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Design question. Say you have an action-RPG where the player can pick up various weapons and wield them. Weapons have a number that governs their damage. Weapons also come in different flavors - shortsword, longsword, spear, etcetera.

Design question. Say you have an action-RPG where the player can pick up various weapons and wield them. Weapons have a number that governs their damage. Weapons also come in different flavors - shortsword, longsword, spear, etcetera.

NotBrunoAgain

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

Design question. Say you have an action-RPG where the player can pick up various weapons and wield them. Weapons have a number that governs their damage. Weapons also come in different flavors - shortsword, longsword, spear, etcetera.

NotBrunoAgain

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

Those different weapon types have different attack speeds, of course, so a greatsword might do one big swing in the time where the broadsword gets in 2 or 3.

NotBrunoAgain

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

It's settled that the game will expose those damage values to the player, but how? Should the visible damage numbers be:

NotBrunoAgain

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

- Absolute; the greatsword's damage number is 3x the broadsword's - Normalized; weapons with similar DPS have similar visible damage numbers. A greatsword swing still deals 3x more damage because it has a higher hidden damage multiplier ("motion value")

NotBrunoAgain

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

Is one of those preferrable over the other? If not, then it depends - on what?

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@NotBrunoAgain in this example, I'm strongly in favor of absolute. It better meets the player expectation of what the number should be. big slow wack = big slow number lil small wack = many small and fast number comparing weapon dps is something I'd expect from inspecting a weapon

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@NotBrunoAgain I may have misunderstood the question as what floating combat text to show vs what dmg number to show on a tooltip if it's a one or the other choice, depends on the kind of game, an unsexy answer :)

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@NotBrunoAgain If it's a mix-maxing arpg then probably dps. If players are going to the internet to do calculations regularly, better to just give them the 'right' answer so they can spend more time playing.

Iksar

Posted 4 years, 1 month ago (Source)

@NotBrunoAgain For single-player narrative experiences I might prefer absolute. Absolute is more likely to lead a player to using a weapon they enjoy playing with rather than a weapon where the dps was .2% higher.

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Design question. Say you have an action-RPG where the player can pick up various weapons and wield them. Weapons have a number that governs their damage. Weapons also come in different flavors - shortsword, longsword, spear, etcetera. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483239531621011457">None</a>)
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</blockquote>
Those different weapon types have different attack speeds, of course, so a greatsword might do one big swing in the time where the broadsword gets in 2 or 3. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483239710738857987">None</a>)
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<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
It's settled that the game will expose those damage values to the player, but how? Should the visible damage numbers be: (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483240092902821890">None</a>)
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<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
- Absolute; the greatsword's damage number is 3x the broadsword's
- Normalized; weapons with similar DPS have similar visible damage numbers. A greatsword swing still deals 3x more damage because it has a higher hidden damage multiplier ("motion value") (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483240330770239489">None</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
Is one of those preferrable over the other? If not, then it depends - on what? (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483240459631828997">None</a>)
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<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@NotBrunoAgain in this example, I'm strongly in favor of absolute. It better meets the player expectation of what the number should be.

big slow wack = big slow number
lil small wack = many small and fast number

comparing weapon dps is something I'd expect from inspecting a weapon (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483261753613901832">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@NotBrunoAgain I may have misunderstood the question as what floating combat text to show vs what dmg number to show on a tooltip

if it's a one or the other choice, depends on the kind of game, an unsexy answer :) (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483264128709890053">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@NotBrunoAgain If it's a mix-maxing arpg then probably dps. If players are going to the internet to do calculations regularly, better to just give them the 'right' answer so they can spend more time playing. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483264908623941634">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@NotBrunoAgain For single-player narrative experiences I might prefer absolute. Absolute is more likely to lead a player to using a weapon they enjoy playing with rather than a weapon where the dps was .2% higher. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483265199826108419">Iksar</a>)
<hr/>

Tweet

Design question. Say you have an action-RPG where the player can pick up various weapons and wield them. Weapons have a number that governs their damage. Weapons also come in different flavors - shortsword, longsword, spear, etcetera.

Those different weapon types have different attack speeds, of course, so a greatsword might do one big swing in the time where the broadsword gets in 2 or 3.

It's settled that the game will expose those damage values to the player, but how? Should the visible damage numbers be:

- Absolute; the greatsword's damage number is 3x the broadsword's
- Normalized; weapons with similar DPS have similar visible damage numbers. A greatsword swing still deals 3x more damage because it has a higher hidden damage multiplier ("motion value")

Is one of those preferrable over the other? If not, then it depends - on what?

@NotBrunoAgain in this example, I'm strongly in favor of absolute. It better meets the player expectation of what the number should be.

big slow wack = big slow number
lil small wack = many small and fast number

comparing weapon dps is something I'd expect from inspecting a weapon (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483261753613901832">Source</a>)

@NotBrunoAgain I may have misunderstood the question as what floating combat text to show vs what dmg number to show on a tooltip

if it's a one or the other choice, depends on the kind of game, an unsexy answer :) (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483264128709890053">Source</a>)

@NotBrunoAgain If it's a mix-maxing arpg then probably dps. If players are going to the internet to do calculations regularly, better to just give them the 'right' answer so they can spend more time playing. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483264908623941634">Source</a>)

@NotBrunoAgain For single-player narrative experiences I might prefer absolute. Absolute is more likely to lead a player to using a weapon they enjoy playing with rather than a weapon where the dps was .2% higher. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1483265199826108419">Source</a>)
 
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