How do you guys come up with stats for your games?
I mean, is there a template or something? The whole proccess is mind-boggling to me. Also, when and IF I do figure that out... I'm unhappy with the results. Is it just me or is this normal? Please post on how you determine which stats to use, and how they affect your game. Or even related articles on the matter. I was thinking about it for awhile and my head was going CRAZY. Thanks....
-ST
ID:154001
 Aug 25 2002, 11:36 am
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I think the best way is to think about sorts of distinctions you want the game to make between characters. If a game lets characters carry as many items as they want without any sort of penalty, and has no system for measuring physical exertion, and has a modern setting where combat takes place almost (or entirely) exclusively with guns... you have very little use for a strength attribute. If you have a class based sort of system, you might think of single attributes or combinations of them that represent each class (especially if the game features a light skill system, or no skill system at all outside of linear class-based advancement); if it's a classless game, think of what sorts of different characters you want players to create, and what attributes they would have to make them stand out.
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Hrm, its not for SHB, I have those stats done...
It's for an game that a certian group I'm in is working on. Think "New World Colonization RPG". | |
My personal preference for stats in any game is to keep the number of different statistics minimal. If you are doing some sort of traditional RPG, I prefer to keep them to strength, dexterity (or agility) and intelligence, with the possible addition of a stat such as "luck."
If you are making some sort of RPG where there will be a bunch of skills that a player can develop, I can't stand games where there is a huge list of 100 skills and how many points you have toward each skill listed in a stat panel. I much prefer games where they combine many different specific skills together into a generalized category. For example, instead of having a list of skills such as "Wood working, Bridge building, Repair, Lumber harvesting" etc, make a category called "Carpentry." Complexity can be a good or bad thing depending upon how it is implemented. Most of the BYOND games I've seen that try to be complex go overboard, which I think discourages players. | |
Yeah, my favorite way to get stats is to steal ideas from other games. Either that, or just create new stats as I go.
For example, my first game, Experimentor, had a pretty darn small world. So I created a stat called stamina or something that determined how many steps you could walk. Every step, you lost one stamina. You'd gradually regain stamina though, but every once in a while you'd have to stop and rest, and if you ran out of stamina while beating a retreat, well, too bad for you. | |
Hrm, I havn't been getting the responses I've wanted....
If anybody could find some articles, they'd be very useful. (Probably) I want to know what steps you take in determining stats, what to use, what not to use, how many, why, blah blah, etc, etc, monkey, etc. | |
I'm not really sure what kind of answer you want with that question. That's like asking, "How do you make quests for your game?" Well, it depends on the game, now doesn't it? What's your idea of a quest?
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"How you come up with stats" is just game design... it's the part that's not programming, storyline or map making. Basically, think of how many hits you want someone to kill someone else in, how often they should miss, and how much these should vary. There isn't too much I can say on it, it's something that a good game designer just learns from fiddling around with it, or just KNOWS. Strength, Dexterity/Agility/Speed, and Constitution/Stamina are pretty standard. Magic-oriented stats and others such as Charisma vary more. Some systems use one stat for hit rate and another for dodge rate, instead of lumping them together in a single Dexterity stat. Others have Speed and Dexterity separate - Dex is hit and dodge rate, speed's how often you move. You work out your stats from what you want characters to be like, and how much you want them to vary.
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If it's New World Colonization RPG, I'll assume it uses guns and beam weapons and stuff instead of swords. That makes a difference. I'll include magic-oriented stats...
Speed - How far you can move in a round, and how often you get to take a turn in combat. Directly proportional. Perception - Affects hit rate with missile weapons, and increases the radius you can see. Affects ability to spot traps and hidden creatures, and slightly affects the ablity to disarm traps. Strength - Affects how much gear you can carry, and determines damage at melee, which probably won't occur often. Constitution - Determines how much HP you gain at a new level. Determines resistance to physical status attacks. Dexterity - Affects your dodge rate, and your hit rate with melee weapons. Affects the ability to disarm traps. Intelligence - Determines your ability to learn new skills and spells. Slightly increases hit and dodge rates, and gives a bonus to experience. Will - Determines how much MP you gain at a new level, and determines your resistance to magical status attacks. Luck - Gives small bonuses to hit and dodge rates, as well as resistances. Critical hit rates are proportional to the attacker's luck divided by the defender's luck. If you don't use magic, eliminate Will. Note that I assumed that you can move between melee and missile ranges somehow. I'm assuming you're fighting on a grid here, but these will work for a Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior style battle system. You just need two "lines" in your party - the melee and missile range fighters. | |
Yes, but I'd like to know HOW you determine what to use, and what not to use. Why you do add this stat to your game.
I would REALLY like some articles on this. I can't seem to find any. | |
The purpose of a stat is only to determine the amount of a certain ability to add. If one ability, skill or whatever in your game uses something that doesn't work with your current stats, add a new one to fit it.
For example, your game currently includes three stats. Health, Strength and Agility. Health is used to determine how much damage you've taken, and how much more you can sustain. Strength determines your damage, and Agility determines how often you hit and dodge in a fight. Now, you want to add a new skill called Psionics. Well, how do you measure how powerful a player's psi powers are? Health doesn't effect psi abilities, neither do strength or agility. So you add a new stat called Intelligence, or Mental Prowess. The more MP you have, the more powerful your psi powers are. That's about it. | |
-Strength
-Raw melee damage.
-Perception
-Ability to notice details.
-Intelligence
-How much you know./How fast you learn.
-Dexterity
-Hand to eye coordination.
-Luck
-Luckiness.
-Endurance
-How long you can hold up doing a laborious task.