Hi Guys, I am in the process of writing the design doc for my mobile game. It''s pointless to get into specific details of the game for this thread, so I won''t. On a need to know basis, you need to know that you are a samurai figure and you can wield melee weapons and long ranged weapons. I will even size this down to swords only for the moment. Which properties would you choose for differentiating between the swords? What I came up with up to this point has been: Swords 1. Size - Length of the blade (reach). 2. Sharpness - The ability to penetrate armor. 3. Damage - Once an armor is penetrated, how much damage is done. But then I started thinking - isn''t it dumb? I mean, if a sword penetrates your armor, don''t they all do the same damage? Are there any other things that you can think of that have real gameplay effect? Another thing that came to my mind was the strength of the blade (tendancy to break), but I dropped it for several reasons. Opinions please.

"But then I started thinking - isn''t it dumb? I mean, if a sword penetrates your armor, don''t they all do the same damage?"

Realistically...yeah, pretty much. But you''re making a game that I''m guessing doesn''t have to be 100% realistic. There are certain steps you can take, and certain lines you can cross for the betterment of the game.

Other properties:

Weight - determines speed of attack
Durability - After so many uses, the blade will dull by an incremental amount. The durability determines the rate of this dulling.

I understand what you mean.
Game designers do compromises on the expense of realism every day. However, this one specifically creates a bit too greater of a dissonance for me to bear, so I decided to drop it.
I already added something parallel to durability (strength in my lingo). That weight issue could be interesting as well. I'll give it a thought.
Thanks - who says that nothing good ever comes out of these forums

[edited by - adiash on March 14, 2004 12:42:18 PM]

As to how much damage a sword does to the body, don''t think it''s easy to push a piece of steel, however sharp, through eighteen inches of bone and meat. And if you''re talking about "slicing" through any kind of armor beforehand, remember that your sword is slicing crossways through that metal while it''s being forced through the flesh. Don''t think that "getting through the armor" takes it out of the equation. Here''s a time when a heavier sword might be an advantage. But I don''t know a lot about it.

If you want to tap an incredible wealth of knowledge on how samurai swords are wielded and how they hurt people, go to Bugei Trading Company''s online forums. Bugei sells top-quality Japanese swords, and everyone from the smiths who make them (at $6000+ a sword, these things are awesome!) to the martial artists who use them participate in discussions. It''s a very formal board, and it requires you to use your real name, but these guys are wizards.

If you ask them (politely), they can provide anecdotal and technical data that you can use to determine what factors are important, variables and coefficients in sword performance, and applications of not only swords, but myriad other classical Japanese weapons as well. These guys know just about everything, and if they can''t answer your question, they know someone who can.

Thanks, I am gonna go sniff there and report back with results

Balance (Weight Balance that is) is very important in a sword I think. Also, there is the Quality of the metal/forging process. Since it is a samurai sword, Aerodynamics may be factor as well.

u could just get rid of damage, as in the end you are basically using armor as life,

Damage done would probably be a function of the weight and sharpness of the blade.

There''s also the distinction between swords used as slashing and as thrusting weapons - a rapier is going to pretty much ignore chain-mail when compared to a broadsword, but is going to do less damage unless it hits a vital organ.

Also it depends on what type of armour you have in the game.

Typical Japanese armour of the era of the samurai is very very different to the fullplate mail some Knights of the West used.

Normally Samurai style weapons are slashing, and are horrible at thrusting. Going up against someone with just basic chainmail with a slashing weapon is a lesson in stupidity.

You need to consider the armour for any of the properties of the weapon to make any sense.

Take the following properties for example:

Damage types:
1. Slicing damage
2. Blunt force trauma damage

Slicing is cutting, were as Blunt force is smashing somone head in. Slicing is ineffective against ''hard'' armour.

Edged weapons:
1. Size - Length of the blade (reach).
2. Sharpness - The ability to inflect slicing damage.
3. Weight - Helps determine the speed of attack & the ability to inflict blunt force trauma damage
4. Strength - How resiant the weapon is against blunt force damage.
5. Flexibility - How resiant the weapon is against slicing damage

Durability is determined by the strength & the flexibility. Normally flexibility & strength are linked in an inverse relationship, the greater the strength the lower the flexibility, in general.

Armour:
1. Hardness - How resiant the armour is against slicing damage.
2. Strength - How resiant the armour is against blunt force damage.

The user should have abilities which influence how well all that works.

This is a good start for figuring out exactly how much you want to simulate. Remember complex simulation is complex, but allows much wider range of tactics & stratagies for the player.

weapon extras
1 Have a hole in the blade so that it kills the person when you pearce since an air bubble does that when it goes in the vein and would kill the person. Some new knife blades have that.
2 Or of you want a lighter thing try having the weapon have a poison coating on it or other statues ailments.

Other things to consider in a weapon are
3 Thickness of weapon, from a broad sword or a fencing sword.
4 If the weapon has teeth that can slice better than a smooth edge.