Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

Ever wonder how the numbers in Champions Online work? Or have you figured it out, and wondered why they are set the way they are? This week, Champions Online Systems Designer, Brian Urbanek explains how energy equates into damage, and how balancing these numbers is just as much art as it is math. Urbanek reveals how the systems were worked out and the reasoning behind the choices.

Generating baselines is half art, and half science. The "art" part comes from figuring out what kind of game you want to make. Different genres and play styles lend themselves towards different target ideals of "good balance," and hence valid baselines. A game that's supposed to simulate a gritty, street level police drama, where a gunshot is extremely dangerous, requires very different assumptions (and different math and systems) than a game that's about super heroic action.

Read the full first part of this exclusive Dev Diary only at Ten Ton Hammer.