Strength and Defense In Damage Systems in Design Philosophy

ID:151260
 
Jan 18 2012, 1:59 pm
I don't really see the point of the stats of strength and defense in RPG games like DBZ.This is a question mainly for dbz game coders;Do you even put these two stats into account when calculating damage? I feel strengh and defense is all the same as powerlevel.I need people opinion on this
#1 Jan 18 2012, 2:40 pm
I'm not a DBZ coder, but separation of stats is an essential element of RPG games in order to support different playstyles and equipment loadouts. You don't want all level 30 characters to be completely evenly matched. You want one level 30 who chose to be faster, stronger, or more defensive than the other level 30 who made different decisions in their experience distribution or equipment loadouts. It gives the players a choice in how they create their character and makes the game more interesting. If you just lump everything into the level stat then playing with or against other people would become stale. The level stat is a representation of the player's total skills and experience; it's not the value of each and every one of their skills.
#2 Jan 18 2012, 3:21 pm
Well in any Action RPG, stats like Strength, Defense, Agility; are almost completely necessary to support character differentiation as said above. The title is a bit misleading, however, if you're purely talking about Anime games like DBZ. In the anime/manga you had a dead-set power, strength came with speed, no exceptions really, just for the purpose of spontaneous power-ups in fights in-order to win. In an RPG though you would want to split Power Level into different sections, like Speed, Toughness, Power, etc, and simply use it as a total indicator of how strong they are.

E.g.
Strength + Agility + Toughness = Power Level

Though I would strongly recommend NOT making a DBZ game, bit of a dead end to start a new one considering players will be unable to find it through BYOND, and I know there is very little advertisement done externally. So without a pre-built community it's pretty much destined to fail.

However, I won't be one of those self-righteous BYOND members who scream Anime games are for noobs and ruin the whole community, and then dismiss you for pursuing something you like, I'm just giving a recommendation.
#3 Jan 18 2012, 4:01 pm
Personally I feel most people who make DBZ games don't understand what powerlevel is.
This is my understanding of powerlevel.


Say your character has a powerlevel of 100.

Your character also has ratings for strength, speed, toughness and ki.

Each of these ratings would be equal to a percent of your powerlevel.

for instance strength might equal 50, or 50%. Then your strength would be 50 points of damage.

Toughness could be a percent that does not use your powerlevel but rather blocks a percent of all damage you take.

So if an incoming attack does 50 damage, then you'd receive 25 points of damage with a toughness of 50.

Basically powerlevel is how strong your character is, however how well trained your character is is how WELL they can utilize their powerlevel.

Goku was very well trained. Therefore with limited powerlevel it was possible for him to defeat foes that had a higher powerlevel, such as Vegeta, King Piccolo,etc.
#4 Jan 18 2012, 6:24 pm
In response to Diliviero (#2)
Im still confused.I look at powerlevel as something you born with lets say you start at a powerlevel of 5.You do training and it will increase, strength, defense, and agility has nothing to do with it.

Moreover, i agree with you DBZ getting old, but there hasnt been another animie i have seen that is similar and has the same high praise dbz gets.Basically Dragon Ball Z was the best animie created, it ended over a decade ago and it still on TV Cartoon NETWORK.I dont beleive another animie will last that long.Furthermore, my game will not be RPG so you can live the life you wanted with all the DBZ experience in the animie.
#5 Jan 18 2012, 6:40 pm
In response to GrimmJore (#4)
In regards to the anime, I see powerlevel as a sum of your current ability and potential, not as something completely different. Basically just a reference stat not to be used in any calculations. This makes sense because that is exactly what it does in the anime.

For example: if you train, your overall ability/potential goes up, therefore your powerlevel goes up; if you concentrate your energy/ki, your ability/potential goes up, therefore your powerlevel goes up; contract a virus, your ability/potential goes down, therefore your powerlevel goes down.

See how that works?

Interestingly enough, you can also view powerlevel as some sort of health stat, which is what Namco Bandai has done in Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi.
#6 Jan 19 2012, 3:40 am
In response to GrimmJore (#4)
Naruto is just about as good if not better than Dragonball Z.

Also there are a few animes out there nowadays I keep track of.

Beelzebub as well as Fairy Tail.
Those are two of my favorites at the moment.
#7 Jan 19 2012, 3:42 am
In response to BrickSquadron (#1)
I agree completely. You get more variety and replay value from your game, by allowing the player to specialize in something. It makes feel that level of B-A-ness, and also makes them wonder how cool another skill might be when it reached it's potential or full level.
#8 Jan 19 2012, 6:25 pm
In response to GrimmJore (#4)
Cartoon Network hasn't shown DBZ in years. What awesome Cartoon Network are you watching that actually shows good stuff and North America has no knowledge of this version?
#9 Jan 24 2012, 9:35 am
In response to Moonlight Memento (#8)
Moonlight Memento wrote:
Cartoon Network hasn't shown DBZ in years. What awesome Cartoon Network are you watching that actually shows good stuff and North America has no knowledge of this version?

Lol this is not true they still show dbz but renamed it as another name.I was watching it the other day
#10 Jan 24 2012, 9:41 am
In response to BrickSquadron (#1)
Yes i am making a level up game and no they will not be all even.Higher level characters will get special abilities like they can block,dodge,and power up automatically during a battle depending on the level between the two characters.I also have a system that will help weaker characters defend themselves depending on how much WILL(A varaible in the game) to fight they have