Chapter 8. The Internal Economy of Games and Game Balancing

This chapter is an introduction to the tools and techniques that we will use in later chapters when discussing the balancing of specific game genres. Different genres require different modes of balance, but in many cases, the common thread that binds them is the same.

The methods discussed in this chapter provide a basis for us to examine the issue of balance in games:

What exactly do we mean by balance?
How do we define balance?
How can we say that one game is well balanced where another is not?

These are not easy questions to answer; an answer that may be correct for one person may be completely incorrect for another. In some ways, there can be no definitive answers to the questions. Like so many other questions in game design, the answer contains an unknown quantity: the player.

Although we can attempt to anticipate what sort of people will play our game, we will never be able to satisfy all of them. However, as fallacious as it may seem, we have to start somewhere. In balancing a game, we have to assume the existence of an average player and target the balance to suit that player. Remember, however, that your average player will not be anywhere near as skilled at computer games as you and your team. Don't fall for the extremely common mistake of "making a game that you enjoy playing." This statement has been the epithet for many promising games. The danger of aiming to make a game that you enjoy playing is that you run the risk of making a game that only you enjoy playing. A significant level of "dumbing down" may be required to make your game as accessible as possible to the average player. Do not be alarmed by this; you can cater for extremes by providing different difficulty settings, as necessary. So with this in mind, let's explore the subject of game balancing in more detail.