24 replies to this topic

[ODSTsteels]

LET ME REPHRASE THAT
How do you make a levelling system and DPS system FOR an MMO game?

Hey
I am currently writing a GDD that i hope can be sent within the next week but i need to know how to create a working Levelling system as well as a working DPS system for an MMORPG could anyone give me any pointers because i dont know were to start.

[rouncer]

what does DPS stand for?
what does GDD stand for?

A levelling system is easy.
give everyone an experience variable... whenever they kill an enemy they get a value added to it... every time you hit a power of 2 you go up a level, and you get stat increases.

Really, its not the most challenging part to making a networked rpg, so the question is a little silly, you should be asking different questions.

[Reedbeta]

GDD is game-design document, but as for DPS I have no idea...Department of Public Safety? Digital Photography School?

[Tottel]

Damage per Second, I suppose. :)

[Nerd_Skywalker]

Dangerous Pizza Store? :lol:

[alphadog]

I once used self-leveling compound before tiling the bathroom. Shit was cash.

[Dirus]

DPS System..

Weapon DPS = RoF(how many swings/shots per min) * Damage per hit

[rouncer]

What if you wanted your game realistic instead of crappy damage and health bars, then dps wouldnt mean shit.

[alphadog]

Dirius said:

Weapon DPS = RoF(how many swings/shots per min) * Damage per hit

There's a million and one ways to record damage on objects in a game. You'll have to be more specific... a lot more specific.

For example, what kind of game is it? Are we talking armored knights wielding swords, space vehicles wielding turret lasers or cute bunnies wielding sticky lollipops? How precise do you want it? Is the game real-time or turn-based? I mean, I'm not sure what you expect here, as there is no magical One Solution To Rule Them All here...

Also, what do you mean by "How do you make a DPS system?" Technically? Conceptually?

The question is so excruciatingly vast and generalized, I am at a loss to know even where to start. It's like a contractor saying: "I want to build a 40-story apartment complex. How do you design a room?"

[alphadog]

rouncer said:

What if you wanted your game realistic instead of crappy damage and health bars, then dps wouldnt mean shit.

Lolwut?

Ask a weird question, get a weird answer, I guess.

[Dirus]

rouncer said:

What if you wanted your game realistic instead of crappy damage and health bars, then dps wouldnt mean shit.

Even realistic you'd still need a DPS system. I could shoot you all day with a BB gun and you'd still be alive after. If i used a .22 you might last a minute or two. Bring out a gatlin gun and you'd last maybe 10 seconds at most. A grenade, well you got to the count of 3.

[rouncer]

Dirus said:

Even realistic you'd still need a DPS system. I could shoot you all day with a BB gun and you'd still be alive after. If i used a .22 you might last a minute or two. Bring out a gatlin gun and you'd last maybe 10 seconds at most. A grenade, well you got to the count of 3.

unless its a head shot, then all damage is 100%, so the dps system is not really relevant anymore.

[Dirus]

rouncer said:

unless its a head shot, then all damage is 100%, so the dps system is not really relevant anymore.

You sure? I could be wearing a hat.. or I could be in my shop grinding with a full face shield, not every weapon would do 100% damage in those conditions, espeically if it was an Airsoft Gun or a .177 pellet pistol, or a Nerf Gun.. Let's go out even further and say I could be roleplaying Big Daddy from BioShock in my parents basement and wearing one of those massive metal diving helmets.. you think even a .22 would do 100% damage in that situation?

I get it.. Make fun of the poor guy/girl for not knowing enough to ask the right question, or in this case "phrase it" so they sounds like they're not fingerpainting a Design Doc at recess or after his nap.. You would suck in a Big Brother Role, or even Parenthood in general.. *shrugs*

[rouncer]

you die not because of some unrealistic health meter reaching 0, what you do die of is your internal organs bursting, or a bullet hitting a weakspot in the armour, all im saying is there is more realistic methods of killing a player than giving him a health bar that gets hacked at by weapons different amounts.

Do you really think DPS is realistic at all? I dont see how... it actually always looked like a weakness of most games.

Realism is my favorite thing of all, and health bars were never realistic to me.

[alphadog]

rouncer, explain to me how you would create a game that would record "realistic" damage without numbers? Or, do you simply object to the actual display bars themselves, which are simply a way to visualize the numbers behind the game?

[rouncer]

Well, you could use csg to literally blow holes in armour, and the user can see how damaged his armour is, there is no "armour left" variable.
(theres an example of replacing a basic guage with something more realistic)

This way, if you shoot the same area twice, you get twice the effect, with an armour guage, this is not possible.

Then you fire rays through the holes to the body, and see if you intersect any internal organs or not, and if you hit an organ, then maybe you could have a metre for time left to live as blood spills out internally and starts funnelling out of your mouth.

Well you could use numbers sometimes, when its ok to do so, but a more advanced game would use simple metres and guages less, im pretty sure.

Imagine a tank game, and you literally ricoche the missile off the angle of the armour it hit, for more or less penetration, theres countless things that games have never implemented that would improve realism.

What im saying sounds dumb to you because it has been neglected so much in programming for simplicity instead that my argument sounds weak.

There, I explained.

[alphadog]

So, instead of a health bar, you have a visual representation of the damage. Still, there are numbers tracking enough energy to put a hole in armor. There's still numbers behind there; you are just arguing for a different representation of those numbers.

Gotcha.

[TheNut]

I think it depends on the game. FPS devs realized the whole health percentage thing is weak, so now you're allowed 2 - 3 shots, each one progressively slowing you down and reducing your vision, but you can recover from it. I quite like the way that works in Bad Company 2. The swedes pulled through on that one.

However RPG games must follow the commandments set forth by the D&D guild, lest you wish to receive the backlash of a thousand nerdlingers. As far as the DPS goes, either follow the D&D rules or just build something like it. It's not difficult. Basic math. (base + enhancements) * modifers = final value. Pretty much every game with a damage system follows that rule.

rouncer, we're talking about games, right? :) Pretty much every inch of our body there's an organ, artery, or important bone that would have an effect on us. Probably due to humanitarian reasons, but if the military issued standard 50 cal bullets to all personnel, then DPS flies right out the window cause nothing will stop that from stopping you. Even a toe shot would put you 6 feet under.

[rouncer]

The acronym DPS is more suited to unrealistic slow mmo combat, not for action sims.
And thats how this nerd likes to play, with real danger... im like john wayne behind my mouse.

Hey you know my space station? ive got this insane new idea for a modeller now, csg and sculpting, pretty tricky but i think i can handle it, im like a code monster man!

[alphadog]

Sometimes a game is just a game. Not everything needs to be a realistic simulation of organs imploding that appeals primarily to sociopaths...