CSE4AT3

1. CSE4AT3 Game Balancing

2. Designing Fun… • You can’t, but there are things you can do to help Balancing the Game

3. Avoiding Dominant Strategies / Actions • How to destroy your gameplay the quick way • Think Red Alert • MarioKart DS • Snaking • http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=6230158990268449095&ei=tOvZSPOpFqXcqAP5-MmRCw&q=mariokart+constant+boost&vt=lf&hl=en

4. Removing Strategies • Harry Potter GameCube • Not sure what version 5?? Maybe • There is an attack button, and a pickup beans button

5. Transitive Relationships What is a transitive relationship? • If A < B and B < C Then A < C • In RTS Games this is typically true for the more basic units

6. Taming Transitive Strategies / Actions • Imposing a ‘cost’ to the higher levels • The cost can be time, money, manna • Anything that holds value to the player in the game The Two types of cost Direct Shadow Hidden (Completely) • Changing the values of tactics (Converting the strategies to Intransitive ones)

7. Bad Examples of Shadow Cost • Unreal Sniper Rifle • When not scoped damage was terribly weak • Everyone knows you run faster with a knife! • Counterstrike FPS Doug • Transitive relationships are great for player upgrades

8. Intransitive Relationships • Explicit Loops • Paper Scissors Rock (Rochambeau) • http://video.google.com.au/videoplay?docid=4599694985865643698&ei=KPXZSLe1CqXcqAP5-MmRCw&q=cartman+rochambeau&vt=lf&hl=en

9. RPG’s feature many Intransitive Relationships • Different Weapons / Spells for different enemies / Tasks • Giving Players reason for choice is important • Weighting options through: • Level Design (Enemies Routes Surfaces Pickups) • Challenge Types • Player Preferences

10. Orthogonal Unit Differentiation By Harvey Smith Every type of Unit should be different • Not just in one aspect (eg strength) • The Orthogonal design intends each type of Unit to have its own specialisation • The more diverse your challenges are, the easier it is to create orthogonal units. • Lego Characters • Reduces the effect of Dominant Strateigies

11. Limiting Chance • Is chance good? Yes • Is it bad? Yes • Too much chance will remove the skill factor from a game • Typically you want players to gain skill to progress • If chance only affects minor challenges and player actions it has a minor role on the Game Balance

12. For games with Major Chance • Allow chance to vary with risk • High Risk, reduce the failure probability • Low Risk, raise the failure probability • Betting in Poker manages this effect • Reduce the effect of chance to very small but frequent events • If the risk and reward are shadowed, the player must be able to gain some knowledge of the odds. • So if the odds will have a major effect on the players game, let them decide weather / how much the risk is worth

13. Fair Player vs. Player Games • Symmetrical Games • All players believe they have the same chance of winning • The rules do not advantage or disadvantage players unequally in ways the player cannot influence • Symmetry can also make games boring, players typically want something more when they play a video game

14. Dominant Strategies in Symmetrical Games • Not as bad as in A-Sym Games, but it will result in all players using the same strategy • This won’t break the gameplay but it will remove a lot of fun!

15. Asymmetric Games • The game Mechanics must not break • A dominant strategy will result in unfair gameplay • Testing the Mechanics against as many combinations as possible is a must • Players will tend to change the rules if they see your rules as unfair • In UT settings like this can be added as part of the mod config

16. Points Systems • Spore • RTS Money • Character Attributes Starcraft is an extremely well balanced RTS

17. Asymmetrical Symmetrical Games • In Games such as Unreal Tournament, the AI is given an advantage, to allow it to compete with the player. • This should be a last resort, as players will always find out when the AI is cheating and they will hate it! • It is much better to add these cheats to the players options, • They will more readily accept it • They may even feel achievement

18. Persistent Worlds • How do you start playing Wow? • Players with drastically different Levels in the same world. • New resources must be constantly added so new players have something to acquire • Persistent worlds are edited on the fly, and rules can be changed to fix flaws in the game Mechanics • Play Asherons Call without Magic?

19. Balancing Player vs Environment Games • Challenges should be at a consistent level • Remember the difficulty curve • Avoid learning by death • Avoid stalemates (The secret door in Portal) • Soul Calibre – I broke a Block Puzzle Permanently • Missing Critical Items and still progressing through the game (Tom Raider something!)

20. Avoid giving players decisions in which they do not have the knowledge to make • You can give them the knowledge • Save the decision till after the player has learnt • Ignoring Trivia games and Carmen Sandiego, players should be able to gain all the information they need to finish the game from within

21. Keeping Challenges Coherent • Challenges should be consistent • Adding a super hard puzzle to the last level of a FPS is not going to be enjoyed • Perhaps as a Easter Egg, but not core