#2: Challenge vs. Success

Transcription

1 Balance II 2/29/16

2 #1: Fairness

3 #2: Challenge vs. Success

4 #3: Meaningful Choices

5 #4: Skill vs. Chance

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7 A Bad Example By using the plus and minus keys next to each trait on the menu, you can take points away from some traits and add them to others to get the balance you want. If you really don t like the hand you ve been dealt, you can click REROLL to get a different set of values for the various traits. - The Baldur s Gate Official Strategy Guide

8 Questions of Skill and Chance Are my players here to be judged (skill) or to take risks (chance)? Skill tends to be more serious than chance: is my game serious or lighthearted? Are parts of my game tedious? If so, will adding elements of chance enliven them? Do parts of my game feel too random? If so, will replacing elements of chance with elements of skill or strategy make the players feel more in control?

9 #5: Head vs. Hands Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical. Yogi Berra

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14 Questions of Head vs. Hands Are my players looking for immediate action, or an intellectual challenge? Would adding more places that involve puzzle-solving make my game more interesting? Are there places where the player can relax and play without thinking (much)? Can I give the player a choice to succeed by exercising a high level of dexterity, or by finding a clever strategy that requires minimal physicality? If 1 means all physical, and 10 means all mental, what number would my game get?

15 #6: Competition vs. Cooperation

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21 Questions of Competition Does my game give a fair measurement of player skill? Do people want to win my game? Why? Is winning this game something people can be proud of? Why? Can novices meaningfully compete at my game? Can experts meaningfully compete at my game? Can experts generally be sure they will defeat novices?

22 Questions of Cooperation Do my players have enough opportunity to communicate? How could communication be enhanced? Are my players friends already, or are they strangers? If strangers, can I help them break the ice? Is there synergy (2 + 2 = 5) or antergy (2 + 2 = 3) when players work together? Why? Do all players have the same role, or do they have special jobs? Cooperation is greatly enhanced when there is no way an individual can do a task alone. Does my game have tasks like that?

23 Questions of Competition vs. Cooperation If 1 is competition and 10 is cooperation, what number should my game get? Can I give players a choice whether to play cooperatively or competitively? Does my audience prefer competition, cooperation, or a mix? Is team competition something that makes sense for my game? Is my game more fun with team or solo competition?

24 #7: Time: Short vs. Long

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27 Questions of Time What determines the length of my gameplay activities? Are the players frustrated that my game ends too early? How can I fix that? Are the players bored that my game goes on for too long? How can I fix that? Is setting a time limit a good idea for my game? Would a time hierarchy (several short rounds that comprise a larger round) help my game?

28 #8: Rewards

29 Types of Rewards Praise Spectacle Points Expression Prolonged Play A Gateway Powers Resources Completion

30 Two Heuristics People tend to become acclimated what was rewarding an hour ago is less so now. A cheesy (but effective) trick is to gradually increase the value of the rewards as the player progresses, but you also want to open new possibilities! A way to slow acclamation is to vary rewards instead of giving them at fixed intervals. When a monster gives zero points 2/3 of the time and 30 points 1/3 of the time, it feels rewarding longer than when every monster gives you 10 points

31 Questions of Reward What rewards are my game giving out now? Can it give out others as well? Are players excited when they get rewards in my game, or are they bored by them? Why? A reward that isn t understood may as well not exist. Do my players understand the rewards they re getting? Are the rewards given out too regularly? Can they be given out in a more variable way? How are my rewards related to one another? Could they be better connected? How are my rewards building? Too fast, too slow, or just right?

32 #9: Punishment

33 Why Punish? Creates endogenous (intrinsic) value Taking risks is exciting Possible punishment increases challenge

34 Types of Punishment Shaming Loss of points Shortened play Terminated play Setback Removal of powers (debuff) Resource depletion

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36 Questions of Punishment What are the punishments in my game? Why am I punishing the players? What do I hope to achieve by it? Do my punishments feel fair to the players? Why or why not? Is there a way to turn these punishments into a reward and get a better effect? Are my strong punishments commensurately balanced against my strong rewards?

37 #10 Freedom vs. Controlled Experience

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40 #11 Simple vs. Complex

41 Chess Pawns move forward one space into an unoccupied square, unless it is the piece s first move, in which case it can move either one or two spaces. An exception is when capturing, the pawn can only move diagonally forward one space, even if it s the piece s first move. There is a special case in which a pawn s first move is to move two spaces when an opponent s pawn is in a position where it could have captured the pawn if it had only advanced one space. In this case, the opponent s pawn moves to that space, and captures the pawn as if it had only moved one space (en passant)

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43 Questions of Simplicity vs. Complexity What elements of innate complexity do I have in my game? Is there a way this innate complexity could be turned into emergent complexity? Do elements of emergent complexity arise from my game? If not, why not? Are there elements of my game that are too simple?

44 Elegance in Pac-Man s Dots Short term goal: Eat the dots close to me Long term goal: Eat all the dots on the board Slow player down slightly, offering good triangularity (safer to move through empty corridors) Give points as a measure of success Give points that lead towards an extra life

45 Questions of Elegance What are the elements of my game? What are the purposes of each element? Count these to get an elegance rating For elements with only one or two purposes, can they be combined, or removed altogether? Is it possible for elements with several purposes to take on even more?

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47 Questions of Character Is there anything strange in my game that players talk about excitedly? Does my game have funny qualities that make it unique? Does my game have flaws that players like?

48 #12 Detail vs. Imagination

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50 Balancing Imagination Only detail what you can do well Give details that the imagination can use Familiar worlds don t need much detail Use the binocular effect Give details that inspire imagination

51 Questions of Imagination What must the player understand to play my game? Can some element of imagination help them understand that better? What high-quality, realistic details can we provide in this game? What details would be low quality if provided? Can imagination fill in the gap instead? Can I give details that the imagination will be able to reuse again and again? What details I provide inspire imagination? What details I provide stifle imagination?

52 Economies

53 Two Meaningful Questions How will I earn resources? How will I spend the resources I ve earned?

54 Balance in Multiple Dimensions Fairness Challenge Choices Chance Cooperation Time Rewards Punishment Freedom

55 Questions of Economy How can my players earn money? Should there be other ways? What can my players buy? Why? Is money too easy to get? Too hard? How can I change this? Are choices about earning and spending meaningful? Is a universal currency a good idea, or should there be specialized currencies?

56 The Final Question Does my game feel right? Why or why not?