tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352155589322140093.post7740917895445815712..comments2015-08-13T13:23:23.270-04:00Comments on That's a Terrible Idea: The Abstraction of Character Progressmotstandethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06296441082624422375noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352155589322140093.post-70046618997356222382009-11-03T14:46:35.708-05:002009-11-03T14:46:35.708-05:00It's maddening to compare and contrast various...It's maddening to compare and contrast various character progression schemes with someone if they don't understand this abstraction. This post will be a nice reference when the topic is inevitably raised in the future.<br /><br />One thing I would find interesting is a set of graphs showing power vs. time curves for actual games or game elements. Character power may be somewhat difficult to quantify since there are a lot of variables, but something simple such as a specific spell's damage or a character's HP may provide insight into the general shape of a game's curve.<br /><br />Additionally, it would be interesting to see that compared against the power curve for a particular mob in the same game. For example, does a fireball do the same percentage of damage to a mob's HP at level 1 as it does at level 50? Does character HP increase at the same rate as mob HP or do they diverge/converge?Mattnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352155589322140093.post-3442493636742728432009-11-03T07:16:58.766-05:002009-11-03T07:16:58.766-05:00Have you ever played or read the rules for the old...Have you ever played or read the rules for the old pen and paper Runequest game? Not the new version, but the old school one by Avalon Hill?<br /><br />IMO, it was the best skill based RPG that I ever played. Every skill in the game had a percentage based chance of success, whether that was swinging a sword, shooting a bow, crafting, climbing, etc. Whenever you successfully used a skill during an adventure, you put a check next to it. After a major milestone in the adventure, you would make advancement rolls for all of the abilities with a check. The interesting part was that you had to roll higher than your current ability to advance. Therefore, as you got better, it became more difficult to advance. You ended up with the nice smooth "Optimal Skill vs Time" graph above in a very elegant way.<br /><br />Since we are talking about computers, and not pen and paper, you can use whatever scale gives the best effect. So, for example, you might still use a percentage based system, but every successful check only gives you an 0.1 or 0.01 percent increase. You could rule that you get a "check mark" every time you land a killing blow or every time you score a critical hit, or something like that. And you test to see if you advance at the end of every combat, or every N combats, or maybe every time that you enter an inn. Basically, you can scale it so that it takes the appropriate amount of time and/or fights to get to maximum level.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13587217594616814795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352155589322140093.post-69638752502651367892009-11-03T00:12:44.192-05:002009-11-03T00:12:44.192-05:00Great article!
Now go back to your use-based syst...Great article!<br /><br />Now go back to your use-based system article and present a critique of why you think that use-based systems are inferior to the alternatives.Brian 'Psychochild' Greenhttp://www.psychochild.org/noreply@blogger.com