On November 01 2020 10:11 Light- wrote:Phil I appreciate what you said and I've dropped it, and I'm going to try a different line of inquiry. Hopefully it is more acceptable.
Show nested quote +On November 01 2020 08:07 Magic Powers wrote:
Balancing a game is not as easy as simply adjusting values, it's also about functionality. Imagine your weapon of choice is a long sword and your opponent's is a short sword. Outdoors you might have an advantage, but indoors you might have a disadvantage, whereas in the woods maybe it's equal since both of the spatial asymmetries co-exist. The way the two swords function creates different effectiveness depending on the environment.
Now imagine if you could adjust the length of both swords to try to make them equally effective against each other in all three environments. Can you actually do it without making the functionality of both swords equal (same length)? That depends on whether or not you can reach the threshold where the functionality of each sword increases/decreases so that there can be a change in effectiveness, but not so much that the opposing weapon becomes too weak or too strong - in all three environments. And in the case of BW, you have to do this for three completely different races.
Ah I was hoping someone would talk game design. If I'm following your analogy correctly, the essence of the swordsman and his sword is what constitutes a unit? I agree with the way you put it, it just seems frankly impossible without making the swords the same. But then how about if the swordsmen and their swords were expanded and supplemented with other tools/weapons/abilities, innately or from fellow fighters, to compensate for their advantages/disadvantages. I feel like this is similar to fighting games, and I wonder if fighting game theory is applicable to RTS.
For example, if the short swordsman was given something that would only help him outdoors, while the long swordsman something that would only help indoors. I think when this is carefully done it could help achieve a reasonable level of parity regardless of the environment, which represents the map.
Edited to expand on a lazy post.
EPT
