RPG Levelling Up System
Experience Based Metrics: Let us assume the game has two broad types of attacks - physical and magical. The impact of these attacks will be governed by two standard metrics strength and magic. Each of these metrics will continually increase based on the proportion of damage dealt using physical and magical attacks in each battle. For example, if defeating an NPC yields 50 XP and 80 % of its health was eliminated using strength, then strength will increase by 40 points and magic will increase by 10 points. This system therefore rewards the player commensurate to usage, thereby allowing the player to instead focus his attention on the other progression subsystems.
Threshold Based Metrics - The ability to use physical attacks will be governed by stamina and the ability to use magic will be governed by mana. The player will exercise indirect control over these metrics on level up, i.e. when threshold amounts of experience is gained. When a level up occurs, the player will be granted points which can be spent on either of three items :
a) Stamina Booster - Increases stamina but decreases mana
b) Mana Booster - Increases mana but decreases stamina
c) Equalizer - Decreases the amount of reduction with each boost.
Eg: If a stamina booster increases stamina by 20% but reduces mana by 5%, then using an equalizer will result in increasing stamina by 20% but reduces mana by only 2%
d) Enhancer - Increases the amount of enhancement with each boost
Eg: If a stamina booster increases stamina by 20% but reduces mana by 5%, then using an enhancer will result in increasing stamina by 30% but reduces mana by 5%
These systems when combined should allow for an engaging mix of character ability specialization and generalization, thereby allowing player agency in charting out a path for his team. The equalizer and enhancers are conceived with the intention of problematizing decisions on how points should be utilized.
Equipment and Abilities- Weapons and Spells follow an unlock-by-level system. The higher your stamina or mana, the higher the level of the weapon or spell that can be used. Level up also yields a separate set of points that can be spent to unlock spells and/or weapon abilities. The development of abilities will follow a web based structure whose paths diverge and converge. Players may use embark on multiple paths of development but may not jump from one path to another.
In the construction of the web of abilities, it must be ensured that each path yields abilities differentiated on multiple axes. For example, elemental tracks could further subdivide into tracks that deal radial damage versus focused damage.
These sub systems add an additional layer to which characters can be specialized or generalized and add weight to decisions for point usage. For example, a character with strong melee combat skills and the ability to throw weak fireballs might be perfect in a boss battle wherein the boss is also flanked by other smaller elemental enemies weak against fire.
To determine values to parameterize this system, we must consider the following:
In the context of a free to play multiplayer game, the rate of levelling up also impacts monetization and establishes the graph of number of players vs level. Assuming a steady rate of player acquisition, we want this to graph to resemble a bell curve with large clusters of players in the mid-section tapering towards lower levels and higher levels. To achieve this, the graph of level vs time should resemble a logarithmic curve so that players entering can level up rapidly in the initial stages of the game and slow down as time progresses.
Threshold Based Metrics - The ability to use physical attacks will be governed by stamina and the ability to use magic will be governed by mana. The player will exercise indirect control over these metrics on level up, i.e. when threshold amounts of experience is gained. When a level up occurs, the player will be granted points which can be spent on either of three items :
a) Stamina Booster - Increases stamina but decreases mana
b) Mana Booster - Increases mana but decreases stamina
c) Equalizer - Decreases the amount of reduction with each boost.
Eg: If a stamina booster increases stamina by 20% but reduces mana by 5%, then using an equalizer will result in increasing stamina by 20% but reduces mana by only 2%
d) Enhancer - Increases the amount of enhancement with each boost
Eg: If a stamina booster increases stamina by 20% but reduces mana by 5%, then using an enhancer will result in increasing stamina by 30% but reduces mana by 5%
These systems when combined should allow for an engaging mix of character ability specialization and generalization, thereby allowing player agency in charting out a path for his team. The equalizer and enhancers are conceived with the intention of problematizing decisions on how points should be utilized.
Equipment and Abilities- Weapons and Spells follow an unlock-by-level system. The higher your stamina or mana, the higher the level of the weapon or spell that can be used. Level up also yields a separate set of points that can be spent to unlock spells and/or weapon abilities. The development of abilities will follow a web based structure whose paths diverge and converge. Players may use embark on multiple paths of development but may not jump from one path to another.
In the construction of the web of abilities, it must be ensured that each path yields abilities differentiated on multiple axes. For example, elemental tracks could further subdivide into tracks that deal radial damage versus focused damage.
These sub systems add an additional layer to which characters can be specialized or generalized and add weight to decisions for point usage. For example, a character with strong melee combat skills and the ability to throw weak fireballs might be perfect in a boss battle wherein the boss is also flanked by other smaller elemental enemies weak against fire.
To determine values to parameterize this system, we must consider the following:
- Extremities of character paths - If a player were to focus all his energy into developing strength, and channel his abilities in a single path what would the pinnacle of his attack capability be? Do we want to exercise a form of indirect control initially to ensure that players create balanced parties? This will be crucial to constructing levels at later stages in the game that assume certain party capabilities.
- Considering that this system rewards ‘grinding’ it may be beneficial to construct levels with slightly overpowered enemies that require skill development. This would be necessary to ensure that battle does not become routine and mundane.
In the context of a free to play multiplayer game, the rate of levelling up also impacts monetization and establishes the graph of number of players vs level. Assuming a steady rate of player acquisition, we want this to graph to resemble a bell curve with large clusters of players in the mid-section tapering towards lower levels and higher levels. To achieve this, the graph of level vs time should resemble a logarithmic curve so that players entering can level up rapidly in the initial stages of the game and slow down as time progresses.
