Hello there.

I'm working on a hack&slash and the gameplay/graphique parts are finished.

I would like some advices/tips/rules to balance the level progression of my player/ennemies. I need clues to begin to think about it because its seems very difficult so any help would be appreciated.

For your information i didn't set max level or the number of missions the player will face or anything else so any idea would be good.

Thanks and sorry for my “english”

generally you want the game to get harder as you get further into it. This means:

Level 1:
Player hp = 10, player damage = 3 (so 3x10 = 30).
Challenge should be equal to 30 (like enemies)

Level 10:
Player hp = 40, player damage = 13 (so 13x40 = 520).
Challenge should be MORE than 520, maybe 600

How fast should the player level up? This is partly a matter of taste. How much content do you have? Do players get bored in level 1 dungeon, then it's too slow. Can the player choose when to make the game harder? Can the player go back to an easier area to “grind”?

Look at how diablo or path of exile solves this. Maybe try to mimic their tempo as a starting point and have players test your game.

you should implement a character leveling system, that means Each level of character will encounter number of enemies according to the level and the Hitpoints of enemies should be a multiple of level it self…

so for character level :

number of enemies = enemyPerLocation_In_Some_Range * GameDifficulty;

Health of enemies = level * DEFAULT_ENEMY_HEALTH * someFactor1 * GameDifficulty;

Enemies Damage = level * DEFAULT_ENEMY_DAMAGE * someFactor2 * GameDifficulty;

character damage = level * DEFAULT_DAMAGE * someFactor3* (1/GameDifficulty) + RewardItem_Upgrades;

character Health = level * DEFAULT_HEALTH * someFactor4* (1/GameDifficulty) + RewardItem_Upgrades;

LevelUp_condition = Kill_minimum_number_of_enemies || GamePlayStyle_Of_player(rythmic or repeatative combos)

Play Tester should be able to adjust someFactor parameters and findout which gives a more enjoyable challange. Lower level enemies should be easier to kill with out much health loss, higher levels increases difficulty.

Btw if the enemy death effects are really catchy then player would like to kill more of them…

I advice against scaling up enemy health and damage as the player level up.

This would mean that a goblin just level with the player, so the player gets higher numbers (dmg and hp) but doesnt feel any difference, as everything just scales up. Its better to spawn MORE goblins, or more dangerous enemies (like a troll) as the player levels up.

If you make adding new enemy types simple this should be ok. This is boring:
Level 1 goblin (10 hp, dmg 3) challenge 1
Level 7 goblin (20 hp, dmg 6) challenge 4

This is better:
goblin (10 hp, dmg 3) challenge 1
troll (20 hp, dmg 6) challenge 4

Both versions are mechanically the same, but its much more fun to run into a troll, and keep the power level of goblins concistant.

When preparing a fight, look at challange values and match a monster group with the player “power” (hp, dmg, items etc). Challenge value would also be good for xp gain for killing a monster.

Thanks for your help guys it will help me keep my game challenging and fun at the same time ?

Balance doesn't really exist. It's really just a weird way of describing the “pace” of the game.

Would you call a game where anything kills you in one hit, balanced? Plenty of games use this model, and it changes the gameplay from being about dealing the most damage, to dodging and landing attacks. On the flip-side, many boss-style encounters ‘feel' like boss fights because the boss takes so many more hits to kill, but can still kill the player if they make enough ‘mistakes’. Generally, the more damage the player and/or the enemy can put out per second, the faster the pace of the game. The difficulty comes from “How much faster” are the enemies than the player? If the enemies can deal more damage than the player, (either by dealing more damage outright, or by surviving longer), then the game seems more difficult. But if the player can deal more damage than the enemies, it feels easier.

“Balance” comes down to making sure the game is the ‘right’ difficulty throughout the entire game, so that even if the player deals more damage later in the game, their skill is what matters more so than their stats.

In a dark-souls-ey or roguelike game, the pace is typically set where enemies are stronger than the player, and the player needs to out maneuver them to win. The stronger enemies make the player “feel weaker”, but more skilled.

In a hackslash-ey game, the pace is typically set where enemies are far weaker than the player, but there are more of them. The weaker enemies make the player “feel more powerful".

Often it is a mix of intentional design and number-crunching, along with experimental feel.

It is common to look at the numbers across all the various axis, to ensure they're roughly balanced both for in-game resources and player time.

A large monster may typically require about 5 minutes of play time, and give 1000 reward. A mid-size mob may typically require 1 minute of play time and give 200 reward. A small wimp may give 25 reward and only take a few seconds. Thus in the typical case a player will earn about 1000 reward in 5 minutes, with a small penalty for hunting small monsters, and a bonus for killing them quickly. The high level players don't have a runaway score, the low level players don't have to grind for eternity.

You might balance it across multiple rewards. Is the XP balance fair? Are the loot drops fair? Are the gold-per-minute ratios acceptable? If players discover they can get 3x the gold doing something, they'll choose it over other activities.

In other games, such as characters that do autonomous things, they should be balanced so the draw is similar. For example on the Sims, a character should be balanced do to all the things. If “Watch TV” were balanced too high they would want to watch TV all the time, never go to work or school or make food. Balancing must be compared to all the other items, so characters want to do a wide range of activities autonomously.