Starting off with standard numbers of actors, monsters, and items?

[Phil-S 18]

Hey all. Phil here again with another question to ponder. I am starting out with my RPG's battle system, and I'm needing to create monsters, items, weapons, armor, etc. However, I'm not sure what numbers I should be using. it is wise to use the numerical data that is attributed to the weapons and content already in the vanilla RPG Maker VX Ace (e.g. the Hand Ax weapon has 15 ATK, for instance. I'd keep the numbers and stats, but change the item name and description to be better suited for my own game)? Another example would be the Slime enemy which has 100 HP and drops 3 EXP points upon defeat. Should I just use these general numbers to start out with?

 

I hope I made myself clear enough!

[Lord Vectra 414]

You're going to have to play around with it until you get what you need. My best advice is to make the basic, AKA level 1, of everything. Starter skills, weapons, armors, enemies, etc. Once you do that, start battle testing to see what happens and sooner or later, you'll get the feel for what you need/want.

 

Understand?

[Phil-S 18]

i definitely understand. Yours was probably easier to follow than my initial post anyway!

 

Anyone else have any advice? Or do you have anything further you'd like to add, Vectra? Thanks for the initial info, btw!

[xoferew 261]

Hand axe is such a nasty sounding weapon.  Why did they choose that as the default for the main hero?  It's not very glorious.  At least with a sword you don't get covered in blood or slime goo up to your shoulder with every whack. --> The more you think about the default settings the more you may find yourself dissatisfied with them.  Or, RPG Maker has too many enemies for your short game, so you need to cut some out and change the stats of the remaining ones to fill in the gaps. Or, you don't want the player to be bored thinking they are playing an unoriginal game.  Or, your game has a humorous slant or a horror slant or a whatever slant and your spells and items need to reflect that.  There are lots of good reasons to adjust everything.  But it doesn't hurt to use the original stats for reference and keep what makes sense.

Edited September 18, 2015 by xoferew

[Lord Vectra 414]

Yes, I still have things to say.

 

Crucial points you must take to heart(except for 1(maybe))

1) If it's open-world, never have a weapon be the "strongest." Have the highest weapons be... 5 - 10%-ish of your weapons. This is so when the player get's that one strongest weapon, it's not like "I'M UNSTOPPABLE!" In a few open-world games, I am literally unstoppable. For example, Oblivion and Skyrim; I am rich with the highest armors and weapons. No enchantment can beat mine EXCEPT for the sigil stones but I get only particular ones.

 

2) Make sure the weapon's/armor's effects(early to mid equipment) aren't overpowering almost all equipment who levels are higher than it. For example, in Kingdom of Alamur: Reckoning, I have a hood I got a long while ago and it's key enchantment is (+30% damage), so any helmet I come by isn't worthy to be on my head.

 

3) CONSTANTLY BATTLE-TEST! Trust me, I learned the hard way. I had to erase an entire project because things were way too off balance.

 

4) Remember number 3

 

That's about it; I think I covered everything.

 

...WAIT

 

5) This isn't crucial but having formulas to calculate stats and other stuff can be really helpful. For example, my game, World of Chaos, is based on Formulas I came up with when I was battle testing (remember number 3). Some may disagree but having a set formula for certain things can make things flow a tad bit smoother IF the formulas are right.

 

Okay, I'm done.

Edited September 18, 2015 by Vectra

[lonequeso 1,921]

I'm sue someone will show you some cool formulas to figure out how to start and establish a curve. I'm terrible with that stuff. I just winged it, and adjusted where needed. I did a lot of battle testing to eventually find a balance. Then, I decided I wanted the actors to have more HP and MP than they did cuz they had to heal a bit too often. So now, I probably threw the balance off all the enemies that I already did. So I shall have to test them again. That's my method. Plug and playing works best for me. If you're better with numbers than me, hopefully someone will show a good way to mathematically set it up.

[Lord Vectra 414]

I'm sue someone will show you some cool formulas to figure out how to start and establish a curve. I'm terrible with that stuff. I just winged it, and adjusted where needed. I did a lot of battle testing to eventually find a balance. Then, I decided I wanted the actors to have more HP and MP than they did cuz they had to heal a bit too often. So now, I probably threw the balance off all the enemies that I already did. So I shall have to test them again. That's my method. Plug and playing works best for me. If you're better with numbers than me, hopefully someone will show a good way to mathematically set it up.

I wasn't saying as soon as you start, start making formulas. I plug-in-play too but when I eventually find a pattern, that becomes the formula.

 

Here's a formula I came up with for World of Chaos

Note: Don't assume this will work for yours too

 

Weapon Price

If weapon.lvl < 10; price = 80

Weapon.lvl * 14

If weapon has an effect(s), if good/no bad; (weapon.lvl * 14) + 14

if it evens out, use normal formula

[Kayzee 4,033]

Well I think for one the default actors have way too much HP at level 1. They should start with no more then 100. I also think that a good rule of thumb is to adjust your enemies to match your actors at the appropriate level, but then again that may make them too hard... I dunno, it's just a matter of balance really. Tweaking the values so everything fits. What the numbers actually are doesn't matter as much as long as it's balanced alright at both ends.