Say I am designing a monster collecting video game akin to Pokemon (because, you know, I am).
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Say I am designing a monster collecting video game akin to Pokemon (because, you know, I am).
I want to have my own unique "Rock-Paper-Scissors" style mechanic with elements, but I really, really, REALLY don't want to use the typical ones that everybody else always tends to use (Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, etc)
Not even considering WHAT those elements might be (for now), how many elements would I need for a good, compelling balance of gameplay if there were, say, 100 unique monsters in the game (with no evolution mechanic - yet) and no dual types
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Say I am designing a monster collecting video game akin to Pokemon (because, you know, I am).
I want to have my own unique "Rock-Paper-Scissors" style mechanic with elements, but I really, really, REALLY don't want to use the typical ones that everybody else always tends to use (Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, etc)
Not even considering WHAT those elements might be (for now), how many elements would I need for a good, compelling balance of gameplay if there were, say, 100 unique monsters in the game (with no evolution mechanic - yet) and no dual types
@thevhswizard I feel like if you've got 100 critters you're gonna need a reasonably big number of elements just to ensure they're all unique enough to stand out.
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C Cactuar Joe shared this topic
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Say I am designing a monster collecting video game akin to Pokemon (because, you know, I am).
I want to have my own unique "Rock-Paper-Scissors" style mechanic with elements, but I really, really, REALLY don't want to use the typical ones that everybody else always tends to use (Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, etc)
Not even considering WHAT those elements might be (for now), how many elements would I need for a good, compelling balance of gameplay if there were, say, 100 unique monsters in the game (with no evolution mechanic - yet) and no dual types
@thevhswizard I actually wrote a newsletter specifically about this design pattern, way back when I was designing that type of game! Check it out if it sounds relevant: https://newtonarrative.com/news/pokemon-weakness-pentagram-and-the-magical-number-seven-plus-or-minus-two/
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Say I am designing a monster collecting video game akin to Pokemon (because, you know, I am).
I want to have my own unique "Rock-Paper-Scissors" style mechanic with elements, but I really, really, REALLY don't want to use the typical ones that everybody else always tends to use (Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, etc)
Not even considering WHAT those elements might be (for now), how many elements would I need for a good, compelling balance of gameplay if there were, say, 100 unique monsters in the game (with no evolution mechanic - yet) and no dual types
@thevhswizard eight is a nice round number. easy to grasp, not too many to juggle, enough to have a lot of interesting ways to introduce them
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Say I am designing a monster collecting video game akin to Pokemon (because, you know, I am).
I want to have my own unique "Rock-Paper-Scissors" style mechanic with elements, but I really, really, REALLY don't want to use the typical ones that everybody else always tends to use (Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, etc)
Not even considering WHAT those elements might be (for now), how many elements would I need for a good, compelling balance of gameplay if there were, say, 100 unique monsters in the game (with no evolution mechanic - yet) and no dual types
@thevhswizard In my opinion, 3 or 4 is hyperoptimal in case you want to keep your players' life easy or dare i say casual (not in a pejorative sense). That said, I played FGO with a very wild strength/weakness chart (attached few of them as they evolved through the time), sometimes it's a bit confusing, whenever you have to a weird lineup you can't cover completely, so you have to risk, but it also could be worth exploring.
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Say I am designing a monster collecting video game akin to Pokemon (because, you know, I am).
I want to have my own unique "Rock-Paper-Scissors" style mechanic with elements, but I really, really, REALLY don't want to use the typical ones that everybody else always tends to use (Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, etc)
Not even considering WHAT those elements might be (for now), how many elements would I need for a good, compelling balance of gameplay if there were, say, 100 unique monsters in the game (with no evolution mechanic - yet) and no dual types
@thevhswizard if you think about the monsters just as equipment(statistics, attack, defense, other variables that impact combat) you may want to think about them in ways of how much variety all those various combat numbers can you create within each 'elemental type', that way you have variety and customization for people to build a team that fits their playstyle.
I would approach it by looking at how I want combat to work first and then figuring out how much variation I can introduce into that by way of different stat numbers on each critter, hopefully without creating some completely unbalanced overpowered combination by accident.
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@thevhswizard if you think about the monsters just as equipment(statistics, attack, defense, other variables that impact combat) you may want to think about them in ways of how much variety all those various combat numbers can you create within each 'elemental type', that way you have variety and customization for people to build a team that fits their playstyle.
I would approach it by looking at how I want combat to work first and then figuring out how much variation I can introduce into that by way of different stat numbers on each critter, hopefully without creating some completely unbalanced overpowered combination by accident.@thevhswizard I'm sure there's a tongue-in-cheek study of the pokémon power creep from season 1 to season Whatever number they're up to now that will give some insights into planning for that kind of power creep. Not just to introduce new creatures, but if yourr thinking of a small subset of critters say 20 and then you expand it out to the hundred that you want to use, You can predict some of the power creep and get ahead of it or restructure a a core mechanic early on to help
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Say I am designing a monster collecting video game akin to Pokemon (because, you know, I am).
I want to have my own unique "Rock-Paper-Scissors" style mechanic with elements, but I really, really, REALLY don't want to use the typical ones that everybody else always tends to use (Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, etc)
Not even considering WHAT those elements might be (for now), how many elements would I need for a good, compelling balance of gameplay if there were, say, 100 unique monsters in the game (with no evolution mechanic - yet) and no dual types
@thevhswizard I honestly think that when you go beyond 3 or 4, it gets hard to onboard.
Fire Emblem has the weapon triangle, but then has weapons that are exempt from it!
