If it's a one man project (i.e. you are the coder and you're also the person who's going to be setting the values for all your items), then personally, I wouldn't bother trying to do anything fancy with spreadsheets, XML or databases. I'd just define the tables of data directly in code. I would, however, make sure that access is strictly controlled through functions so that I could later on implement loading later on if it becomes worthwhile.

The moment you go data driven, there's a moderate amount of work writing code to load in your data files and to check for errors (missing fields, etc) which you can simply skip by keeping it simple. However, if you do decide to do it properly, then all approaches are fine, but I'd probably recommend using a spreadsheet, which you can save out as a .csv file (comma separated values), and load that in code. The loading code can be fiddly, but a spreadsheet is a reasonably nice way to view and edit your data, and you might find uses for formula functionality (e.g. calculating total cost of all your items to assist with balancing your economy).

Basically I just need a way to describe an item. Give it a name, what type of clothing it is(head piece, gloves, etc.), and what stat changes it provides. Then in the game be able to grab the information and use it to alter the player's stats.

Just use regular structures and enums.

Have one enum for type of the item : enum EObjectType {None=0, Weapon, Armour, Potion }

And have one struct that will keep all the relevant info about the item (whether it is a weapon, armour or potion):

struct SObject

{

int ID; // global unique ID for the object - autoincrementing it, when filling up the internal DB is enough

EObjectType ObjectType;

.....

int AddToStrength;

int AddToDexterity;

int AddToAccuracy;

...

int RequiredStrength;

int RequiredDexterity;

int RequiredAccuracy;

}

Then, when using the item from the inventory, you just add those AddToStrength/Dexterity/Accuracy values to your stats values and you are done.

Personally, I am using text files for the database of the game objects. I wrote a very simple parser in an afternoon and never had to touch it since, so I guess it was a reasonable effort. This way, I can keep all my weapons, armours, potions in separate *.TXT files that are very easy to edit in Notepad.

When loading all items from the file, I just put them to a std::vector <SObject> Weapons, std::vector<SObject>Armour, std::vector<SObject> Potions. This way they are easy to work with (iterate, search, add/remove).

There is one more important advantage for having the "database" of items in TXT files - when you are testing, you will want to have multiple sets of these files so that you can test the different gameplay due to different objects/stats.

It will prove invaluable, when all the testers need to do, is just to replace the TXT files with a different set of TXT files. Even if that tester is just you.

Use http://www.sqlite.org/

Anybody telling you that databases for games in any capacity are "too heavy" or "taboo" doesn't have experience writing real-world performance-critical applications reliant on volumes of data that need to be organized in a coherent manner.

SQL Lite is going to solve your problem.

Use http://www.sqlite.org/

Anybody telling you that databases for games in any capacity are "too heavy" or "taboo" doesn't have experience writing real-world performance-critical applications reliant on volumes of data that need to be organized in a coherent manner.

SQL Lite is going to solve your problem.

Just because it is possible, doesn't mean it is actually a good idea.

I do happen to have the experience you are talking about and that is exactly the reason why I would never even think about it.

That is, of course, unless you are being paid by an hour and your goal is to make it take as long to implement as possible, so that you could invoice more.

Which, I think, is not the case here with the OP...

This is really funny.

We already spent more time arguing than it should take him to write a simple text parser