType.ARMOR
        inventory_use_slot = WieldLocation.BODY

        armor = AttributeProperty(1, autocreate=False)
        quality = AttributeProperty(3, autocreate=False)

    class EvAdventureShield(EvAdventureArmor):
        obj_type = ObjType.SHIELD
        inventory_use_slot = WieldLocation.SHIELD_HAND

    class EvAdventureHelmet(EvAdventureArmor):
        obj_type = ObjType.HELMET
        inventory_use_slot = WieldLocation.HEAD

## Your Bare hands

This is a ‘dummy’ object that is not stored in the database. We will use this in the upcoming Equipment tutorial lesson to represent when you have ‘nothing’ in your hands. This way we don’t need to add any special case for this.

    class WeaponEmptyHand:
         obj_type = ObjType.WEAPON
         key = "Empty Fists"
         inventory_use_slot = WieldLocation.WEAPON_HAND
         attack_type = Ability.STR
         defense_type = Ability.ARMOR
         damage_roll = "1d4"
         quality = 100000  # let's assume fists are always available ...

         def __repr__(self):
             return "<WeaponEmptyHand>"

## Testing and Extra credits

Remember the `get_obj_stats` function from the Utility Tutorial earlier? We had to use dummy-values since we didn’t yet know how we would store properties on Objects in the game.

Well, we just figured out all we need! You can go back and update `get_obj_stats` to properly read the data from the object it receives.

When you change this function you must also update the related unit test - so your existing test becomes a nice way to test your new Objects as well! Add more tests showing the output of feeding different object-types to `get_obj_stats`.

Try it out yourself. If you need help, a finished utility example is found in evennia/contrib/tutorials/evadventure/utils.py.