Castle Paradox

The Drizzle · **Who is the Drizzle?** Joined: 12 Nov 2003 Posts: 432

James, if your reading this up in heaven (or wherever you are) I think it's about time to change the experience equation. My beef with the current level up equation is that the difference between the xp requirements at higher levels is HUGE. I hate to criticize your math, but your constants are trouble. 1.2*XP may not mean much early, but later in the game, thats a whole lot. I've tweaked with the equation for a while and I've come up with something that I think might work a bit better.

A suggestion:

XP * 1.1 + (current level+3 or next level+2)*2

examples-
level 1: 30
level 2: 30 * 1.1 + 4 * 2 = 41
level 3: 41 * 1.1 + 5 * 2 = 55.1 = 55
level 4: 55 * 1.1 + 6 * 2 = 72.5 = 73
level 5: 94
level 6: 119
level 7: 149
level 8: 184
level 9: 224
level 10: 270
level 11: 323
level 12: 383

The curve of the first few levels in my equation is pretty similar to that of your own. My level 12 value and yours have the same value. But after this, your equation gets very steep.

My value / Your value
level 13: 451 / 465
level 14: 528 / 563
level 15: 614 / 681
level 16: 711 / 822
level 17: 820 / 991
level 18: 942 / 1,194
level 19: 1,078 / 1,438
level 20: 1,230 / 1,731
level 21: 1,399 / 2,082
level 22: 1,587 / 2,503
level 23: 1,796 / 3,009
level 24: 2,027 / 3,616
level 25: 2,284 / 4,344
level 26: 2,568 / 5,218
level 27: 2,883 / 6,267
level 28: 3,231 / 7,525
level 29: 3,616 / 9,035
level 30: 4,041 / 10,847
level 31: 4,511 / 13,021
level 32: 5,030 / 15,603
level 33: 5,603 / 18,761
level 34: 6,235 / 22,518
level 35: 6,933 / 27,027
level 36: 7,702 / 32,437
level 37: 8,550 / 38,929
level 38: 9,485 / 46,720
level 39: 10,516 / 56,069
level 40: 11,652 / 67,288
level 41: 12,903 / 80,751
level 42: 14,281 / 96,906
level 43: 15,799 / 116,292
level 44: 17,471 / 139,555
level 45: 19,312 / 167,471
level 46: 21,339 / 200,970
level 47: 23,473 / 241,169
level 48: 25,920 / 289,408
level 49: 28,614 / 347,295
level 50: 31,579 / 416,759
level 51: 34,842 / 500,116
level 52: 38,434 / 600,144
level 53: 42,387 / 720,178
level 54: 46,737 / 864,219
Level 55: 51,525 / 1,000,000

As you can plainly see see, 51,525 is a number much smaller and more manageable than 1,000,000. My equation doesn't even reach 1,000,000 until around level 90.

I'm in no way saying "Change it or die" nor am I asking you to use my equation. I'm still overjoyed that you changed it from the old level up equation. I'm simply putting the idea up in the air for you to consider. I know you could probably come up with a better equation than mine, so if you want to, by all means do it.

For those who agree with me, or completely disagree, feel free to speak up because I know that this people may not be as concerned with this as I am. It just causes balance/leveling up issues.

BTW, I'm aware this could affect old games, though James could put in a general game bitset to simulate the current xp requirements just as he has for the original level up equation.
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Shadowiii · **It's been real.** Joined: 14 Feb 2003 Posts: 2460

Of course the "easiest" way fix this little issue is to have something implimented that let you set your own experience for each level. But I'm guessing that would be a pain.
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The Drizzle · **Who is the Drizzle?** Joined: 12 Nov 2003 Posts: 432

An enormous pain, I'd say. The community would probably come to a consensus on what the equation would be anyway, and we'd all end up using the same equation anyway.
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LeRoy_Leo · Posted: Thu Mar 25, 2004 8:13 am Post subject:

T-Master · Joined: 10 Dec 2003 Posts: 74

Perhaps a customizable formula such as:

X * Y^level could be implemented, where you could specify X and Y.

The Drizzle · **Who is the Drizzle?** Joined: 12 Nov 2003 Posts: 432

That formula is ridiculous. X*Y^level? Anything above 1.1 for y would get out would make the xp ridiculous at level 50 even.

That's beside the point though, since I'm guessing what you mean is an equation that is customizable. The problem with this is that it would require a lot of math to come up with a reasonable equation. The majority of people would have terrible equations (I'm not trying to be arrogant here, I'm just being realistic). It would take the user-friendly edge off of the engine. Coming up with a good equation for XP is harder than it might seem. I spent about an hour just working out the one I used here.
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junahu · Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 5:29 am Post subject:

erm. What he means is that perhaps the level up equation should be customizable (I.e. perhaps a plotscript command or something that enables you to change the level up formula from its default equation). This way we can change the level up equation without having to worry about whiney newbies posting 'why won't my heros level up?' because they forgot to set an equation.

Alright, I understand that it would never be that simple to implement. Neutral

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The Drizzle · **Who is the Drizzle?** Joined: 12 Nov 2003 Posts: 432

Yeah, I said that.

Aethereal · Posted: Fri Mar 26, 2004 6:48 am Post subject:

I like the idea - it'll make me not have to use invisible spawned enemies that suicide to give more than 32000 Exp, but there needs to be an option in General Game Bitsets to use "Old Formula" or "New Formula" for the sake of older games that won't get updated.
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The Drizzle · **Who is the Drizzle?** Joined: 12 Nov 2003 Posts: 432

TMC · Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2004 6:25 pm Post subject:

Absolute no-no to changing the formula by plotscripting. And also, having different formulas for each hero is too much hassle.

Ishrie · Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2004 6:55 pm Post subject:

I don't see anything wrong with it. I mean, if you want to level faster, make the enemies give out more exp. Neutral

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RPGCreations · **E Pluribus Unum** Joined: 18 May 2003 Posts: 345

Under the current setup, setting via plotscripting would not work anyway, since you can only use integers and could not pass the ^, +, - , and / characters.
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TMC · Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 3:34 am Post subject:

Ishrie: The equation does make alot of difference. For instance, if the difference between exp needed for L6 and L10 is relatively small, then at L10 you can level comfortably in areas you leveled up in when you were L6. If there is a huge difference, you will force the player to level up in areas with specific monsters.

Also, there current equation is not designed for gaining high levels - exp required caps at 1,000,000 exp at around L60, and then remains constant, but max exp per monster is 32767.
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Fenrir-Lunaris · **WUT** Joined: 03 Feb 2003 Posts: 1747