Hey Guildmasters!
Like I said last month I'm now into pacing/balancing and "feel" territory but when the result doesn't match the intent I have to step back and try to find why and how to fix it! That's what most of this month work was about =)
💻 Development update
Automated testing: I implemented a way to easily test (in game using the true game code) how the NPC adventurers handle quests. I ran it with a guild of 170 adventurers (which should be about what you have mid-game). I made them complete (or fail) 1000 quests and analysed the results.
Controlled destiny: After seeing too many "extreme cases" I modified quest resolution to be more predictable and added tuning levers for hand-tailored quests (which I need for the tutorial for example). The result: “catastrophic” and “miraculous” runs are now rarer but more impactful. Each quest types can now also have its true identity reflected in its outcome (like more gear damage for slime quests, no gear damage but very rare accidents for harmless quests, etc.)
Opportunity Window and World Parameters: opportunities (like a slime outbreaks) now have a limited time window, and I now track specific world parameters for them! (e.g., tracking slime population to know when to escalate the outbreak to something even bigger). This lets me control not only what happens and how, but also when, which should help a lot with pacing and quest identity.
Contracts (WIP): I started implementing the faction contract system and the logic for what triggers/renews it.
Content pass: added 6 new adventurer traits, 25 new quest variants, and did balancing on early game content.
As always, thanks for following and supporting the project!
Vincent L.
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