Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
short enough so that multiple attempts can be made in a single play session. Another
is to give the player the possibility to set the range of random results through optim-
ization, as is the case with building up your deck in the game Magic: The Gathering.
Feedback loops
A more advanced technique to balance a game is by making it more demanding for
the successful player.
Real-time Strategy
(
RTS
) games achieve that by asking play-
ers to pay an upkeep cost for the units they control so that the largest armies require
the higher cost to be paid. In Mario Kart the leading player always gets the worst
power-ups and his top speed is diminished, while his opponents become a bit faster,
a feature commonly known as "the rubber band effect".
In other words, feedback loops allow automatic balancing by weakening the leading
player and providing small advantages to those who are losing.
Game director
An even more advanced technique is to have the game's
Artificial Intelligence
(
AI
)
take control of adjusting the game difficulty based on the players' performance. The
game Left4Dead by Valve offers an excellent example of such a technique, as the
players advance in the game, the so called AI director gathers statistics with regards
to their performance and sets enemy spawn points, enemy population, and items ac-
cordingly to keep the game optimally balanced for each player. It even controls the
music scores, creating interesting, distinctive mixes for each player in the party.
Statistics
Further advice we would like to offer on the matter of game balancing is to use stat-
istics whenever you can. The mathematical analysis of data gathered from game
sessions could really help you understand what happened and identify unbalanced
areas of your game, if any, to make the appropriate corrections.
As you can understand by now, game balancing is both a crucial and thorny activity,
which requires several aspects to be considered at the same time. Do it wrong and
your game system will be easily broken by players, as they are very smart at finding
dominant strategies and dark areas that destroy the playability of your title.
