What is Game Balance?

Well, it's been a while since I've updated - but this is not as much because I'm lazy (for once), but because this post has been haunting me. It has been exceptionally hard to write and I've restarted it about 20 times, so I'm just going to get through it and see how I can create it in such a way that I can talk about different aspects of game balance later on.

The Reality of Game Balance

Frankly guys, the topic of Game Balance is huge - as it covers and affects pretty much EVERY aspect of the game, from your character, to the difficulty of levels, to the game time per round, to... everything. Further, every single type of game has its own balance concerns - some derived from genre, some from the number of players, others purely from the individual systems in the game.

Then, consider that both players and developers tear their hair about balance - and you've got a pretty tough safe to crack.

Did I mention it's also difficult at times? Though, it is probably the most rewarding thing to get right. Balancing a weapon or character well - making it fun to use and powerful, while not being too powerful makes you feel great.

Definition:

Game balance is often defined as a state of the game where players have multiple options or routes, where most or all of these options are about equally effective or feasible. (Copied pretty much word for word from Wikipedia - as in general, this definition of balance is as succinct as you can get it.)

Good balance is essential - as the benefits are a fun, balanced (err...) game, while bad balance creates issues surrounding content redundancy and a lack of options that makes the game far less fun for some/most/all players.

I won't lie to you though - the rewards of good balance aren't exactly as notable as the punishment for bad balance for the most part. A well balanced game will generally receive responses such as "Oh, that game's pretty balanced", but bad balance will ruin your game. You game is often reviewed on its other merits as good balance is expected, but good balance is needed as a prevention measure.

Often, you will also find that good balance goes unnoticed by most - as the game feels intuitive and no issues are encountered.

The Results of Bad Balance

As said, the main issues related with bad balance are content redundancy, and the removal of options.

Content Redundancy is where previously introduced content is rendered useless by other content. This limits players greatly in terms of what content they can/will choose to use, and effectively wastes the time of the developers who implemented the useless content

Content Redundancy is mainly caused by:

• Some characters being too strong
• Others being too weak
• Hard counters
• Role-intrusion in class-based games.

[[I originally had a huge section on the different types of content redundancy, but I will post that right after this post]]

The Removal of Options is something that you never want to do to players. You never want to force them into a certain playstyle, or force them to use X weapon, etc. - you want to merely direct them. Well, to clarify, if something is considered outside the rules or limits of the game, you don't want players to be trespassing, but - when it comes to options that you give them, you don't want to force them down a single path. First off, the removal of options is very closely linked to Content Redundancy - why make a fork in the road when only one option is viable?

Second, you want the player to feel in control, and you want them to be able to control the game in their own way, when given choices by you. Basically, you don't want to give the player an option and have it severely deficit them later.

Just remember - the idea of the game is to be fun for the player, not to control them.

Strategies for Game Balance

Now, let's look at some strategies to set up game balance, and then some strategies to maintain it.

I plan to write an entire article on setting up game balance, but I'll just briefly lay it out here.

Good strategies when setting up game balance:

• Use tried and tested game formulae, enemy stats, hero stats, etc. Don't be afraid to partially base your balance on another game's balance.
• Create a quick prototype.
• Consider a life as a basic character (basic hp, speed, weapons) - how they would progress through a level or game.
• Create the most basic character first - for example, make them run at the most basic speed (units per second depends on the game engine), give them 100 health (if your health is going to be base 100), then give them a standard sword, pistol, whatever. Base other characters off this template. You don't have to use this guy in your game, but he can just be for initial testing
• Count attacks. Counting attacks if a strategy used in many multiplayer games, such as saying "Class X should kill Class Y in a minimum of 4 shots from this weapon".

These won't create the balance for you, but will make balancing a lot easier.

Maintaining balance is a matter of basic, logical problem solving. I iterated the necessity of logical problem solving in my last post, but, well, get used to it - as you'll be seeing a lot of it.

If you find imbalance in your game,

1. Evaluate the problem
2. Simplify the problem.
3. Consider possible solutions.
4. Pick the most basic solution, that effectively solves the problem without creating others.
5. Implement solution
6. Test solution.

That's the full process - but the main steps really are 'Simplify the problem' and 'Pick the most basic solution'.

It should be obvious that if you don't simplify the problem to its core elements - and core problems, you cannot effectively solve it, while if you choose a solution that is not simple, does not effectively solve the problem, or creates new ones - you're... just making more problems.

So - I've gone over what balance is, why you need balance, and some balancing strategies.

I aim to perhaps create a list of balance concerns for each genre and style of game, but for now - I'm happy to stop here.

Thanks for reading.