WMMA4: The Developer's Journal

[Adam Ryland]

Update

 

I thought I'd give an update on how things are going.

 

Most of the time is currently being spent on the default database, which is coming along nicely. I've had to re-con a few existing details so far (there were a handful of win-loss records that technically weren't possible, and I've also adjusted all the female fighters' weights downward as they were generally much bigger than reality), but mostly I've managed to stick to my original plan of keeping WMMA3's lore in tact.

 

One thing that I think people will enjoy is that the game will come with a pretty good amount of past events and results already specified in the database - every title fight is definitely in, as is nearly every bout that is specifically referenced in anyone's biography. By no means will it result in full histories, but it'll help flesh out the data.

 

In terms of playtesting, the game is looking very stable. The biggest issue, as ever, has been balancing the financial side of the game so that it's neither too easy nor too hard - my first long-term watcher game revealed that it was definitely the latter, as almost everyone went out of business within five years, so I've been working on adjusting that. One thing I have done is bring the contract values down a little, as I think WMMA3's figures were skewing above where they are in reality which was causing companies to lose too much money.