Well I think I figured it out. I even tried making my window's background transparent through photoshop, but it still doesn't work. So I went with the classical dithering effects. I'd say it turned out quite nicely. The only thing I'm not liking is the empty blank spaces above the items. Heres a quick shot:


It really looks better inside the game. The layout is still susceptible to change.

So far the item interface is as follows;
You get a maximum weight limit for the items you can carry. 10 pounds at most. Now this is what you will call upon to use and activate items. Pressing the 'x' button will call up the item select screen (see above). Pressing 'x' again will select that item and quit the menu. If you were to press 'z' then you would not only select that item but bring it forth into your hand. This is important, the item in your hand is the item you are using, either it be a lock pick to pick locks, or a smoke grenade. Pressing the 'c' button inside this menu will attempt to use the item in your hand with the item you have selected in the menu.

These buttons have similar, yet different effects outside this item select menu. 'Z' will attempt to reveal/conceal the item you have selected. This is important if you want quick access to a gun but must conceal it to walk by an enemy AI, as they tend to get hostile when they see you have a weapon. This brings me to my next point, any gun other than a small hand gun simply in your inventory will be visible to all around you. You may have one hand gun in your inventory without it being visible. If you have more than one hand gun simply sitting in your inventory, it will appear on your character's belt and will be visible to all. Having a hand gun while having a different one in your hand will not allow you to conceal it with the 'z' button.

Now you can use items 2 ways. One of the two is the 'C' button. This will attempt to use the item in your hand through whatever means. Sometimes you must be facing a target, other times you must be one step away from your target in order to use the item. The other method is clicking. Clicking a target will attempt to use your hand item on that target unless there is some other intended purpose. For example clicking a table with a hand item will place the item on the table.

Lets use a lock pick for an example of the above paragraph. With the pick out, you can either press the 'C' button facing and being one step away from the target door to pick the lock. OR you can have the item out, be within one step of the door and click the door. This will also activate the pick.


I figured I'd let you guys know how the item functionality will operate, let you get a feel of how things will work. I'm considering bringing functionality to the WASD keys, but that all depends. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.