> Forgive my naivete, but why couldn't you have just added an item?

There are exactly 30 of each type of equipment. I could have coded it differently, such that I could have a variable number of items per category, but that's not the way I did it. So adding the item would mean removing another -- or, alternately, also adding a weapon, a shield, a helmet, etc. That would be a pain, and 30 is a nice round number that made it easy to ensure that the frequency and distribution of the items throughout the dungeon was sensible.

Before those of you with item databases object, yes, it's true that there are not actually 30 distinct pieces of each equipment type. There are duplicate entries for certain items -- like Leather Caps and Heavy Boots, for example -- which were placed in the internal item lists so as to improve the item distribution in terms of gameplay.

The next traditional game I do with this engine won't be like that. I'll be revamping the entire equipment scheme. I think that's actually what I'm most excited about, amongst my various plans for the next couple games.