,,|,,_(-_-)_,,|,, Author: electricblue Version: 1.11 Page 1 First of all, this guide is not about the code editing and mod making, it is about the philosophy behind them. So, relax... Games are sources of fun, but this doesn’t change the reality: They are just a bunch of 0’s and 1’s put in the right order. Each has its own set of mechanics. The aim of this guide is to give the player a basic insight about testing and balance issues to raise awareness about the games and their complex mechanics. After designing 26 different mods from small balance additions to melee leagues, I think it is time to complete the guide and share the experience gathered. Introduction First of all, this guide is not about the code editing and mod making, it is about the philosophy behind them. So, relax... Games are sources of fun, but this doesn’t change the reality: They are just a bunch of 0’s and 1’s put in the right order. Each has its own set of mechanics. As the number of players worldwide increases (and with the help of internet), the programmers are forced to be more careful about balance issues and bugs when designing their games. However, there is a reality: no game is perfect regarding these topics. A perfect game is a Utopia; that would be impossible with just use of the programmers, but with the help of players, it can be more reachable than ever. Think of Diablo, which has about 1 million players online. Great power, isn’t it :) The aim of this guide is to give the player a basic insight about testing and balance issues to raise awareness about the games and their complex mechanics. After designing 26 different mods from small balance additions to melee leagues, I think it is time to complete the guide and share the experience gathered. The information given is not merely based on my findings, it is rather a collection of information at Phrozen Keep, Lurker Lounge, DiabloII.Net and Amazon Basin flavoured with my experiences. So folks at each community receive full credit and thanks. This guide is prepared for Diablo II LOD, but the knowledge and insight can be applied to almost any game. Here we begin... The 6 Breeds of Players Every player starts as a newbie, and proceeds at will. But some steps are quite demanding... Newbie A person of this type usually doesn’t care much about game mechanics, and plays just for fun. His/her aim is beating the computer. Some are even not aware that games can have complex mechanics. Most offline players fall in this category. Reader These players actually seek and read information about the game and ask questions to experts. They demand knowledge about the game and use that knowledge to ‘play the game better’. They devote considerable time to gaming. Most online users are readers. Some choose to proceed as to become a novice. Novice The folks of this type have some amount of knowledge about the game. They are excited folks usually, filled with the ambition to discover. They usually attempt to write a guide that already exists somewhere else, or just post skills/stats as a guide. They can answer basic questions about the game. Their knowledge is limited, and as they proceed, they are divided into two groups: The ones that are aware that their knowledge is limited (will be referred as trainee), and the ones that are not (will be referred as pseudo). Pseudo Unfortunately, most of novice folks become pseudo with time. They think they know about the game alot and attempt to make mods and write guides that are copies of someone else’s work or little better than disasters. They try to answer most questions but the answers are hardly answers to those questions, or they are completely wrong. They are usually younger than a sophmore student and don’t have the sense of a scientist or an engineer. They are unable to conduct tests, or they are very poor test planners. They are not aware that they are not experts. They are usually in search of popularity. End of the road. Trainee Those who managed to avoid the path of pseudo become trainees. They are usually well educated, and usually at least a sophmore student in a field of science or engineering (or have strong analytic background). This background gives them the ability to understand game mechanics in depth, and the ability to conduct well designed tests about the game. However, they still have much to learn. Not much number of newbies become of this kind, though. With time, they can answer most questions coming from newbies or readers. Expert The devoted producers of information. They have extracted most of the information present either by reading game code, or by game side testing. Those that are also good in balancing and optimization have written comprehensive guides and designed patches for private servers or decided tournament rules (which are of course well established). They are good folks, usually. If you are in contrast with one of them and if you are not an expert, you are usually wrong. 0 Please log in to post... Please log in. Use your Diii.net Forum account. Username: Remember me? Password: Want to register?     Lost password?