Is it all for NOT?!

[8bitpontiff]

I've been spending a LOT of time adding secret stuff to my game. I've got a bunch of side-quests and hidden caves and hidden rooms and hidden items. I even have hidden boss battles. The problem I am having is that this makes balancing the game VERY difficult. I have to assume that the player is not going to find the hidden stuff. But, at the

Comments

Re: Cheap Nike Shox and Discount Nike Shox for Womens, mens Nike....

[8bitpontiff]

What the Christ? I was going to delete this but it is kind of funny. I mean, I make a post about how all of my hard work is for not and then I get a response which leads me to believe that my post was all for not, too.

But that offer sounds amazing! 8000000% best quality! That seems so impossible!

Re: Cheap Nike Shox and Discount Nike Shox for Womens, mens Nike....

[moogle1]

I think she's interested in you, man. You should make a pass on her.

Regarding your post: Make the game super-challenging without the optional equipment. Make it the kind of thing players might want to do as a challenge run, because the game would be really hard without it.

And then make it so that the equipment isn't game-breaking, but it is really fun to use.

[8bitpontiff]

See, I don't want to make it too hard without the secret stuff. I want people to be able to make it through to the end without it being too painful and without frustrating the player. I think it's because of the amount of work that went into making the game that I want people to be able to fully experience the fruits of my labor. It's hard to gauge exactly what the player will find and when they will find it, too. I think what is going to happen is this: if the player finds all of the secret stuff, they will be an over-powered unstoppable force. Some of the secret items truly break the challenge but I feel that if the player manages to actually find that secret item, then they should be rewarded in some spectacular manner. I don't know... game design is tough.

I have no idea what a Nike Shox is, but it sounds like some kind of uber-sock.

[moogle1]

RPGs tend to be self-balancing, in the sense that a bad player can just level up to beat the game. This is a really poor argument for game balance, but it does let you balance the game towards good players rather than bad players

[8bitpontiff]

As an example: I plan on having an item that really BOOSTS the ~MP stat to the point that most spells cost tiny amounts of MP. The way to get it is to steal it from one of the hidden bosses. You have to complete a side-quest to get the Steal technique. Then you have to find the hidden boss (which is pretty hard to find and you only have a limited window of time to do so,) Steal the item from him, and then beat him. What are the odds that the player is going to accomplish this? Pretty low, I would guess. So why not give them an awesome item like that

[moogle1]

Except in the case of Oblivion, I think it was developer oversight. At least you've considered the ramifications.