Video Game Balance: A Definitive Guide
Video Game Balance: A Definitive Guide
Video Game Balance: A Definitive Guide
By Alexander Brazie
October 07, 2023
Summary
It's a long guide, so feel free to use the table of contents to skip to the section that interests you ? Game balance is the ongoing game design process of adjusting the composition of game mechanics, rewards, challenges, tuning, timing and telegraphing to create a fair and meaningful gameplay experience with the right amount of difficulty.
Game designers tend to use a lot of the same concepts independent of the game and genre to balance games.
As a game designer or game developer, it's important to understand all of these terms and the purpose of understanding all of these concepts is to ensure the elements comprise a balanced game.
While limited amounts of solvability for a single situation is desirable, complete solvability of a game often indicates a flawed game design, dominant strategy or game based on insufficient agency.
The nuances of a game's balance vary between genres, but balancing a game isn't magic - even if the game is Magic the Gathering.
If you bias balance in a game towards power, particularly offensive power, it will encourage players to be aggressive in order to get the most value out of the game.
As mentioned above, the 50% trap is a real risk of attempting to achieve a "Perfect" balance rather than an appropriate balance for the game you're crafting.
Reference
Brazie, A. (2023, October 7). Video game balance: A definitive guide. Game Design Skills. https://gamedesignskills.com/game-design/game-balance/