that are, for lack of a better phrase, anti-human: such as the new call of duty games incorporating bots and the automatic targeting
and shooting of players, under the guise of being real players, and an even playing field...
What I like best about MedianXL is all the complex interaction of game mechanics and how they're laid out in front of players for them
to think about, and experiment with.
So thinking about the games mechanics and their underlying mathematics it has occurred to me that there are some interesting
new developments that have failed to be accounted for. Some players seem to think that the games frame rates are locked in at
25 fps due to the limitations of the games engine, and reading old posts on the forum, and guides related to MedianXL a lot of the
mathematics about the games mechanics are derived from this assumption.
But, with new technology that has come out the game isn't limited to 25 fps anymore, and for example with opengl being the underlying
framework for rendering MedianXL frame rates can be pushed above 25 FPS to around 75 fps max.
So reading old guides on mechanics which are the de facto reference point for designing our characters, and choosing a development
path to capitalize on, understanding frame rates interaction with our characters various speeds, such as attack speed, cast speed, hit recovery speed,
we can find that these mathematics are based on old limitations. Here's a quote as an example...
General Mechanics Guide
viewtopic.php?t=22672
Next Delay
Just about every non melee attack in the game uses Diablo's "Missiles" system. An arrow, a spell, anything that isn't a melee "slap" carries a stat called next delay (ND for short). The ND number is the amount of frames a missile has to wait before hitting again. If a piercing missile has 0 ND, it can hit every single frame it is currently passing through an enemy's or player's hit box. If a piercing missile has 1 ND, it hits every other frame, 2 ND is every 3rd frame, and so on. Since the engine runs at 25 frames per second, a single piercing missile with 0 ND (and a big enough hit box/slow enough movement) could hit 25 times a second on an enemy.
and here's another example of an image from an old guide representing speed breakpoints for characters playing bowzon to reach
in order to more effectively deal damage and defend themselves, again, based on the mathematical assumption of the game being
limited to 25 frames per second.
Once players get to hell difficulty, and have to start doing uber, now called heroic, challenges, these numbers become one of the most
important factors in how well their character will perform, and even whether or not they can possibly overcome most challenges.
Not enough resistances? Spells, and elemental damage, will kill players, preventing them from progressing. Not enough faster hit recovery?
Players will become overwhelmed by monsters attacks in various zones, and will be unable to trade damage with them and survive.
And without enough attack and/or cast speed players can't deal damage efficiently to kill quickly, which can also be a game breaker in
a variety of situations once players get to hell, which is chaotic, and full of lots of different challenges, with their own unique mechanics,
or obstacles to overcome.
Character speeds have come to form the foundation for every player to overcome challenges in hell, after which their own skills,
and game knowledge, come into play. It's really amazing looking at all the resources people have developed for this game, which
form the underlying knowledge base online, and reference points for understanding how the game works, and how to capitalize
on the underlying mechanics, or mathematics behind the scenes. It's obvious to me at least, that given the new enhancements
to the game, the mathematics we are using as a basis to develop our characters are faulty, and have to be gone over again
to understand how new developments have altered MedianXL's mechanics
edit1: and here's another link with in depth information about the games mechanics, and specifically character speeds, and the formulas
utilized to derive them.... http://www.mannm.org/d2library/faqtoids ... s_eng.html
edit2: it's actually a unique wrapper for diablo/medianXL that utilizes openGL called the glide wrapper that alters how the game is rendered.
These are important details to understand. The glide wrapper was made specifically to enhance diablo/medianXL using the open graphics library
as it's basis, and it offers a wide variety of enhancements that alter the games performance, such as increasing the rate of frames/animations rendered.
