When work began on Volatile, we knew we weren’t going to get things right the first time. We had this big list of perks and equipment that change the way players receive and deal damage to enemies, which means we have a lot of balancing on our hands.
If I felt like a perk did too much damage or didn’t cost enough energy, I knew it was going to be a pain in the ass for Henry to do those changes for me. He had more important things to work on and I know he didn’t want me pestering him to fiddle around and change a few numbers here and there.
So, he did what any good coder would do, he minimized his work load. He came up with the idea of using an XML file for all of our balancing needs. If I want to change how much energy is needed for Hack or how much the Transmatter Fluxuator costs, I load up the XML file and start changing numbers. It’s in XML so it’s easy enough for me to dive right in, change some values and test it out.
Doing it this way lets us focus on what we do best and keeps us out of each others hair. Perfect.
As always, be sure to follow us on Twitter @insaneroot for up to date news on Volatile.
-Matt
