Simulating and Balancing Games - Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design - page 195

From Model to Game
Balancing a Machinations diagram is a useful exercise, but it doesn't guaran-
tee that the game you are working on will automatically be balanced as well. A
Machinations diagram represents an abstract perspective on your game. It lacks
detail, and as a result, your real game might behave a little differently. When you
balance a Machinations diagram, you should be aware of these differences. The
closer your game design is to the Machinations diagram, the more likely it is that
your balancing efforts in the Machinations Tool will translate directly to the game.
But remember that Machinations cannot account for peculiarities of human player
behavior (such as bluffing) or the effects of strategic maneuvering in a war game.
However, playing with the balance of a diagram is usually worth the effort, even if
the balance does not translate directly. By spending some time balancing the dia-
gram, you are gaining insights into balancing the real game. As long as the structure
of the diagram matches the structure of the mechanics, you can expect that certain
effects will be similar. For example, finding out that the relative costs of factories
and offensive units in SimWar has a great impact on the balance between turtling
and rushing strategies will help you when you are looking for the right balance in
a full implementation of the game. By running play tests on the diagram, you are
likely to recognize gameplay patterns that will emerge from play testing the full game.
Summary
To balance a game, you must play test it many times, and this can be difficult with
long and complex games. The Machinations Tool lets you simulate play tests rap-
idly by creating artificial players that execute simple strategies automatically. You
can run hundreds of play tests in a few seconds and collect statistical data to show
whether your game is balanced and how well different strategies work.
Monopoly , as always, serves as a good game to analyze. In this chapter, we built a
model of Monopoly that included buying properties and houses and showed how dif-
ferent purchasing strategies changed the balance of the game. We also demonstrated
how to reduce the effect of strong positive feedback produced by the dynamic engine
pattern that generates income from rent by introducing a dynamic friction pattern as
well. For our example, we used a tax on houses and properties.
To end the chapter, we modeled Will Wright's hypothetical game SimWar and showed
how tweaking its various features over many simulated play tests resulted in differ-
ing levels of success for two player strategies, rushing and turtling. This is exactly
the sort of testing you have to do when designing a new internal economy for a
game, which demonstrates the value of Machinations to professional game design.