Lecture
Balance is one of the most elusive qualities of a game. Often times, it is something that you are only aware of while playing the game and experiencing the overall ‘game-feel’. An aspect might feel balanced in theory, but in practice feels the opposite. Because of this, I feel that playtesting and the iterative process is hugely key to the successful balancing of a game. By having a playcentric approach to development and playtesting changes in a cyclical manner, balancing can be achieved.
Of particular note in this week’s lecture were the different methodologies for balancing a game. It is clear that documentation is key in the process. This allows for a frame of reference from which to make your changes later down the line. For this reason, game design documents are essential, and to this end I am endeavouring to make a clear, coherent GDD for my team’s game for GAM220. When encountering problems it is also key to fully understand them before attempting to solve them. By gaining this critical understanding, we can identify a solution that best fits the problem, without breaking the rest of the game.
GDD work
I have spent some time this week looking at my game concept through the lens of balance. By employing some of the knowledge and techniques learnt this week, I hope to create a well balanced game design that does not contain any ‘dominant strategies’. Elements of my game that I have identified as at risk of being out of balance are: equipment, game economy and levels design. While I won’t be actually producing this game, it important that I make sure these aspects are well thought through and considered so as not to render the game unbalanced.
The statistical boosts that each piece of equipment gives the player will need to be considered holistically, so that each piece is viable for the player. For instance, do I choose a 10% speed boost or 10% faster stamina regeneration? These small dilemmas build up to make a game more engaging and dynamic.
Game economy similarly requires careful balancing as players should neither have more money than they know what to do with or too little money to purchase anything they want. I will need to iterate in order to reward player investment accordingly. Errands that are completed by the player should provide money that is equivalent to their time investment. Otherwise the player would only do the quickest errands for maximum profit.
Level design will likely be the aspect that needs the most iteration and playtesting to perfect. I do not want certain routes or traversal objects to be significantly more effective than others (influence of character upgrades notwithstanding.) Using a bouncepad to launch yourself into grinding on a telephone wire should be just as viable as darting in-between traffic, catching the slipstreams of passing cars.
Individual challenge
This week’s individual challenge tasked us with identifying and discussing a game which features an example of poor balancing. I choose to discuss Skyrim (2011).
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Despite being nearly ten years old, Skyrim is a fantastic game and still stands head and shoulders above most other open-world titles that have come out since. It is one of my favourite games for good reason, but I will be the first to admit that it is not without its flaws. Especially when it comes to balancing.
Balance issues:
One of the primary issues with balance comes from the use of bow and arrow within the game. Once the player has used and upgraded the bow enough, it becomes immensely more powerful than the other weapons in the game. The player will soon find that they can use stealth for 3x damage and silently pick off enemies without having to engage in combat and it very quickly becomes the dominant strategy. This, coupled with the fact that melee combat is one of the weaker aspects of the game, will mean that many players will be quickly pushed into the class of ‘stealth archer’, without necessarily having enough time to experiment with different builds.
Another aspect that is unbalanced is the potion crafting system. There is a wealth of potions and poisons that the player is able to craft, providing that they have the right ingredients. However, aside from basic health and stamina potions, it is very rare that the player will feel incentivised to engage with this system. This is primarily due to the fact that the time investment to gather the ingredients required are not equal to the gameplay benefits received from these potions. The rewards are not equal to the effort. The same can be said for the cooking system.
Proposed solutions:
Their are a number of ways to combat the issue of dominant strategies emerging in the early game. An obvious one would be to nerf the bow’s power across the entirety of the game. Another could be to slow the levelling of the ‘archery’ skill, so as to slow the increasing damage as the player progresses. Alternatively, more work could be done into the other weapons in the game to make them feel more powerful and retract from the bow’s dominance.
To balance the potion crafting system, ingredients could be made slightly more plentiful, so that the player does not have to go to such lengths to make their desired potions. However, I think that the best way to balance this would be to make it so that you could make ‘batches’ of potions. This could be done in a way that if you add a particular ‘booster ingredient’ to any recipe (such as an alchemical powder), it doubles the production, making two rather than one. This would mean that players can create more potions, without breaking the game, as the booster ingredient would be rare. It would also add a level of meaningful choice (Do I make double ‘fortify armour’ or double ‘fortify stamina’?)
Conclusion
This has only touched on a select few of the balancing issues found in Bethesda Softwork’s magnum opus, and there are many more that could be discussed. Regardless, in spite of its flaws Skyrim is still a certified classic and will continue to live on in gaming infamy.
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Due to the fact that balance is such an intangible quality, I found this challenge quite hard. It is hard to know whether a proposed solution will improve balance as so much of a game’s balance comes from the ‘feeling’ you get when playing. While I do think that these elements are quite unbalanced when considered in the context of the wider game, I am not fully confident that my proposed solutions would fix them.
Nick had an interesting response to my submission:
While I do agree that eventually any weapon in Skyrim becomes overpowered if levelled enough, I still think that the bow is significantly powerful, especially in the early game. Aside from a few specific circumstances, it is the only weapon which can dispatch enemies without the player needing to enter combat. Because of this it becomes easy for the player to end up specialising in archery, without sufficiently testing the other weapon classes.
I definitely agree that much of the appeal of RPGs comes from the gradual tilting of balance in the player’s favour, until the player is powerful enough to best previously intimidating opponents with great ease. I think that if an opponent levelling system were included in the game, the player experience would be significantly devoid of that satisfying progression.
Iron designer challenge
For this week’s iron designer challenge, we had to rebalance a casual game in order for it to be targeted at a more hardcore audience. Our team chose Club Penguin (2005).
The main element of the game that we focused on were the minigames, as we felt that they were the most demanding of the player. We decided that we could turn the game into a competitive party game that cycles through modified versions of the original minigames, with players being positioned on a leaderboard, and the player who has got the most points from each game winning.
For example, we turned a minigame centered around level-based jetpack flying into a frantic race between players trying to reach the end. Players are able to get pickups that give benefits such as speed boosts or projectiles to throw at other players.
It was a difficult challenge to convert the game into a more demanding and competitive experience, however I think that the concept we landed on has potential to work. It is interesting to see how simple gameplay modifiers can tilt a game’s balance to become more ‘hardcore’, at least in theory.
Further reading
I have been largely continuing my ongoing engagement with the Talis resource list this week.
Following the lecture, I read an insightful article about the importance and difficulties of balancing on Game Developer (formerly Gamasutra). I especially agree with the statement that “a game being ‘in balance “is like a person being ‘in shape’; there’s no strict, defined line at which a game goes from being in balance to out of balance, it’s a gradual continuum,” (Burgun, 2011). Balance is not a one-size-fits-all issue, and approaches should be tailored to each problem.
References
BURGUN, Keith. 2011. ‘Understanding Balance in Video Games’. Game Developer [online]. Available at: https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/understanding-balance-in-video-games [accessed 27 November 2021].
Club Penguin. 2005. Rocketsnail Games, Disney Canada Inc.
Skyrim. 2011. Bethesda Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks.