Miles Von Schriltz

Analysis of Game Balance

Balance Type #1: Fairness

1. Give an example of a mostly symmetrical game. If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. What elements are symmetrical? What elements are asymmetrical? If there are any asymmetrical elements, how are they mitigated to preserve balance? Explain how you would change this game to make it asymmetrical but still keep it in balance. You may include diagrams or any other media that will help describe this new game. a. Hockey would be a good example of a symmetrical game with asymmetrical elements. In hockey each team starts with the same number of players, all of whom have the same basic equipment. At the start of the game the hockey puck is dropped by a referee between one player from each team giving both teams an equal chance to gain possession. Both teams play by the same rules and there is no advantage of starting on a certain side of the ice rink. b. The asymmetrical element of hockey comes when players get put in the penalty box (up to two players from each team can be put into the penalty box). If a player goes into the penalty box his team cannot replace him and must play a man short until his penalty time is up. This element gives the opposing team the advantage of outnumbering the other team’s players on the ice. When one team has a numerical advantage on the ice, it is called a power play. c. One way that could make hockey more asymmetrical would be to allow the losing team to have an extra player on the ice. This would shift the balance of the game in favor of the losing team and give them a real chance of tying the game. Once the game is tied the extra player leaves the ice. This would result in more competitive back and forth games, which would make for a more exciting game from a fan standpoint.

2. Give an example of a highly-asymmetric game. If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. What elements make it asymmetric? What have the designers done to attempt to make this game in balance? Be detailed in your response to the last part of this question. a. Age of Empires 2 is a good example of an asymmetric game. Players get to choose which civilization they want to play as. Each civilization has it’s own advantages in various areas such as technology and military units. The designers have done a number of things to balance out the game between civilizations. Where one civilization might be able to create military units for cheap, another is able to gather resources more quickly. Another example of balancing would be that some civilizations start with an explorer, where other start with a ship. The various differences between civilizations allow people with different playing styles to find a good fit. While the designers made a great effort to balance the game, there are still civilizations that are better than others.

3. Give an example of a game where players of various skill levels can play together and have a good time, yet the game is not largely decided by luck. If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in Miles Von Schriltz

question. What have the designers done that the players able to play together and each feel the game is in balance? Be detailed in your response to this last part. a. Golden Tee is a golfing arcade game often found in bars. It consists of five buttons (left, right, fly-by, backspin, and start/options/replay) and a tracking ball. By rolling the tracking ball backwards then pushing it forward in various directional combinations (the cabinet shows you what direction does what) you can make different types of golf swings. To keep the game balanced between skill levels the designers instituted player handicaps. The better a player is the higher their handicap will be. So for example, if a player with a +9 handicap is playing a player with +7 handicap, the player with the +9 handicap has to finish the round of golf 3 holes ahead of the +7 handicap player in order to win. So while one player may clearly be better, both players have a fair chance of winning.

Balance Type #2: Challenge

4. Look at the diagram of the flow channel on page 177. Give an example of a game that kept you in the flow channel. If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. In your analysis, you must explain how the game kept you from boredom, how the game kept you from frustration, and how those mechanisms changed as your skill increased over time. a. Mass Effect really kept me in the flow channel and I had a hard time walking away from the game at times. For me, it had a good combination of dialogue, cut scenes, exploration and action. Whenever I started to grow bored with the dialogue I could go explore an area or find a mission where I could battle someone. When I grew bored of exploring, again I’d find a mission where I could do battle. Just about every time the battles seemed to get too easy, I’d run into more difficult enemies (stronger, more powerful, or had different weapons). Mass Effect is a big world and while at times I would get frustrated, If I started to get too frustrated I would find something else to do and then come back to what frustrated me later.

Balance Type #3: Meaningful Choices

5. Give an example of a game with a dominant strategy. If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. Why is this a dominant strategy? Does this ruin the game or help it? Why or why not? What changes can be made to remove this as a dominant strategy? a. In the game Monkey in the Middle the dominant strategy would be to through the ball to your teammate when the “monkey” is close to you. That way if the ball doesn’t reach your teammate, your teammate has a good chance of getting to the ball before the “monkey”. This is a very effective strategy, but it can cause the monkey to get aggravated and give up. But it can also cause the players keeping away to make riskier passes. So it largely depends on the players themselves as to whether they let this strategy ruin the game. The best way to remove this strategy is to have two monkeys in the middle.

Miles Von Schriltz

6. Give an example of a game with a meaningful decision. If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. Explain the decision and the options available. The decision cannot be meaningful because of the game’s framing or story alone. The decision should be meaningful because of how it affects the mechanics. Why is the decision meaningful for each of the possible options the player can choose? a. In Knights of the Old Republic when creating a character you get the option to choose between Soldier, Scout, and Scoundrel classes. The choice of a starting class is meaningful not only because it dictates what style (brawn, brains, or balanced) of play the player will be playing, but also what the character is capable of doing throughout the game. For example, a Soldier may be able to break there way into a locked box where a scoundrel may not. A scoundrel may be able to convince a NPC to do something where a soldier may not be able. A scout may be able to do just about everything a soldier or scoundrel can do, but not as effectively or quickly. As you can see the class decision can affect the whole game and dictate the supporting cast you need to keep around you (people capable of doing things your character can’t do).

7. Give an example of a game with triangularity. If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. Explain the decision and the options available. Under what circumstances would the player want to take the low-risk option? Under what circumstances would the player want to take the high-risk option? a. The game The Last Stand: Dead Zone is a good example of triangularity. It is a post apocalyptic zombie game where you have a home base and venture out to find supplies, building materials, and weapons. When you leave your base to scavenge, you are given the option to choose what buildings or streets you want to explore. The farther you get away from your home base the better supplies, materials, and weapons get, but you also have to deal with stronger and more plentiful zombies and longer return times (time it takes for your characters to return to base). b. A player might choose to search buildings close to their base (low risk low reward) if they feel like they haven’t leveled their characters up enough, don’t have powerful enough weapons, don’t have enough characters at their base, their characters are injured, or they don’t want to wait out long return times. A player might choose to search locations far from their base (high risk/high reward) if they have enough characters to do both low and high risk searches, if they’ve already searched all the locations close to the base, if they are trying to complete a mission such as finding X amount of water in X amount of time, or if they only have enough play time to send their characters on one mission.

Balance Type #4: Skill vs. Chance

8. Give an example of game that is largely determined by skill and design a variant of it that allows for an element of chance so that less-skilled players have the opportunity to meaningfully participate. If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. You may include diagrams or any other media that will help describe this new game. Miles Von Schriltz

a. The skill-based game I’m choosing is chess. The variant I would make to give less skilled players a chance in a tournament setting is to add a handicap. When a player’s chess piece is being taken they get a chance to roll a twenty- sided die. If the defending player rolls a number above their handicap they successfully block their opponent’s attack, if not then they lose their chess piece. 9. Give an example of game that is largely determined by chance and design a variant of it that allows for an element of skill so that the game isn’t wholly determined by luck. If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. You may include diagrams or any other media that will help describe this new game. a. The luck based game I am choosing is the card game War. Instead of just flipping cards over in the original game, you would now pull a card, hold it in your hand, and bet x number of cards that the card in your hand is higher than theirs. Whoever has the highest card wins the round. If each player’s cards are of the same value, the cards that were bet are set to the side and then regular War gameplay takes place, the winning player getting all cards that were played.

Balance Type #6: Competition vs. Cooperation

10. Give an example of a game that is cooperative in nature. What elements of the game facilitate cooperation? What goals and objectives require cooperation? What elements of the game hinder cooperation? Does the game need to be cooperative? Can players do these tasks alone? If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. a. Basketball is a cooperative team game. Teams run pre-practiced plays to try and best their opponents. These plays consist of setting picks, passing the ball, cutting across the lane to get open, etc. The ultimate goal on each play is either to score a basket or prevent your opponent from scoring and get the ball back. In order to achieve these goals successfully it usually takes very good communication between teammates. Sometimes there are “ball hogs” who won’t pass the ball and shoot or drive to the basket anytime they get the ball, in some cases the player is actually playing well enough to win the game doing this, so in that aspect a player can do it alone. The majority of the time basketball does need to be cooperative, but not in all cases. The game can be played pitting two players against each other.

Balance Type #8: Rewards

11. Give an example of a game that you think has a really unique reward that induces players to further enjoy the game. This reward shouldn’t be simply story-based or more in-game “stuff”, it should be something else that rewards the player. What is it? Why is it rewarding? If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. a. Wii Fit has a unique reward to it that isn’t actually in the game itself. The more a player plays the game, the better shape (lose weight, better cardio, stronger, etc.) they get into. When a player starts noticing real life results it’s very motivating to keep playing the game. And as a result of the player getting in better shape, they actually get better at the game itself. Miles Von Schriltz

Balance Type #9: Punishment

12. Give an example of a game that you think has a really unique punishment that induces players to further enjoy the game. This reward shouldn’t be simply story-based or a simple penalty or game over, it should be something else that punishes the player yet keeps them involved. What is it? Why is it a punishment that is effective without killing the motivation of the player? If this game is not universally known, make sure to explain the mechanics in question. a. Poker has a fun punishment element to it. The player can choose the low risk low reward route of betting low or folding, or the high risk/high reward route of betting high with the chance of winning a lot of chips. If you lose a lot of chips it doesn’t mean you can’t win. Actually a lot of fun comes out of the challenge of trying to work your way back up in contention for chip leader. It is possible to come back from one chip and win the game, which makes the game exciting up until you’re the moment you actually run out of chips. Some games even let you buy back into the game.