In recent days, I looked at the balancing in Multi-player games. As for the new game my group is going to design is a multi-player party game so it is important to make sure this game will be balanced.
The theoretical information below comes from chapter 10 of the book <Designing Games: A Guide to Engineering Experiences> by Tynan Sylvester
Q: What is Balancing in games?
A: Change the power of items, units, strategies, teams or game characters by adjusting game mechanics
Balance is a key way to achieve these goals: fairness & depth
Fairness:
at the beginning of the game, nobody has more advantage than the others
players think that winning and losing the game are reasonable
some games are fair themselves - symmetrical games (puck: 2 teams start with the same situation and use the same rules, the only difference is the athletes)
most of the games are asymmetric games (fighting games where players have different abilities, historical games where one plays as the axis and the other plays the allies)
Depth:
depth is a characteristic of a game that produces meaningful gameplay through great skill
If there is an optimal strategy in the game, the decision-making of the game is meaningless, so the options provided to the players should be balanced
The theoretical information below comes from chapter 13 of the book <The Art of Game Design> by Jesse Schell
Common Game Balance Types：
1. Fairness
- symmetrical games: Give all players equal resources and abilities
- asymmetrical games: To simulate real-world conditions, to give players another way to explore the game space, personalise, for the balance of the field, to create interesting situations
- rock, paper, scissors: Make sure that one element in the game beats one element and another element beats it (can be found in fighting games)
- mechanism of mutual restraint：
Rock, paper, scissors
most simple multi-player game
each element is restricted by another
make sure nobody can be invincible
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/686869380684138464/
2. Challenge & success
- props distribution system:
Maria Kart 8
racing game
prop distribution system: the player who runs front can only get normal props while the players at the end of the line can get very good props
https://www.lifewire.com/mario-kart-8-deluxe-review-4688951
The Spiny Shell
to utterly obliterate the front-runner in the race
can be really powerful
instantly change the racing situation
3. Meaningful choice
- counterexamples: in a card racing game, there are 50 cars to choose from, if all of the cars drove the same way, then it's meaningless; in a shooting game, when players are provided with 10 guns, if one of them is better than others, then the decision making has no meaning
- the optimal strategy:
Monopoly
At the final stage:
players will choose to stay longer in the prison to avoid stepping into other player's land
wait for others to step into their lands and go bankrupt
there is not much that players can do but see luck
all strategic operations in the early game are invalid
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/638948265894102141/
- Michael Mateas: How many meaningful choices should be provided to the players? - Depend on the quantity of the player's desire
choices > desires, the player feels stressful
choices < desires, the player feels depressed
choices = desires, the player feels free and satisfied
Questions to ask:
what kind of choices do I want to give to players?
Are those choices meaningful?
Are the quantities of choices enough? Should I add more to let them feel powerful? Should I reduce choices and make the game more clear?
Do I have an optimal strategy in the game?
The Triangle
example: The Space Invaders
low points aliens - low input & low payback (moves slowly and easy to shoot, will throw bombs at you)
the high points fast moving UFOs - high input & high payback (moves quickly and are not easy to shoot, need to remove your eyesight from the aliens and take the risk to shoot the UFOs)
Questions to ask:
Do I have a triangle in my game? If not, how can I apply it?
Did I apply the triangle in a balanced way? (the risk and payback in the direct ratio?)
Examples:
• In Steve Levy's Hecker book, an MIT engineer hacked into a vending machine and offered customers a choice (either to buy the snack at the regular price or to put in a virtual coin and your snack might cost double, or completely free)
• use expectations to balance the game:
Qix: A ball of line segments floats on the screen, and the player dies when they touch him before the rectangle is drawn; if the rectangle is drawn, the area can be obtained, and if more than 75% is obtained, you win
Paper.io 2: multiplayer online enclosure game, your land will be reduced after being encircled by others; when you are half encircled, the more greedy you are (the farther you go), the more likely you will encounter enemies and kill you
Mario Kart series: Manual or automatic? (Manual requires more skills, and it will add a lot of speed if used well); Grab props (risking the crash) or ignore props?...
4. Skill & Probability
- to make these two balanced: use them alternately
Examples: Dealing cards is a probability, how to get out is a skill; dice points are probability, deciding where to go is a skill
- David Perry: The key to designing an addictive design is to design the game in which the player does three things at any time: perform a trick, take various risks, and think about a strategy
Questions to ask:
Are my players here to be judged (skill) or to take risks (probability)?
Skill is generally more serious than probability: is this a serious game, or a casual one?
Are there boring parts of my game? If so, can adding probability elements revitalize it?
Are there parts of my game that feel too random? If so, would replacing elements of probability with elements of skill or strategy give the player a greater sense of control?
5. Competition and cooperation
Competition:
Questions to ask:
Does my game measure player skill fairly?
Do people want to win my game? Why?
Is winning this game something to be proud of? Why?
Can novices and experts compete meaningfully in my game?
Cooperation:
Questions to ask:
Cooperation requires communication, do my players have enough opportunities to communicate? How can communication be enhanced?
Are my players already friends, or are they strangers? How to break the ice if they are strangers
Is there synergy (2+2=5) or hindrance (2+2=3) when players cooperate? Why?
Are the players all in the same role, or are they divided?
Collaboration is greatly enhanced if one person cannot complete a task. Does my game have such tasks?
Missions that force communication encourages cooperation, does my game have missions that force communication?
Competition & Cooperation:
Questions to ask:
If "1" is competition and "10" is cooperation, how much is my game worth?
Can I give players a choice, is it a cooperative or competitive game?
Does my audience prefer cooperation, competition, or a mix of both?
Is team competition right for my game? Is it fun to compete as a team or as an individual in my game?
6. Game time
- if time is too short: no time for players to make strategy (Tic Tac Toe)
- if the time is too long: players will fill boring and never play it again
Example
Minotaur
a four - players game where players go through the maze and collect weapons and spells
if nobody fights with each other, then the game will never end
after 20 minutes of the game, a doomsday battlefield mode will be applied and players will be difficult to stay alive longer which can somehow force them to end the game
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