5 days, and counting... (Or: We Likes Numbers!)

Windows

MacOS X

This update fixes some terrain rendering glitches under DirectX 9, and some issues involving non-U.S. locales. Also tweaks game balance a bit more, checks for updates, and has a high score menu. In other words: 100% Feature complete. Proper Windows installer to follow in the next build.

I just bought a PC to use for Vista and ATI testing, so I'll be spending some time over the next couple days working on that, plus other general bug fixes. I'm less worried about game balance for launch than I was though... You see, at AGDC I found a very very interesting company with a very very interesting product:

Plus 7 Systems

I have known for some time that my biggest challenge would be game balance. I allotted 25-30% of development time of When Orcs Attack to it and it's still pretty badly balanced. I came up with mathematical models, even using sigmoid curves to define how much harder enemies get and how much gold they yield but it's still not quite "right". I anticipated that at some point I would need an analytics-based approach to game balance but I just didn't realize it would be as early as game 1. I've also been feeling a bit nervous about how I would implement it since I'm still looking to fill a full-time engineer position (and working 100+ hr weeks to make up for the lack of an engineer) as-is (if anyone is interested -- send me your resume / samples of your work...).

Well, as I was floating around AGDC looking for various companies I noticed a big banner that said something to the effect of "Balance without nerfing". Instantly the clouds parted, a light from heaven shone down on this tiny little booth, and a chorus of angels began singing Ode to Joy. I walked up to the booth as fast as my blistered feet would carry me, and scanned the literature while the gentleman manning the booth talked to another prospect. I confirmed that it was indeed what I thought it was and when he turned his attention to me -- before he could actually *say anything* -- I asked him simply: "How much?"

You see, I like numbers. I like analytics. I know that they are no silver bullet but they are an incredibly powerful tool. I've personally seen fairly mediocre analytics change how a company does business and accelerate its growth dramatically. And here I was faced with a company that was doing exactly what I had already hoped to do.

The long and shot of it is that you feed it game data -- information about the options that were available to players in a game, and what choices they made -- and it feeds back small, incremental suggestions about changes to make. Make this spell 0.5% more powerful. Make this tower cost 1% less. No large changes (and thus, no overt nerfing).
Now, their service is NOT cheap. Think lots-of-cash PLUS royalties. In fact, don't even bother contacting them if you don't have a fairly substantial pile of cash in the bank. Fortunately for me, I am putting a non-trivial amount of money into this venture and so I *do* have some cash to put into something like this.

We (two of the guys from +7 and myself) got together for dinner that evening and hammered out a tentative deal and so I am pleased to note that starting with the first point release of When Orcs Attack, the game will be making use of the +7 Balance Engine to help eliminate hyper-effective strategies, and to help ensure the viability of as broad an array of strategies as possible. If all goes well, players will simply notice the game getting more fun as time passes.