By Gabriel Naro, Game Designer at Kokku
As we explored in our past article: “Game Economies: Time and Milestones” by Tamir Nadav, the true value of in-game resources often boils down to the hours a player invests in the game, through grinding, achievement hunting, farming, you name it. Player engagement and progression are paramount, and for us Game Designers the concept of currency extends far beyond mere gold coins and gems.
In this article, we’ll deep dive into this idea on a more technical level, and learn to harness the application of spreadsheets to do the heavy lifting (mathematically speaking) for us. The power of spreadsheets in game design lies in their ability to provide a comprehensive, data-driven overview of a game’s economy and progression.
Getting the Data
We’ve already established that every currency, whether it’s gold, silver, experience points, or crafting materials, can be translated into a unit of time. But how exactly does this translation process work?
Let’s use the example of our previous article: “(…) the merchant in town has all the latest and greatest gear for the party, and equipping everyone with what they need to move forward will cost in total 1200g (…)”. The article also suggests that we do this by grinding Imps. So how do we find out how much time it’ll take? Using Spreadsheets of course!
First off, make sure all the important info is in your spreadsheet. You’ll need this data to simulate combat scenarios.
In this example let’s use this as a list of enemies:
Simulating Combat
To find out how much time it takes to equip all our party in the given scenario, we must create a mathematical model of our game (or at least the combat part) that we will input data on and it will tell us how much time it’ll take to get X gold from any given enemy.
For this simulation, we’ll need some extra information:
- Player Damage (DPS): in this example we’ll let the user input a number for the DPS, but in a real world scenario this data could be the result of another simulation, using real items, attributes, formulas and timings from the game.
- Avg. Time Between Encounters: this is how much time the player takes from one enemy encounter to the next. As with Player DPS this will be a simple input field, but could also come from a more detailed and thought-through simulation or even collected data from playtests.
Here’s a step-by-step explanation of how the total time in minutes is determined:
- Find the Enemy’s Gold Dropped:
- Look up how much gold the selected enemy drops.
- Calculate the Number of Encounters Needed:
- Take your “Gold Objective”, divide it by “Enemy Gold Dropped” (from step 1)
- Round this number up to determine the total encounters required to achieve your gold goal.
- Calculate the Time to Kill One Enemy:
- Divide the Enemy’s HP (similar lookup from step 1) by your “Player DPS” . This gives you the “Time-to-Kill Enemy” in seconds for defeating a single enemy.
- Calculate the Total Time Spent Fighting:
- Take the “Time-to-Kill Enemy” per enemy (from step 3) and multiply it by the calculated “Encounter Quantity” (from step 2). This is the total time you’ll spend in combat to defeat all the necessary enemies.
- Calculate the Total Time Spent Between Encounters:
- Take the “Avg. Time Between Encounters (seconds)” and multiply it by the calculated “Encounter Quantity” minus 1. This accounts for the total time you’ll spend traveling or waiting between each of the encounters needed to reach your Gold objective.
- Calculate the Total Time in Seconds:
- Add the total time spent fighting (from step 4) and the total time spent between encounters (from step 5). This sum represents the overall time in seconds to complete the required number of encounters and achieve your “Gold Objective.”
- Convert the Total Time to Minutes:
- Finally, divide the overall time in seconds (from step 6) by 60 to convert the result into a more convenient unit of minutes. This final value is “Consolidated Time (minutes).”
By doing this, whenever we select an Enemy from the dropdown menu, our little calculator will tell us exactly the information that we’re looking for. Remember that this is just an approximated simulation! Another thing worth noting: small inaccuracies and estimates add up! So, the more precise our data is, the better our simulation will be at predicting how players will interact with the game in real world scenarios.
Here are our results:
Now we know that it takes about 10 minutes of grinding Imps to fully equip our party. Now you, as the Game Designer, can decide if that is too much or too little compared to what the intended game experience is.
For the sake of experimenting, let’s say that we find 10 minutes too short of a time, we need the player to invest about 30 minutes, what could we do about this? We could try rebalancing, but how would each change reflect on how much time the player must invest on this? By using a spreadsheet, we can quickly test how turning each knob will affect the final result!
Hypothesis #1: Player DPS is too high, let’s nerf it
Let’s try nerfing our Player’s weapons from 5 to 2.
That player nerf added 4 minutes to the time requirement. We’re still far from our 30 minutes objective. Also, players tend to like doing big numbers! So further lowering it doesn’t seem to be the right way.
Hypothesis #2: Reduce Gold Dropped
We could try a different strategy, by lowering the amount of Gold dropped by the Imp from 30 to 10.
This gets us closer to the intended time of 30 minutes but this isn’t a silver bullet, as it may solve our immediate problem but has some side effects. Compared to other enemies, the Imp appears to drop too few Gold per HP, according to our enemy list. Also, is the combat really that interesting to keep players engaged and excited for 120 encounters with the same enemy?
Hypothesis #3: Reduce qty. of Imp spawns
Another way to solve this problem might be to decrease the Imp spawn rate on the first area, that means that the player will spend more time finding the next encounter. Let’s say we reduce spawn by 50%, increasing the time between encounters from 10 to 15 seconds.
Reducing spawn increases the downtime of the player, who now has to wander for longer before finding an enemy to fight.
Consolidating Hypotheses: The Spreadsheet as a Design Compass
The three hypotheses (Player DPS, Gold Dropped, Imp spawn rates) show how tuning “knobs” affects player experience and time investment. Neither of them will solve our problem alone, so we must mix and match, and then test them, check for any inconsistencies with our game’s core pillars and analyse what kind of problems in other parts of the game this solution might create.
The spreadsheet is a tool, not a definitive answer, its true power is rapid iteration through combinations, instantly modeling the effects of balancing on the game’s economy and pacing. It provides data and forecasts, but the designer’s acumen, experience, and creative vision are paramount for interpreting data and making informed choices. What balances on paper may not feel fun in playtesting. The spreadsheet narrows possibilities, offering a data-driven foundation for testing and refinement, making it an indispensable companion. This fusion of data and intuition guides design, ensuring enjoyable player experiences aligned with the designer’s vision.
Final Thoughts
By mapping out currency acquisition rates through the use of spreadsheets, designers can:
- Refine Pacing: Ensure a smooth and engaging player experience, avoiding long grinds or overly quick progression.
- Achieve Balance: Prevent situations where players are either overpowered or underpowered for specific content.
- Forecast Player Behavior: Anticipate how players will interact with the game’s economy and adjust accordingly.
- Iterate Efficiently: Make data-backed decisions during development, reducing guesswork and enhancing the iterative design process.
As noted in our past article: “Another great benefit of evaluating game currencies using Time and Milestones during development is how much it helps both pacing and balance when used correctly.” By properly examining and modelling the game’s economy, player and enemy attributes, and how much time you would like them to spend in each area will help craft the numbers for you.
While the intricacies of game development can be complex, the spreadsheet emerges as an invaluable tool for understanding and shaping the player’s journey! By translating abstract concepts like “fun” and “challenge” into quantifiable metrics of time and milestones, designers can craft truly engaging and rewarding experiences!
