During an interview with Gamasutra, Dead Cells developer Sébastien Bénard was asked how the team balanced the weapons in the game (in terms of costs/damages). Was the decision based on feel or a specific mathematical formula" Bénard responded by saying the team “did have a special rule for balancing weapons,” which was known internally as a “two second combat rule.”
Here is the video of the Dead Cells interview.
Watch Gamasutra Plays Dead Cells Sebastien Benard from Gamasutra on www.twitch.tv
We decided that every [bit] of combat in the game should last no more than two seconds. It seems kind of short but actually its quite long because [a lot] can happen in two seconds. When we decided on this two second rule it helped balance every weapon. For example if you have a normal weapon, like the classic sword, it will take two seconds to kill an enemy but if you have a low risk weapon (such as the bow where you are out of the combat area) it’ll take four seconds. [On the other hand, with a close range] at risk weapon you should kill the enemy in one second. Bénard cites Dead Cells‘ genre as the primary reason combat needed to be quick. Because Dead Cells is a rogue-lite, there is a lot of combat involved. As he said, “In one level you can kill 50-70 enemies.” If combat began to deviate from this on-average, two second rule, the game would become much longer. Since Dead Cells has permadeath, where when you die it is for...