Skip to main content
Commonmark migration
Source Link

When doing game design, it's important to start out with a list of goals, what you expect the design to accomplish. That way, when you've created the design, you can analyze it against your list of goals to see if it actually does what you wanted it to.

For example:

Weapon Impact - determines size of prey it can kill - base = 10, +10 every level

OK, you have this "impact" stat. And you want this stat to "determine size of prey it can kill". I can only assume this means that the prey will have some corresponding "size" field, and if the "size" exceeds the impact, the hunter can't kill them.

So that appears to be your goal with the design. So let's look at the implementation to see if that achieves that goal:

Weapon Base + Impact + Ammo Bonus + Weapon Base *(lvl/max lvl) * multiplier

 

vs

 

Base Defense + Base Defense*weight

If the goal of "impact" is to prevent the player from being able to kill creatures beyond a certain "size", then this doesn't do that. Impact is not being compared against size (or weight or whatever). It's just a bonus thrown in.

Furthermore, if it's supposed to be "impact" vs. "weight", it would seem that "weight" is far more effective than "impact". Each unit of "weight" multiplies into the base defense. Whereas each unit of "impact" only adds to the base attack.

Judging by the actual design you've come up with, "impact" is really just the character's "Base Attack Bonus", to use D&D terms. You compute the attack power based on three factors:

  • Character-specific info
  • Weapon-specific info
  • Ammo-specific info

Each of these factors plays a role. The weapon provides the "weapon base". The ammo provides an "ammo bonus". But the character seems to be pulling double-duty, providing both a "level" multiplier (not very much) and this "impact" stat. That's not necessarily a bad thing, assuming you have means of buffing the "impact" stat besides leveling up (equipment, buffs, etc).

When doing game design, it's important to start out with a list of goals, what you expect the design to accomplish. That way, when you've created the design, you can analyze it against your list of goals to see if it actually does what you wanted it to.

For example:

Weapon Impact - determines size of prey it can kill - base = 10, +10 every level

OK, you have this "impact" stat. And you want this stat to "determine size of prey it can kill". I can only assume this means that the prey will have some corresponding "size" field, and if the "size" exceeds the impact, the hunter can't kill them.

So that appears to be your goal with the design. So let's look at the implementation to see if that achieves that goal:

Weapon Base + Impact + Ammo Bonus + Weapon Base *(lvl/max lvl) * multiplier

 

vs

 

Base Defense + Base Defense*weight

If the goal of "impact" is to prevent the player from being able to kill creatures beyond a certain "size", then this doesn't do that. Impact is not being compared against size (or weight or whatever). It's just a bonus thrown in.

Furthermore, if it's supposed to be "impact" vs. "weight", it would seem that "weight" is far more effective than "impact". Each unit of "weight" multiplies into the base defense. Whereas each unit of "impact" only adds to the base attack.

Judging by the actual design you've come up with, "impact" is really just the character's "Base Attack Bonus", to use D&D terms. You compute the attack power based on three factors:

  • Character-specific info
  • Weapon-specific info
  • Ammo-specific info

Each of these factors plays a role. The weapon provides the "weapon base". The ammo provides an "ammo bonus". But the character seems to be pulling double-duty, providing both a "level" multiplier (not very much) and this "impact" stat. That's not necessarily a bad thing, assuming you have means of buffing the "impact" stat besides leveling up (equipment, buffs, etc).

When doing game design, it's important to start out with a list of goals, what you expect the design to accomplish. That way, when you've created the design, you can analyze it against your list of goals to see if it actually does what you wanted it to.

For example:

Weapon Impact - determines size of prey it can kill - base = 10, +10 every level

OK, you have this "impact" stat. And you want this stat to "determine size of prey it can kill". I can only assume this means that the prey will have some corresponding "size" field, and if the "size" exceeds the impact, the hunter can't kill them.

So that appears to be your goal with the design. So let's look at the implementation to see if that achieves that goal:

Weapon Base + Impact + Ammo Bonus + Weapon Base *(lvl/max lvl) * multiplier

vs

Base Defense + Base Defense*weight

If the goal of "impact" is to prevent the player from being able to kill creatures beyond a certain "size", then this doesn't do that. Impact is not being compared against size (or weight or whatever). It's just a bonus thrown in.

Furthermore, if it's supposed to be "impact" vs. "weight", it would seem that "weight" is far more effective than "impact". Each unit of "weight" multiplies into the base defense. Whereas each unit of "impact" only adds to the base attack.

Judging by the actual design you've come up with, "impact" is really just the character's "Base Attack Bonus", to use D&D terms. You compute the attack power based on three factors:

  • Character-specific info
  • Weapon-specific info
  • Ammo-specific info

Each of these factors plays a role. The weapon provides the "weapon base". The ammo provides an "ammo bonus". But the character seems to be pulling double-duty, providing both a "level" multiplier (not very much) and this "impact" stat. That's not necessarily a bad thing, assuming you have means of buffing the "impact" stat besides leveling up (equipment, buffs, etc).

Source Link
Nicol Bolas
  • 26.1k
  • 3
  • 78
  • 104

When doing game design, it's important to start out with a list of goals, what you expect the design to accomplish. That way, when you've created the design, you can analyze it against your list of goals to see if it actually does what you wanted it to.

For example:

Weapon Impact - determines size of prey it can kill - base = 10, +10 every level

OK, you have this "impact" stat. And you want this stat to "determine size of prey it can kill". I can only assume this means that the prey will have some corresponding "size" field, and if the "size" exceeds the impact, the hunter can't kill them.

So that appears to be your goal with the design. So let's look at the implementation to see if that achieves that goal:

Weapon Base + Impact + Ammo Bonus + Weapon Base *(lvl/max lvl) * multiplier

vs

Base Defense + Base Defense*weight

If the goal of "impact" is to prevent the player from being able to kill creatures beyond a certain "size", then this doesn't do that. Impact is not being compared against size (or weight or whatever). It's just a bonus thrown in.

Furthermore, if it's supposed to be "impact" vs. "weight", it would seem that "weight" is far more effective than "impact". Each unit of "weight" multiplies into the base defense. Whereas each unit of "impact" only adds to the base attack.

Judging by the actual design you've come up with, "impact" is really just the character's "Base Attack Bonus", to use D&D terms. You compute the attack power based on three factors:

  • Character-specific info
  • Weapon-specific info
  • Ammo-specific info

Each of these factors plays a role. The weapon provides the "weapon base". The ammo provides an "ammo bonus". But the character seems to be pulling double-duty, providing both a "level" multiplier (not very much) and this "impact" stat. That's not necessarily a bad thing, assuming you have means of buffing the "impact" stat besides leveling up (equipment, buffs, etc).