MekaGob
Genre: RPG
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Plateforme: PC
Missions: Game Design - Level Design - Balancing
The goal of this project was to create a vertical slice of a classic turn-based RPG. There was no need for innovative mechanics, a universe or a particular narrative.
With this in mind, we have decided to focus on three major points:
- well-balanced combat, character progression and world economy.
- a clear UX for managing characters and their equipment.
- dynamic combat despite turn-based gameplay.
I personally took responsibility for most of this first point, being the most comfortable of the group with Excel.
We started by establishing the design of each character and enemy class, as well as the different attacks available in the game, so that I could concentrate on balancing them.
Our combat system was based on orbs of 4 different colors: using an attack consumes these orbs, but generates others. So we also had to balance the game according to the order in which attacks could be used.
To facilitate balancing and testing throughout production, without having to wait for the combat system or the various attacks to be implemented in Unreal, I created an Excel simulator to test our combat.
The principle of this simulator is simple: on the left, you can enter a character's class, the 4 pieces of equipment of your choice and its level. This will display the character's exact stats. Then do the same on the right-hand side.
Then, by selecting an attack for each (depending on the attacks available for that character class), it will display the damage it would inflict on the other in a real situation.
It was therefore very easy to simulate combat phases to see if our gameplay was correctly balanced.