OK, we have now come onto the topic of balancing magic so that once one ''element'' of the magic system is used and diminishes in strength, another gains in stature... OK, the system that I have been tinkering around with has the following properties.

• There are 5 Elements
• Each element has 2 opposing elements
• An element is only as strong as 100-(its strongest opposing element) (ie, out of 100% )
• The magic system tries to right the balance after a period of time.

What does this mean? It means that the balance will be restored (all elements to as close as 50% as they can get... Some bugs have had it jumping around 49 for one element and 51 for another... But it doesn''t matter). As time goes on in the system, after ''X'' number of seconds has passed, the system starts the trend for the natural rebalance. As a spell is used (specifically of only one element at the moment) that element is diminished. OK... If it doesn''t make sense then that is what this forum is for, but you can D/L the source code that does all of this from Here... the file called ''MagicBalancing.zip'' none-the-less . This is a more complicated system than the 1 element with an opposing element, as I wanted to see if you could have multiple opposing elements (I call them converses - cross between a counters and an inverses. Not to mean ''talk'' though). The reason why you have 2? Well, it makes it more fun when you have ''countering'' spells if you ask me Anyway... There it is for you, open discussion -Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers'' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche           

Well, I''ll have to compile it later today (at work - my compiler is at home).

I have an idea for that though...

try having 2 ''balancers'' -- global and personal.

For personal, the level should go up and down quickly, but not so fast as to confuse the user, also the amount of change should be relative to the amount of power expended within the spell.

Now, for the global balancer should move much slower - especially if it is in a MMRPG. It basically works the same as a personal though.

Now all power, including the personal balancer, is based on the Global Balancer. The personal balancer acts like a modifier of the global, but not as powerfully.

Now, this kind of system totally punishes those magic users who would wish to specialize in one element, so lets add another thing to this.

Make it so both the personal and the global balancers slowly migrate back to the point of perfect balance. There. Now people can specialize in one element (although after casting ''fireball'' like crazy one day, they might have to wait two of them to cast with any success). Which brings me to another point - if either the global or the personal magic is at or below 5% dont let them cast the spell - make it fizzle. and if its above 95% make it have a random effect (who knows what happens if you cast fireball when the area''s saturated with ''fire magic'')

Just a few ramblings.

LOL! 95% would cause the whole screen to just be set ABLAZE

As for the personal and global, good idea... I might have to make a model on it. Basically though, the system already tends towards equilibrium. I made the model mainly so that I could see if it would work (for a write up in the doc) and I got a little carried away (ie, I am working on two NPC''s that go around picking up raw elements and casting different spells at each other in a 20*20 world )

Anyway... I am glad somebody decided to have a look at it

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers'' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche
          

Well, I''m a programmer at heart - I just post/read here to get my creative juices going, and boy does it work!

Currently I''m trying to learn Win-Doze (ok... ok.. windows) programming (as in VC++) but im having a hell of a time considering I come from dos.


As for the magic....

if fire magic ever reaches 100% (saturation) I can say just one thing...

Atomic Blast!


or if water reaches that point

Air = Water



hehe... just some ideas

Yeah, I am a programmer at heart too. I started posting here to get my creative juices flowing also, and they just can''t stop flowing anymore

I don''t think that it is easy to reach 100% saturation in the magic system. I haven''t been able to (though I can easily reach 0). Funny stuff that . Anyway, water=air... That would be funny, add that into your story so that the player must do a quest ''under the sea'' when the air turns to water... Anyway... I am getting OT.

Anybody else?

-Chris Bennett of Dwarfsoft - Site:"The Philosophers'' Stone of Programming Alchemy" - IOL
The future of RPGs - Thanks to all the goblins over in our little Game Design Corner niche