PERSONAL PROJECTS
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This section of my portfolio includes a variety of personal projects and exercises exploring the different aspects of game design, from UI to balancing and so on. Almost everything on display here is constantly being worked on and improved upon on a daily basis. I try to update this page as often as I possibly can!
You can also contact me through the form on my homepage in case you have any further questions.
I hope you'll find this as interesting as I do. Enjoy!
Doom Eternal Balancing Deconstruction
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Doom Eternal is one of the games that I've enjoyed the most ever.
It's undeniably exhilarating to rush around an arena being chased by an almost unkillable demon, particularly when everything's accompanied by a pulse-raising soundtrack. Doom Eternal is also a game built upon one of the most elegant and refined designs I've ever seen and experienced. Running in circles and firing at whatever's in front of the crosshair might sound like something terribly monotonous; luckily that's not the case. In large part that's thanks to the thoughtful aspect of the game that doesn't allow for mindless play sessions. This derives from the scarcity of resources and to the strengths (and weaknesses) of some demons to a particular weapon type. There are several abilities at the player's disposal to manage their resources (health, armor, ammo). Because of this, sprints around the arena are challenging mental exercises in determining how to survive for just a few more seconds. This made me to wonder how much damage each weapon, weapon mod, and other abilities do. Having played the game a lot I gained a general feel for it, but I was curious to discover and analyze the exact values.
Click image to enlarge
What I found out​
Besides the basic rules that the game explicitly reveals via its codex or tooltips and the numbers that I pulled, in regards to Doom Eternal's balancing, I've concluded that:
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Any demon with 0 HP is technically still alive and will die when dashing into it
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Sticky Bombs direct hits aren't lethal
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A charged Arbalest shot from the Ballista kills Cacodemons instantly
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A Ballista shot staggers Prowlers instantly
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A Rocket Launcher Full Lock-On Burst kills Revenants, Hell Knights and Whiplashes instantly
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A Heavy Cannon Precision Bolt staggers a Mecha Zombie instantly
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2 consecutive Blood Punches kill a Cyber Mancubus
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2 consecutive Blood Punches destroy the Doom Hunter's sled
Some of my personal considerations also are:
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Even though the Imp and Zombie have the same HP, the Imp has a slightly lower HP value when staggered. I think this is a way the balance out the Imp's increased movement speed and wider range of attacks when compared to the Zombie
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The Soldier (Shield) has the same amount of HP of the Soldier (Blaster) but requires a greater effort by the player to be eliminated. It also grants greater rewards when killed with the correct technique
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Headshots deal greater damage and I'm still working on finding out the exact corresponding multiplier
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I think that in the case of demons being instantly staggered by a single weapon shot, the damage of the shot is actually capped in order for it to be non-lethal. This might have been done to give the player more chances to glory-kill and regain health
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What I did​
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I obtained the values from official sources or developer interviews and, obviously, by playing the game and measuring through in-game damage trackers.
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The analysis has been done using a fully upgraded character with no runes equipped.
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The weapon values represent the damage inflicted by a single fully charged (when applicable) shot, at point blank.
In conclusion
I found the Economy and balancing in Doom Eternal fascinating to say the least. Although most of its numbers make perfect mathematical sense, in some instances I think the designers decided to slightly alter the correct values to guarantee that a weapon or demon behaviour 'feels right' for the overall desired experience.
