Critical hits are a much-loved part of gaming. That feeling of taking a swin♏g and seeing an enemy fall with one lucky blow is always an enjoyable moment, especially if the game tracks your damage and you can see those huge numbers. While the devastation of rolling a one in a tabletop game never really translates into video games, the high of landing a critical strike does.
But have you ever wondered how those critical hꦺ🅠its are calculated?
Why We Have Luck
The vast majority of video games have a luck based element to them and this can take many forms. Any game involving gambling, including card and casino games, will involve luck. There are also luck mechanics strongly tied into any game which involves collecting things, such as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokémon Go.
In other games, fights and battles also have numerous elements of luck involved. Firstly, there is the luckꦡ tied to enemy swings, then the luck tied to your own. Once the fight is over, luck kicks in again as you collect your loot.
The addition of a luck mechanic helps keep the game interesting and unpredictable. If all enemies dealt exactly the same damage with every swing, your game would soon get very du𒁏ll. We need the unpredꦗictability of luck algorithms to keep things fresh. So how are they generated?
How Luck Algorithms Work
At first glance you’d assume that luck is based on a Random Number Generator (RNG) system, which is basically a giant digital dice. Roll a high number and you get lucky, roll a low number and you get th꧒at sinking feeling we ✱talked about earlier.
However, the reality is that luck algorithms are not just based entirely on luck. Game developers will often choose to add additional elements into the mix, in order to ensure what feels like a fairer and more int♚eresting game.
This is the reason why those lows don’t actually feel sꦫo low. In video games, the roll of the dice is not always the only factor involved in luck.
Being Lucky
Feeling lucky 🎉is an amazing experience. 👍When you think back to games you’ve played, which parts do you remember? For many gamers, the experiences which stick in your mind are the ones where you “beat the odds” in some way.
Maybe it was a fight where y✱ou pulled off the kill shot with barely any health left, or a lucky drop from looting. Often these moments of good luck will stick in our minds, making us feel like we “beat” the g🌄ame.
Good luck is fun. Pure and simple.
This is why programmers tweak the odds slightly, to give us a tiny boost and increase the chances of us getting a critical shot, while still ༒maintaining the core basis and illusion of luck. It’s a careful balance, so how do they do it?
"Cheating" And The Illusion Of Luck
, a game designer with 30 years experience in the field, offered some insight into a few ways in which developers play 𝓰with the dice to maꦿke your gaming experience more enjoyable.
Hard Caps
Usually, there are systems in place to stop you being one-𒉰shotted by certain weapons. These often take the form of hard caps. These will restrict the damage you can take from a single hit, or put a lower limit on your health so you cannot be dropped below x health by a single blow.
Stormtrooper Marksmanship
This term, used by Rickey, perfectly sums up the manipulation of an AI’s damage and accuracy and it can take several forms. The first is that AI ꧂may frequently, or even always, miss the first shot. This♏ gives you time to get a hit in before taking damage.
The AI may also be manipulated to become less accurate and more stupid in relation to your health. As you take more hits, the AI becomes more erratic wit🔯h their targeting. They c🥃ould also stop taking cover, no longer dodge shots and begin to make some questionable pathing choices.
The accuracy of AI may also be 𝓡tied to their numbers. Larger armies will often be less accurate than single enemies, giving you more of a chance of survival when backed into a corner or hugely outnumbered.
Tweaking The Odds
Developers will also often tweak the odds. This can include adjusting the drop rate🤡 of ammo packs or health potions at points where you need them. It c🌃ould also force a success if you have a certain number of failures in a row, artificially breaking any losing streaks.
Often when using pure RNG, the odds of lower numb🐈ers being drawn are also manipulated, with the chance of better numbers being slightly 🎶boosted or the odds of lower numbers being lowered.
Critical Strikes And Their Effect On Luck
Some games, such as League of Legends, have a critical strike system. These systems can end up unbalancing game mechanics if people🐻 beat the odds🔯 legitimately, so sometimes they need to be adjusted.
The problem with legitimate luck is that if people hit those lucky odds, the effects can be much more dramatic than expected. It can also mean that being unlucky become🌳s a huge hindrance, severely affecting your gameplay.
For League of Legends, tied to the critical strike stat. This means that the critical strike chance adjusts based on the number of normal attacks landed. It makes cri🍌tiꦉcal strike a damage multiplier, rather than a chance which can spike and cause issues in game. Over time, the critical hits it adds average out, ensuring that it cannot effect the game in unpredictable ways.
Do You Feel Lucky?
Different developers will have their own ways of subtly manipulating th🥃e odds, to make gaming more enjoyable. This behind-the-scenes adjustment is the reason why while we feel the highs of good luck in video games, but those crushing lows are much less common than you may expect.
Not every game manipul⭕ates luck, of course, and there are some that use straight-up RNG systems. However, it seems that mostly developers like to experiment with luck to prioritize enjoyment oꦓver accuracy.
So, next timܫe you land that one in a million shot, it may actually be a ten in a million shot.
This article was inspired by Quora. .