Balance the Game

[galendel]

Hi,

Thanks you for this game, I really enjoy it.

But the game isn't balance at all, the first cave with snake is so much better than most of the map for the moment, it's safe, near bed for heal, xp and meat, there is snake which give 79xp for no dmg and kill in 2 hit ... and it drop meat.

Quest reward are most of the time too low, I got reward of 50xp which is 1 monster kill ... and i am lvl 10 so I need 5500 for lvl 11 ...

Food item aren't balance, the bread cost almost 1gold for 1hp, and other item are 2 or 3 for 1hp, (i don't speak about item which regenerate a lot).

I know balance thing in game is extremely hard, but i am sure there is some tools or method for do that.

I got a bug i will create a ticket on googlecode project. I may come to do a bit of code.

Thanks again for the game ^^. (maybe you should add sound ^^).

[Pyrizzle]

Welcome to the forums!

The game is still a work in progess and we are constantly working to balance the game out.

I do agree that the rewards for quests could use a lil revamping, consittering you can gain more XP on the way to your next destination than you would gain for finishing the quest itself.

Food and potions are something we have been working on and there will be a few changes when the next update comes out (an exact release date is still unknown)

Please feel free to report any bugs on the googlecode page or here on the forums under the Bugs section.

Happy Hunting -Pyro

[hollyamberlamb]

I think it balanced, but some of the items seem impossabei. I will get there it
Is just take going to take a lot of time

[Necrite]

But the game isn't balance at all, the first cave with snake is so much better than most of the map for the moment, it's safe, near bed for heal, xp and meat, there is snake which give 79xp for no dmg and kill in 2 hit ... and it drop meat.

When it comes to game design, "Balance" refers to the risk:reward ratio. What you're describing in the Snake Cave doesn't sound balanced at all. If the enemies really can be defeated quickly, with little damage dealt, a high drop rate on healing items, AND good XP rewards, something is out of whack.
However, I've been through that cave on two different characters, and while one had similar experience to yours, my first character was brutalized there. Because a difference in build can make the area range from trivial to extremely challenging, I would agree that it is balanced.

In general, it's acceptable for early areas in games to be "too easy". You want to give players a chance to getused to the game, and ramp the difficulty up at a reasonable rate. So far, that describes what I've been seeing, except when I am looking for a new area, and end up in an over-level zone.

There is one thing in the Snake Cave that did seem off to me: As mentioned, the Venomous Cave Snakes can be killed fairly quickly, anddon't do much damage unless you get poisoned, and gixe 79XP. The Basilisks in the same area have many more HP, hit much harder, and give only 60XP. I would say one or both need to be adjusted.

---edit---

I think it balanced, but some of the items seem impossabei. I will get there it
Is just take going to take a lot of time

I remember having to struggle to afford weak, crappy equipment. Once you get a few levels and some slightly better equipment, you can survive using fewer of the healing items that drop. That means you can sell most, only keeping a few for use, dramatically increasing your income.

Plus, the stronger the enemies you fight are, the more money and better drops they provide. So as you level up, those unreachable items start to look a lot more attainable.

[galendel]

There is wolf which are for me a lot harder and which are far from the begin and give something like 50xp if i compare to the snake which give 79xp, it's kind of weird.

I think an genetic algorithm could test the game with different build, and report unbalanced zone.

I don't really like game where i have to farm for get xp and gold, I prefer lot of quest with good reward.

Is boss item drop random? because I got 2 item so useless like the wolf boss, south of fallhaven, and another from crossroad guardhouse where i paid 800 for an access, and the boss give me a necklace which is 10 time worst than the first i got from irogotu in south east of crossglen.

Actually I still use this snake cave even if i am 13, I use meat for end other quest or for gold, and it's more safe for ending lvl.

Another thing is the dager which is pretty useless before lvl 15, Everyone got 10AP each turn, sword is 5 so it's perfect because we can atk twice, dager is 4AP but do less dmg but even with 4 AP we still can atk 2 time and there is 2 AP wasted.
I know there is item which augment for AP use by turn but they are not at the begin of the game unlike dagger which is sell at the first shop.
Maybe a random AP in a range or something else could balance the difference between dager and sword.

[Necrite]

There is wolf which are for me a lot harder and which are far from the begin and give something like 50xp if i compare to the snake which give 79xp, it's kind of weird.

I looked at Pyrizzle's Bestiary thread, and I see a 58xp wolf that looks considerably tougher than either of the 79xp snakes. I've also noticed other inconsistencies, like the basilisk I mentioned above. I'm going to take Pyrizzle's data and liad it into a spreadsheet and see if I can pick out any egregious XP inconsistencies. I'm even considering putting forth a proposal for a tweaking of the XP system, pending the results on myspreadsheet.

[Antison]

...
Another thing is the dager which is pretty useless before lvl 15, Everyone got 10AP each turn, sword is 5 so it's perfect because we can atk twice, dager is 4AP but do less dmg but even with 4 AP we still can atk 2 time and there is 2 AP wasted.
I know there is item which augment for AP use by turn but they are not at the begin of the game unlike dagger which is sell at the first shop...

The Jewel of Fallhaven is the necklace the reduces your AP by -1 and it is sold in Fallhaven which is the very next village to the east from Crossglen (starting village). The Marrowtaint also reduces the AP cost by -1, but this cannot be attained into well into the journey. No more hints will be given on this here.

If you are referring to the Quickstrike dagger, then that is not sold "at the first shop". It has been moved to the Crossroads Guard Shack.

[Necrite]

I think he's talking about the regular dagger, which is available at the first store, and costs 4AP. As he said, the cost offers no benefit by itself, since it is still 2 attacks per round, same as a long sword. However, skills and the Jewel of Fallhaven can make that dagger FAR quicker than the sword, even early in the game.

[nyktos]

oh - there is a benefit, although you may not be taking advantage of it...

Attack ~ 4 AP [w/dagger]
Flee ~ 6 AP
Total ~ 10 AP

[galendel]

"The Jewel of Fallhaven is the necklace the reduces your AP by -1 and it is sold in Fallhaven", this jewel cost something like 3500, so it's not really the begin, dagger are a lot more expensive than sword for nothing more, even if u have the jewel i am sure it's the same or worst than the sword. After few lvl it's depand on what u had chosen.

Still got 100xp for the first part of a quest (the mine the one with blackwater and pick(or something like this ^^)), which was really hard, I had to go back of the mountain, the wyrm trainer was too hard, But really 100xp ... it's like 1 stupid dog in the entrance which i kill in 2sec ^^.