Hello all!
So, I have a small confession to make... I haven't exactly been the most productive these past 2 weeks. I went camping with my family for a few days last weekend, work has picked up a bit, and I have an anniversary and two birthdays in my immediate family this weekend, so it's been a bit busy for me recently. However, I have still worked on some support things.
First is the UML Diagram. For clarification, a UML diagram is a technical drawing of all of the classes and each class's variables and functions and how they relate to each other. As I touched upon in my last post, having a UML diagram to reference will help make programming easier as it will eliminate a good deal of time that I would spend looking through the code. It also helps me get a general understanding of how the different subsystems in the game work and interact at a quick glance. Unfortunately for you guys though, I'm not going to be posting it here (at least for now); call it a trade secret.
Second, I developed a small tool for visualizing the power curve of the spells. While getting a simple attack vs. cost is simple enough, factoring in the effects that many spells have, compounded upon probabilities, the program relies on a number of estimated average values. I hard coded (just coded in the number value in the code) the estimated variables with no changing in the first version, but then added more shiftered buttons in the second version.
Version 1:
Version 2:
As you can see, there are 3 graphs; the first for power (with effects) vs cost, the second for power (without effects) vs cost, and the third for power (with effects) vs meta cost (the number of level points needed to purchase that spell on the spell tree). As you can also see, the results of the first one (which is really the most important one) is more blob-ish than linear (in version 1). I'm still trying to see how I could/should tweak the estimate values that factor into how effects are measured, and how to adjust spells to balance out more.
You may notice a difference between where the points of version 1 and version 2 fall. That is not because of the values used in measuring spell effects are different, but rather that the power value of the points of version 2 have an additional number added to them. They factor in the spell's cost as a detriment; or rather, the average demon attack times the average number of demons times the number of turns needed to generate that spell's mana per the average mana generation rate. That is why they are all lower, some even at 0. (The one at -5 is the time travelling one, which would negate demon damage, but that isn't specially coded in, so it appears to be far lower than its actual worth.) With these two measurements, I can compare the difference between the spell's power and the spell's worth to the player, factoring in how much of a hit using it may leave a player with.
So yeah, my immediate task for now is to balance out the spells for now so that they are more on the curve. After that, combat should feel better/more fair, so back to programming the actual game!
That's all for now. Thank you for your continued support!