Game Balance

[capturts]

In my game you have to do certain quests. This involves going to certain areas on the main map, collecting certain things taking them other places, battling a specific baddie.

As a fan of the Dragon Quest series of games I notice that you are limited to a certain area of land to can roam in. The enemies are not too hard and not too easy to kill, so they are worthwhile for xp but don't obliterate you in one sword stroke. Then as you build up your xp and therefore your character level and skills and weapons; the storyline progresses and now you are able to get to a new island or part of the landmass you are on that you weren't able to get to before. maybe you saved a village from some evil monster or found a missing person and the village gives you some new ability which lets you bash a rock slide out the way and you can get past it now. And surprise surprise the baddies are now just that bit tougher, but you've leveled up and you are tougher, too. So they still don't obliterate you too easily but they are worth more xp than the ones you are used to.

So here's the question:
How do I make sure that you (the player) or more accurately your character is at the right sort of level to progress. Obviously most people aren't going to hang around in an area that has super easy baddies that give you very little xp and gold so I feel it's safe to assume that I won't need any way of pushing people out of the area they are in - they want to explore and meet new bigger badder baddies and be rewarded with more xp and gold for beating them. But people are going to try to move on before they are ready, for example:
MrLevelOne just started the game and is trying to go into an area that is way too hard and is being put off the game because it's too hard. How can I gauge and therefore block him 'til he is ready. How do I know what level he needs to be to have a reasonable chance in the next area of map?

[AltarofScience]

playtest it yourself.

[capturts]

I guess this is something I'm rather bad lazy at. I test that pages do what they are supposed to but actually seeing how a player will progress over time is harder more effort.

[AltarofScience]

I guess this is something I'm rather bad lazy at. I test that pages do what they are supposed to but actually seeing how a player will progress over time is harded more effort.

get someone else to play test it.

[capturts]

The monsters that attack you are  random so going from one castle to another you may get attacked once, twice or more or even not at all. Some players will be luckier than others simply by chance - maybe a square of grass has a 10% chance of an attack, so statistically a 10 square trip you are likely to be attacked once but it could easily more more or less. I was thinking of simulating each quest several times with a simulated player with a range of skills and stats so that I can see how a player may fair. If the simulated player is obliterated too many times then obviously I need to make sure they are at a higher level, if it's too easy then the monsters in that area need to be toned down. Does this sound like a sane way of gauging the right level the player needs to be on or is this idea way off?

[AltarofScience]

The monsters that attack you are  random so going from one castle to another you may get attacked once, twice or more or even not at all. Some players will be luckier than others simply by chance - maybe a square of grass has a 10% chance of an attack, so statistically a 10 square trip you are likely to be attacked once but it could easily more more or less. I was thinking of simulating each quest several times with a simulated player with a range of skills and stats so that I can see how a player may fair. If the simulated player is obliterated too many times then obviously I need to make sure they are at a higher level, if it's too easy then the monsters in that area need to be toned down. Does this sound like a sane way of gauging the right level the player needs to be on or is this idea way off?

its fine if you can make it, and you can expect to reasonably predict player actions.

[Chris]

But people are going to try to move on before they are ready

So what? Let them do it. It's not like there is a permanent death, like in single player games, right?

[capturts]

I'm thinking that it's not so much predicting the player's actions as it it trying multiple combinations of character multiple times with multiple variations due to the random nature of being attacked and seeing what skills, level and equipment is likely to be needed to get to the end of the quest.

[capturts]

No, not permanent death, but maybe they will think they've messed up their character choices (bought the wrong equipment, learned the wrong spells) or just think the game is too hard and give up?

[Nox]

If you don't want to playtest it, a thing 'm thinking about is to associate abilities, attributes and all things player can use with a "power" value, then sum up the value and make estimates for min/med/max for each levels - you'll get a chart that you can compare against similar "power" value of monsters and set it properly

You also can cheat with randomness and stop spawning monsters if they already spawned well above average, or add one if there wasn't any. This can be used for spawning as well as minor things as damage etc.

But be careful, because from surprise and borderline conditions stems fun...if you average things too much, it can stop being exciting (seeing your hero escaping with 2/1250 HP and your blood racing in veins...)
Also imho player's don't like to be cheated too much or be obviously played with ... if you'd always match power of creatures in an area precisely to a player's skills and player's character's power, then the player might think that he doesn't really have to make any effort - and he's right, his efforts and skill does not matter anymore

[Chris]

No, they won't give up and quit. Players that would do it will quit far earlier for other reasons.
Don't worry about such minor things.

[capturts]

I'm happy to playtest it but the bigger the game gets the harder it is try try out every possible situation.

I like the idea of cheating randomness. I'll keep track of their encounters and help chance on it's way

So maybe just let them into an area and let them get ripped to shreds... maybe I can think of some way of making sure they KNOW they have an easier area they can go and conquer first if they are too low level.