Castle Paradox

[8bit]

I was sitting at my desk at work thinking about game balance and thought of an important question. When I set the amount of Exp that an enemy gives, is that number divided by the total number of heros in your party? I've been trying to be dilligent in getting the balance right, and this could really screw up everything I have done so far.
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[Meatballsub]

Yep, it is divided amongst the amount of heros alive at the end of the fight. Therefore, if you have four heros, and only one stays alive at the end, he will get the total amount of exp.
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[TMC]

Yeah, it's divided by the number of heroes who survive the battle alive. Also, the displayed experience gained during the victory dance is experience per hero.
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[8bit]

Thanks, guys. Good thing I didn't get too far before thinking about this. My game would have been a grind-fest!
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[Rya.Reisender]

There should actually be an option if someone wants the exp to be distributed, though it can be done with plotscripting as well (though it will show the wrong amount of exp gained).

Also even if the exp gained is divided by a certain amount the game doesn't become a grindfest. It will just make your heroes be a few levels lowers, but unless you made the battles so that they barely can be won at your calculated level, it'll still possible without grinding.

What really makes a game a grindfest is when the actualy growth of amount of exp gained stands in no relation to the growth of the exp needed. What I dislike in many games is that at the beginning I need 30 exp and get like 10 exp and later when I need 30000 exp I only get like 1000. A good balance makes it so that you always need about the same amounts of battles for a level if you follow the storyline without grinding.

PS: I also strongly advise you to test the game yourself. If you already ask about something like this I assume you never played your own game yet, but I can tell you no matter how good the balance looks on paper you'll still realize some things that can be improved by playing it then.
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"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

[8bit]

I definitly play my own game. I have just one hero in my party now, but in reality (once I program it) I should have two. This means, if I let the Exp stand as it is, I would have to fight twice as many battles to get my characters to the desired levels. Hence the term: "grind-fest." I replay my game after any major change I make, just to make sure everything is running as I intended it to. I don't program everything in the order which it is presented in the game, that's all.
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[Rya.Reisender]

But with two heroes the battles are also multiple times easier. Also keep in mind if you add the possibility of team-change that some players might only take one hero into the party to get more exp.
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Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

[8bit]

Even though the battles would be exponentially easier, that wouldn't make them less of a grind. On the contrary, I think it would make the game MORE tedious. Holding down the space bar battles are something I would like to avoid. I am only going to have three playable heros, so I don't think I am going to allow for hero switching.
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[Rya.Reisender]

Holding down space is a completely different problem than grinding. In the current Xerion for example there are basically no skills and attacks so you just keep pressing space all the time, but it's still not grindy because you can always keep moving on to the next place and you never get the feeling that you have to stay at one place and kill monsters for more levels.


My game Gerania often needs 20 battles to level up, but it's still not grindy because leveling up doesn't have a major role. A much bigger role is to use the correct skills in the battles to conserve HP/MP. So what I'm getting at is, instead of raising exp, raise the tactic within the battles to solve boring battles problem. Raising the exp won't solve anything, even if you only need to press space twice instead of ten times doesn't really make the battles better, instead it only makes them shorter.
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Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

[Newbie_Power]

[8bit]

I tend to agree with Newbie Power on this one. I wouldn't want to play a game where every couple of steps I have to fight a drawn-out battle. That's just me, though.
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[Newbie_Power]

Yep. Even if your battles have tactics and difficulty (yes, you can have difficult battles that are still short) they should end fairly quickly.
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[Leonhart]

[Rya.Reisender]

Just making battles shorter doesn't make them automatically better. If you don't enjoy battles then it's not because they are long but because they are bad.

Besides there are much more factors which you can't ignore like encounter rate and ability to run from the battles.

There can be a game where battles are 99% of the playing time which is still good and there can also be a game where battles are only 1% of the playing time but which is bad.
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

[LeRoy_Leo]

I think the ideal balance would be battles that make the player think and rewards that satisfy the player.
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