Post:Dynamic Spawnrates - 03/19/2013 - 19:04

Dynamic Spawnrates · on 03/19/2013 07:04 PM CDT	1223
Since I mentioned it in the previous thread, I guess I can talk about this a little more for some early feedback before I dig into building the system. The basic idea of having a dynamic spawn rate is to allow a hunting area to adapt to the way it's being used. Right now whenever creatures spawn it is based on some static rules. They very from area to area, but most common is a ratio, 3:1, 4:1 etc. and every time spawn happens it will work to restore that ratio. This leads to the problem where one person can tie up the spawn that was meant for many people, but if we turn the spawn rate up really high it's hard to move into the area since you'll just die if you can't take 4 of them at once out the gate. Under the new system the idea is that when creatures spawn, the system is slightly more intelligent and it tracks what's going on in the hunting area and adjusts the spawn to reflect that. This leads to three basic scenarios: Equilibrium - Creatures are spawning and dying at a steady rate. Sounds good, let's keep doing that. Underpopulation - Creatures aren't dying. This indicates either someone is tying them all up through dancing or the creatures and players are't finding each other. Either way, let's let a few more out than normal. Overpopulation - Creatures are dying at an amazing rate. This is almost certainly due to someone dramatically underhunting or AoE farming or the like (Not behaviors we want to encourage). Let's crank down the spawn rate to encourage them to move on to something harder. Keep in mind the adjustments for these factors would be gradual, not just slamming from one extreme to the other every few minutes Note that this is not going to happen that quickly - It currently is waiting on some mechanics that are outside of my control, then I need to find time to entirely build the system, and then we're going to have to release it in a very controlled fashion.
This message was originally posted in Creatures of Elanthia \ General Discussions - Creatures, by DR-RAESH on the play.net forums.