attacks to battles ratio (opinion)

i am done what i believe to be most of the coding in my game. I am now wondering how people would want this. How many total attacks there should be to how many battles. There is 1 attack which you can use from the very beginning and than every time you level up you will get 1 more attack (you can choose) im thinking the level up will be around every 2-3 battles. And if you do the same old battle you can still gain the xp and level up. How i intend to do this would be to have all of the attacks done first than work on the battles so what would be the key to how many battles in total there would be?
My Thoughts: a boss battle every 5 battles (who doesnt like a boss battle?) And im thinking of a total of 10 attacks (not sure if i want to the audience to be able to upgrade 1 attack over and over again but they will be able to unlock a new attack if the old one is selected) so if i do have a total of 10 attacks should i make it so that they can use all 10 by the end of the game or they can choose maybe 6 of those attacks and have to play again to use the other 4?

If you’re going to have enemy difficulty scale automatically with level (ie, if you make enemy HP be 20+(level*5)), then you can give some message after the final boss that even though the game is won and happily ever after and whatever, there are still more of his minions left to mop up…..and give the player option of playing on if they want to, fighting as many more levels as they want until they get bored after unlocking everything.

hmm thats a very good idea… i think ill use it thank you :) but the question still remains how many levels should there be until the final boss?

There is no fixed answer to that question.
It depends on how long each level takes, how samey there are, how much content there is to unlock (if upgrades don’t change the appearance of your character, that’s less content per upgrade than if they do)….whether the fighting is just repetative clicking of a button or two for every battle. Generally you want to be sure they won’t have maxxed everything before meeting the final boss, else they might get bored and quit before completion….and bear in mind they may level up slower than you do when testing it, you made it….you know exactly how to beat it, they’re just learning. The speed (which should be thought of in terms of minutes of play, not # of levels…..because, is a level 30 seconds or an hour?) of upgrades should be balanced depending on how game changing & interesting they are.

urgh. This is a lot more than just programming isnt it? This is way to much thinking. A simple level is pretty fast. Basic clicking is an attack (its like a copy of sonny) and i changed up the exp system to something i actually like so it may take more than 1-2 battles… so im wondering what should be a good amount? At first i was thinking a total of 10 levels but now that seems not close to enough… maybe 20? they shouldnt be able to get all 10 attacks by then SO they would want to keep playing with the infinite enemy/difficulty (ur idea) so would 20 be good?

You know, you could try using a logistic curve. A logistic curve is typically used in mathematical modelling, but here it might just fit our standards. A logistic curve is a graph of formula P(t)=1/(1+(e^-t)), where e is a natural logarithm and t is a time constant. Now, if you had a number variable that acted as a difficulty setting, you could substitute the number into the logistic function, round the result up/down and add on a number to the result so there is a fixed number of turns before a boss appears. Of course, you may have to tinker with the formula to get one that suits you fancy, i.e. horizontally/vertically stretch the graph, but it would be a good idea. Lower the minimum number of turns between bosses in harder game modes, reverse the graph in the insane modes so that bosses are more encountered at the beginning of the game, even add a random number generator so every player’s experience is unique. The possibilities are virtually endless.

That’s a good idea but I’m not sure how to do that… See for my game im just using different frames for different levels… Than I’m probably going to put the last battle (after the final battle) which is just infinite… But maybe I can try and get boss battles in there (maybe) but still how many battles until the final battle of the story?

Two things:
1. Don’t. Use. Frames. EVER! Too inflexible. Use classes. You’ll definitely want to when it come to the point you’re making games that would be awesome with level packs.
2. Use the code implemented:

var minLevels:Number = //min levels until boss here
var maxLevels:Number = //max levels till boss here
var difficulty:Number = //insert a number from 0 to 100 here
var battlesToGo:Number = (maxLevels - minLevels)/(1+Math.exp((-difficulty+50)/100))

/*
Tinker around with the battlesToGo variable a bit and you'll get a perfect algorithm that will fit your needs perfectly.
*/

1. Use the variable battlesToGo as a countdown.

By the way, what’s with the HTML? I put in an ordered list function and an unordered list pops up instead.

Each level should introduce a new element. A new mechanic, a new enemy, a new tactic, a new eye candy piece. Stop the game when you run out of new things for the player to experience. They will love you for it.

Hmm ace what new things can I implement? Jason I’m still not quite sure how that code will work… Can u explain it more?
Edit: okay Jason I sort of understand what ur doing ur making it so that there is an indefinite amount of levels before the boss but my enemy is preplaced so I would have to add it in through code… Im not at home at the moment but I will play around with the method of adding the enemy enemies through the code and have each enemy it’s own class… Iill yell u the results ASAP