Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Implementing high scores
Having high scores is a great motivator for those players who end up being fans of
your game. Avatar objects usually posses the following properties pertaining
to scoring and levels:
• Score
• Experience
• Level
Score is game round-specific. Whenever a player joins the game, the score is set
to zero. The score is awarded at the end of each game round or when the game is
considered finished.
At the end of each game, a certain experience may be added based on the score. The
number of experience points awarded is proportional to the score.
Level is an overall number that the avatar displays to others in the community.
The experience point gains could be linearly proportional to the score achieved
within the game. But the level increase based on experience points is usually
exponential, which means the avatar rises in levels faster when the avatar is in the
lower levels. However, at higher levels progress to the next level is increasingly
slower. When designing a multigame portal, the experience gained should be
tracked for each game specifically, in addition to keeping track of the cumulative
experience for the avatar.
The top ten is a game-specific property. Every game must have a screen that shows
the current standings of the players. The game should not only display the ranks of
players within a game, but also how far or close is one player at a particular level
from another level. Basically, the player must not only see the ranks, but also the
experience points gained in the game so far.
The Avatar and GameRank object relationship is shown as follows:
The above screenshot shows the only relevant properties related to this discussion.
For every avatar, and for each game he or she has played, there must be a GameRank
object. The GameRank object is displayed in the top ten screens within a specific game.
