Game Advanced Adjusting HP to Match RPG Battle Duration
GCC Academy
Hello again
I am Park Hyung-seon, in charge of game planning for action RPG balance
This session will cover how to adjust health in RPG battles to match the intended battle duration
To establish a baseline for player combat balance, we will discuss:
How to determine the number of basic attacks needed to defeat a mob
And how to set the duration of a battle round
Based on these criteria, we will define and structure the values for player and enemy's attack power,
health, and other related stats to create a standard baseline
Distributing HP to Match the Battle Duration
Distributing Health to Match RPG Battle Duration
In the previous session, we set an initial rule where a mob would be defeated
after being hit by a player's basic attack four times
However, this single rule
is insufficient for balancing combat in an action MORPG
To refine the balance, we will introduce
more detailed parameters to enhance the game mechanics
Let's distribute the HP for the RPG battle duration
First, let's add a standard
based on the player's basic attacks
As shown, we have the attack sequence
The basic attacks
For one, two, three, and four attacks,
Each tap triggers a corresponding attack animation
When the player's character attacks,
if a mob is hit during these animations, it takes damage,
and the basic attack sequence concludes
Simply put, a four-hit animation sequence must be created,
like one, two, three, and boom
So it's a four-in-one animation
When a player taps the basic attack button repeatedly,
the character performs consecutive attacks, dealing damage to the mob
A maximum of four basic attacks can be chained together before the sequence resets
The final hit in the sequence delivers a stabbing motion to conclude the attack cycle
When designing combat animations,
there are additional elements to consider beyond just basic attack animations
But there needs to be things such as,
for characters,
idle animations,
walking animations,
attack animations like these,
hit reaction animations,
running animations, if applicable,
knockback animations,
and death animations
These kinds of animation should be planned ahead
For idle animations, slight breathing motions or subtle movements
should be incorporated to create a natural effect
For attack animations, it is essential to synchronize
the skill-based attacks and basic attacks properly
For the basic attack,
the attack timing should be planned
in coordination with the animators
to ensure smooth transitions and the perfect rhythm
For this set of one, two, three, and four touches,
game planners are usually not in charge of the fine-tuning
Animators often fine-tune animation pacing based on instinct
However, this general concept of one, two, three, and four
should be given by the game planner
Game planners should provide general timing expectations
for how long a full attack sequence should last
Now, we will discuss skill planning
and how skill planning impacts balance
This adds a skill to the player
When a player taps the skill button, a skill action is executed
There are various types of skills,
but let’s take an example of a jump attack skill, where the player leaps and then strikes downward
After executing the skill, there is a cooldown period
For example, if a skill has a 20-second cooldown,
it means the player can use it once every 20 seconds
When a player activates the skill, the character enters a skill execution state,
performing an animation for the skill
Once the skill is used,
it enters a cooldown phase, during which the skill is temporarily unavailable
Once the cooldown period is over,
the skill becomes usable again
That's one example of skill planning
When planning skills, an important consideration
is damage calculation, which I will talk about now
For instance, if we define basic attack damage in terms
of damage per second (DPS), we can apply the following formula:
Skill damage = DPS × Skill multiplier of 7x
This is a usual way of doing it
We will delve into its details later,
so consider this as a preview
Now, let's talk about the average time for completing a stage
If you have planned
basic attacks and skill animations,
the next step is to define an apt average battle duration per stage
For example, consider this
What should be the ideal duration for a single battle?
One, 30 seconds
Two, 1 minute
Three, 3 minutes
Four, 30 minutes
Finally, five, 1 hour
For players,
when determining the appropriate duration,
consider what would feel most engaging
The player enters the combat stage
and fights against summoned mobs
Players will utilize both basic attacks and skill-based attack
to defeat dozens of enemies
before ultimately engaging in a boss battle
Using the previously defined basic attack and skill mechanics,
players will engage in combat with mobs and bosses
until the final boss is defeated
By analyzing other MORPG games, we observe that
early-stage battles typically last between 1 to 2 minutes,
while late-stage battles extend to approximately 7 to 8 minutes
When designing a game, benchmarking other successful titles
is crucial to ensure
that our combat duration is competitive and engaging
So this comparison is very important
So here is the average time for other games
Let's first think about the thoughts behind this
For example, if a game ends too quickly,
like within 5 or 10 minutes of starting,
early player retention may suffer
Thus, early Stage 1-1 or 1-2
should be short , from 50 seconds to 1 minute 20 seconds
to quickly showcase the game's core mechanics
After 2-3 hours of gameplay,
battles should extend
to around 2-3 minutes
After one or two days of play, stage durations
may reach 7 minutes
or more in later stages, increasing the play time
Since we are setting combat balance standards,
we will use 3 minutes as the average battle clear time
This 3-minute standard
will serve as the basis for MORPG combat balancing,
with early stages lasting 1-2 minutes
and late-game encounters stretching to 7-8 minutes
The balance can later be adjusted as necessary,
so let's continue with 3 minutes
Later, we can adjust the stages
to 1-2 or 7-8 minutes after this work
So let's start with the 3-minute mark
How long will it take to defeat mobs with basic attacks?
4 basic attack hits take ~2 seconds to defeat one mob,
and 2 seconds are required to move to a mob after entering a stage
Considering these factors, let's calculate the total time needed to defeat 30 mobs
Time to move to a mob
after entering the stage,
it will be like 2 seconds
That will have four attacks
Designing it this way,
this means that, in this stage,
we can decide how long it will take to defeat 30 mobs
only using basic attacks
It is easier to consider the time for movement with the animation time
So that's a good variable to work on
Since we are working with four attacks in a pack,
like slash, slash, slash, and boom
So, if the animation isn't too slow,
these four motions will take about 2 seconds,
even 1 second or a little over that
But the players don't just continuously attack
They would move, attack, and move, then attack
They would roll, they would dodge
All these movements are included
as the players attack, dodge, and move
It is too complex to consider all these factors
Therefore, let's just simply consider the movement and the attack to have 2 seconds,
which includes four attacks and some movement to dodge
This will be easier to balance it out
Therefore, 30 mobs, only using basic attack,
including movement and dodge,
will take, how long?
We can merge the information that each mob takes 2 seconds
So for 30 mobs, 60 seconds
That's the calculation
Additional time for initial movement into the stage may slightly extend the total duration
Let's now analyze
combat when using only skills for one minute
A skill has a cooldown of 20 seconds
Each skill use defeats 3 mobs
Then, within 1 minute, how many can one fight?
I mentioned the cooldown time
Let's just say that there
is no MP usage to consider
Let's just consider the cooldown time for this skill
So the player can use it every 20 seconds
Within 1 minute, the skill can be used 3 times
Total mobs defeated in 1 minute will be 3 mobs
This is how it works
Then it will defeat 9 mobs
Thus, when using only skills, for a whole minute,
the player uses 3 skills in a minute
Since one skill can defeat 3 mobs,
the player can defeat 9 mobs in total
Let's now establish damage standards for basic and skill attacks
Let's set the mob HP at 100
Slash, slash, slash, and boom, that's the basic attack
that takes 2 seconds
At the fourth attack, a mob dies
So it dies after four basic attacks
This is based on what we decided before
What is the optimal attack count to keep the player engaged?
We decided with four
That's the reason
But to die after four attacks,
considering the mob's HP as 100,
it requires four hits of 25 damage
So, if all four attacks are the same,
each basic attack should deal approximately 25 HP damage
So four attacks will kill the mob
To calculate the DPS for basic attacks,
each basic attack deals 25 damage,
and a full four-hit sequence totals 100 damage
So for a second, it will yield 50 damage
Since the entire sequence occurs within 2 seconds,
the basic attack's damage per second is 50
As mentioned earlier,
basic attacks are executed within 2 seconds,
dealing damage within that timeframe
Based on this standard, the calculation is as follows
Since basic attacks occur over 2 seconds,
the total damage must be divided
The total damage dealt is 100,
and this is executed within 2 seconds
Slash, slash, slash, and boom
That's two seconds
So we need to determine the damage dealt per second
Dividing 100 by 2 results in 50
This allows for a simpler approach to thinking about the calculation
Ultimately, this process determines DPS
It is the amount of damage dealt per second
To calculate one-second damage, we follow this method
Now, let’s determine
the DPS for skill attacks
Previously, we calculated
the DPS
for basic attacks,
which determines how much damage is applied per second,
which works as a reference for various damage calculations
Let’s examine a different skill
For example, let’s assume a mage
who casts homing Magic Missiles
Before using the skill, there is an initial state
When the skill is cast, three projectiles are launched as Magic Missiles
These homing missiles
each hit one of three different mobs
Now, let’s assume each Magic Missile deals 100 damage
Since we previously set the mob health to 100,
this means a mob will die after being hit by a single Magic Missile
Therefore, with three projectiles, three mobs can be defeated
Since all three projectiles are launched at once,
three enemies are eliminated simultaneously
As a result, the total damage inflicted is 300
Each projectile deals 100 damage,
and three projectiles are launched, bringing the total to 300
The sequence follows: button press → casting → cooldown
Similarly, this skill has a cooldown time of 20 seconds
Now, let’s determine the DPS for skill attacks
This skill can be used once every 20 seconds
Each time it is used, it launches three Magic Missiles
Since each Magic Missile deals 100 damage, the total damage per use is 300
Thus, the total damage output is 300,
since there are three projectiles
Given that the skill has a 20-second cooldown,
we get the DPS of 15
The total damage is 300, and the skill has a 20-second cooldown
Therefore, the damage per second is calculated as 15
For instance, since the skill has a cooldown of 20 seconds,
within one minute, it can be used three times
Multiplying 300 by 3 gives a total of 900 damage per minute
To determine the per-second damage, we divide 900 by 60
This results in a DPS of 15
That's how the calculation works
This calculation method allows us
to determine the damage output per second
Using this, we can also determine the damage output per minute
Establishing damage benchmarks based on time makes calculations more structured
Now, let’s further discuss
the damage per second for basic and skill attacks
A character can execute two basic attacks per second
Each second, a basic attack deals 50 damage
Thus, the basic attack’s DPS is 50
That's the calculation
Every 20 seconds, a skill deals 300 damage per use
This results in a skill DPS of 15
That's what we have
From this, the skill’s DPS is 15
Now, let’s combine both values
Since the player continuously executes basic attacks
while moving, dodging, and using skills,
we assume these occur simultaneously
Given this, we can determine
the total damage dealt per minute,
per two minutes, per three minutes, and so on
By computing it per second,
we arrive at the total DPS for basic attack as 50
and that for skill attacks as 15
Adding these together results in a total DPS of 65
This is the total DPS,
or the total damage
Thus, the total DPS for the player character is set at 65
Now, let’s discuss the damage per second for both basic and skill attacks
The DPS for basic attacks is 50
The DPS for skill attacks is 15
Therefore, the total DPS is calculated as 50 + 15,
which is 65
Multiplying 65 by 180 seconds for three minutes,
the total damage a player can deal over 3 minutes is 11,700
Therefore, the total enemy health across 3 minutes should be set at 11,700
Let’s simplify this explanation further
For example, based on our established standard:
A mob dies after taking four hits
The game is designed to be cleared within 3 minutes
These assumptions serve as the foundation for balancing gameplay
Since the DPS is 65
and the game is cleared in 3 minutes, multiply by 180
means that if we play at maximum efficiency,
we can deal a total of 11,700 damage over 3 minutes
During these 3 minutes, groups of mob
and the boss mob will appear
If their combined health is set to 11,700, they will be able to withstand the attacks
Since we can deal 11,700 damage,
assuming no defense and only considering health,
if the mobs collectively have 11,700 health,
the game will end within the 3-minute timeframe
This is where the concept of total player attack power equaling total enemy health comes into play
The total damage a player can deal in 3 minutes is 11,700,
and the total enemy health over 3 minutes is also 11,700
The enemies include dozens of mob and one boss mob
Now, let’s distribute the health
Let’s assume that players spend 1 minute and 30 seconds fighting mobs
and another 1 minute and 30 seconds fighting the boss mob
This means the game will be completed within 3 minutes
So, we divide the total health,
setting 5850 as the total health of the mob and the boss mob,
splitting the 11,700 evenly
However, we previously set a mob's health at 100
because we assumed it dies after four hits,
with each hit dealing 25 damage
Thus, the health of a mob is 100
To make the numbers more uniform,
let's adjust the total HP of the mob group to 5,800,
setting the number of mobs to 58
The boss mob's health is then adjusted to 5,900
This adjustment results in a more rounded number
Since the mob health is set at 100,
dividing 5,850 doesn't align well with this unit
So adjust it to 5,800
and subtract 50 from the total HP of mobs
while adding 50 to the boss mob's HP to balance the values
Now, within the 3-minute playtime,
mobs appear with 100 health each,
with 58 total mobs, resulting in 5,800 total health
The boss mob has 5,900 health
That's what we've been looking at
Let’s summarize the first round of combat balance adjustments
A mob dies after four hits
Basic attacks can be performed four times over 2 seconds,
dealing 25 damage per hit
Skill attacks can be used once every 20 seconds,
dealing 100 damage to three enemies per use
58 mobs appear, each with 100 health
The boss mob has 5,900 health
A player can deal 65 DPS
The total damage dealt over 3 minutes is 11,700
Combat is designed to last for an average of 3 minutes
This is what we have so far
All these are derived from the initial balancing criteria
Since we set mobs to die after four hits,
we established their health at 100,
ensuring that four basic attacks, as in 25 x 4
Similarly, skill attacks can be used once every 20 seconds,
dealing 100 damage to three enemies at a time
With these calculations, we derived DPS values
for basic and skill attacks
Basic attack DPS is 50, skill attack DPS is 15
So the total DPS combining the two will be 65
And the mobs have 100 health each, with a total of 58 appearing
The boss monster has 5,900 health
It comes from the total damage they can inflict over three minutes as 11,700
with the total average numbers for the enemies
Combat Balance Criteria Setup
We have now gone through the process of setting up combat balance criteria
If the game being developed follows turn-based combat rules,
there are no variables related to movement or action,
meaning that the initial criteria we set will likely align well
There will be an attack order,
the calculations will remain consistent for the turn-based combat
Even if the balance is designed using spreadsheets, there aren't dynamic variables
so the numbers will largely hold up
However, since we are discussing an action RPG,
balancing is significantly more complex than in turn-based combat
Various factors influence the calculations,
such as the amount of damage a player can deal per minute
and the conditions under which multiple mobs are hit simultaneously
For instance, a player may evade attacks by stepping back while attacking
If mobs are clustered closely together,
a single attack may hit multiple enemies instead of just one,
allowing for faster enemy elimination
Action RPGs involve variables like character movement and dodging,
and the number of mobs affected by basic attacks depends on how they are positioned
Without any established criteria, balance adjustments become impossible,
ultimately reducing the game’s quality and fun factor
Because action RPGs contain these unpredictable elements,
Excel balance calculations may not always be perfectly accurate
That said, if no criteria are set from the start,
there is no way to achieve balance at all
This would negatively impact the game and the player experience
Instead, by establishing foundational balance criteria,
such as mobs dying after four hits
or the number of basic attacks landing within two seconds,
we can first set an initial balance
and, by fine-tuning the rules,
we can further refine the balance to make it more precise
Action MORPGs produce different outcomes depending on the player’s skill level
We can assume three types of players,
highly skilled, unskilled, and average players,
to design a combat AI to test different combat scenarios
Once the auto-combat AI is developed,
we can apply the first-round balance calculations to both player characters and mobs
to see how much these calculations deviate from the expected values
However, since developers are generally more skilled at playing their own games,
the balance should be based on less skilled players
For example, if we design AI-driven combat,
we can establish simple rules like using skills in sequence
or having the character move and attack when an enemy enters its range
This is how we plan the AI rules
By creating AI rules and implementing auto-combat,
we can test
whether the Excel balance calculations match actual gameplay
If not, we can apply correction factors like multiplying by 0.3 or 0.2
to adjust the values closer to real gameplay conditions
Since it’s impractical to manually playtest every scenario,
if the game has 500 stages,
such as Stage 1,
Stage 50, Stage 100, and Stage 150,
we can test select stages
and make broader balance adjustments
This method is called sampling balance tuning
If balance is refined at key stages,
we assume the values between them will also be reasonably balanced
This way, we don’t need to test every single stage,
and we can still fine-tune the balance efficiently
By making adjustments based on those results,
we can gradually refine the balance
This concludes today's lecture
Great job, everyone
Thank you
Adjusting Health to Match Combat Duration Combat flow: Entry → Battle with mobs → Boss fight → Boss defeated
Average Time per Stage Other MORPGs: Early stages: 1–2 minutes Later stages: 7–8 minutes
Combat Balance Criteria for a 3-Minute Stage Mobs die after 4 hits Basic attack: 4 hits in 2 seconds, 25 damage per hit
Skill attack: Usable every 20 seconds Hits 3 enemies, dealing 100 damage each
Total enemy health: Mobs: 100 HP each, 58 appear Boss: 5,900 HP Player’s damage output: 65 DPS 11,700 total damage over 3 minutes
Combat Balance Types Turn-based Combat Fixed attack order and timing Fewer variables, easier to align with initial balance criteria
Action RPG Variables include movement, dodging, and enemy positioning Mobs affected by attacks vary based on spacing
Action MORPG Player skill affects outcomes AI designed to simulate different skill levels
Auto-combat AI helps verify if initial balance calculations align with actual gameplay