I want to apply some reasonable scaling of stats related to a simulator. This covers all from power, prices, experience earned, currency earned etc… The idea is to avoid making it either too hard or easy for the player to earn.
What is the issue? Include enough details if possible!
I have made a template of a simulator, but I cant seem to find a good function or formula to increase the multiplier stats of the pets. What is a reasonable formula and some values for stat multipliers on pets? How will they increase throughout the game. I have a linear increase in multiplier that reaches max value once the pet is at level 100. In both bubble gum and science simulator they operate with relatively low prices on eggs in the beginning, but for different worlds they have an out of bound price reaching several trillions. Is there a way to scale the earning to the prices to make the game balanced?
What I want to ask for is if anyone knows a good way to scale the stats throughout the gameplay.
What solutions have you thought of so far?
For the stats of pets I have yet to decide if I should increase with multipliers. How do we balance the stats multipliers or receiving currency.
I’m not sure if you’re still looking for an answer, but:
I did see that you attempted to use a linear equation which works fine for many games, but if you’re purposefully looking to replicate what other popular simulator games do (with a slow start but large growth later on) you should try out different graphs. Parabolic graphs work well in this case, although many other types exist. The key here is to mess around with the values in your graphs (coefficients, intercepts, etc) and to repeatedly test it out to make sure it’s balanced.
Also, make sure you balance the prices of your items accordingly. I’d recommend creating some type of parabolic graph to determine multipliers and ultimately the amount of gold players are earning, and setting the prices of your shop items based off of that. Use your graph that you created as a reference for how much your games’ items should cost.
Will you be needing to apply limits to your parabolic graphs as they grows very fast. Would it not be counterintuitive for games to have a slow start? I might be mistaking something. Is it not the start that the players need to be leveling earning up quickest so it gives a good first impression. Then gradually slow down and making it harder to grind. I understand that the «quickness of earning» is correlated to the price.
That’s a good point you make but it’s ultimately how satisfying you make the progression. Even if the progression is quick at the beginning, that’s not necessarily a good thing since your game becomes too easy as progress becomes too easy to obtain. Ideally, you’d want to balance out how quickly the player progresses with how easy it is to progress. Also, having a quick start but then pulling back on that later on in the game also creates other issues such as end game grinding feeling not rewarding since the growth is reduced.
Just as an example, several RPGs and fighting games you might find on here provide good examples of satisfying progression. For example, if a generic bandit NPC takes 6 hits to kill, but a few character upgrades cuts that number down to 4, the difference will be very noticeable to the player. It’s not the same idea as your game, but hopefully it shows you the same principles I’m talking about.
If you do decide to make the progression very quick, it’s important to make sure that obtaining these new upgrades aren’t extremely easy to do, and that any upgrades you do end up obtaining feel rewarding. I sometimes see people making mistakes of giving the player upgrades too quickly and in abundant amounts which makes any growth you may experience feel unsatisfying since it’s happening in such large and abundant amounts.