design question:game skill system

[Jean-Michel Pichavant]

----- Original Message -----
> Hello all:
> I'm looking at a skill/perk system, where the player builds up his
> char
> by using perk points to add abilities.
> Each perk is under a category, and generally costs go up as you
> increase
> the perk.
> So I'm trying to figure something out; first, I'd really like the
> cost
> calculation and all of that to be dynamic, so that I don't have to
> write
> a calculateCost per object. I'd also like to be able to specify
> dependencies and say a level, as well as other factors before a
> player
> can obtain a perk and have them self documenting. The idea is that a
> player could do something like:
> data perk extended health
> and it would tell them they require health at 50 before they can
> purchase extended health, as well as the cost, the increase per level
> and the total overall cost.
> Any ideas on how to set this up would be really appreciated.
> Finally, I'm curious how to store and calculate these. I thought
> about
> using a uid per perk, then storing something like: {uid:level} on the
> player, but means that I have to lookup the name somehow still in the
> main perk database, then use that uid to check if the player has it.
> Are
> there better ways of storing skills? I'm also thinking about
> calculation; currently the CalculateMaxHp method would have to add up
> all the possible perks for health, then add stats and all that. That
> could get really rough on performance if it's called often; would
> something like a cache work, where you have something like:
> {attribute:dirty}? So if I call CalculateHealth, it checks for the
> dirty
> flag, and if it doesn't exist just returns the previous max HP, but
> if
> the dirty flag is set, it recalculates? Then anything modifying
> health
> (level gains, perks, stat increases/etc) would just set the dirty
> flag
> and call calculate?
> Thoughts/ideas would be welcome.
> Thanks,

Hi,

Again, do not think about performances before actually having an issue with them. What's the point to optimize something that doesn't need it ?

For your cache problem, google "python memoize decorator" for a bunch of decorators that will allow you to cache your data without any effort.

JM