Perfect Imbalance - Why Unbalanced Design Creates Balanced Play - Extra Credits

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Recommends Philipp · 2016-04 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “10 weapon types, 2 proficiencies, rock-paper-scissors relationship?”

While Jibb Smart already gave a good answer within the constraints of the question, I would like to step a bit outside the box and question: "Do you actually need perfect balance"? A perfectly im balanced system can work too and often makes for far more interesting games. For example, you can have one weapon combination which is slightly better than 43 others, but has a glaring weakness which can be easily exploited by the otherwise slightly underpowered combination 45. Everyone will play the first combination, until someone with 45 shows up and wipes the floor with them. Then players will look for a counter to 45 and try all kinds of different combinations. Players will have far more fun wi

Recommends DMGregory · 2017-07 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “A game that can balance itself over time?”

This looks to me like a discussion-oriented topic that might be better suited to [chat] or a forum like those on GameDev.net. I'm not sure we could discern a concise "correct" answer that would fit a StackExchange Q&A. You might find this Extra Credits video on "Perfect Imbalance" [this video] and the concept of Intransitive Mechanics [LINK] useful - in the right scenarios, the player strategies & metagame can shift to neutralize ostensible advantages in a set of game rules.

Recommends DMGregory · 2017-10 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “How to achieve "Perfect Imbalance"”

Is it safe to assume you've watched the Extra Credits video about the topic [this video] ? Perfect imbalance isn't really about making stronger options require more skill, but about leaving counters for every option. So when players flock to this strong option, they become predictable and easy to counter — the "meta" of the game's player community shifts to de-power the overpowered option because everyone else is expecting it. But now in the context of this new meta, a different option might be stronger than average, and the cycle repeats… so the balance is dynamic.

Cites Lucas Dechow · 2014-09 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “Why are character-classes used in game design?”

Identity When you have a class based system the player can quickly identify a protayal of a character type . This is done through conscious/unconscious memory of earlier experiences in games this would make the player able to make a better decision. They all enable different play styles, and gamers do identify themselves with their play styles as well as their way of playing their games. Progression of character The progression of character is limited to their skillset. This is done because a "true" class-less system could also well be skill-less, telling or making the player need to explore different areas within the game. A good example of this is GTA [LINK] which progresses base skills li

Cites Theraot · 2018-03 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “Level playing field: Punish the better player or enhance the worse player?”

Match making If you can keep updated skill metrics on the players, then you are able to create a system that can peer people of similar skill. Granted, this could lead to starvation (and by that I mean players unable to play because there is no match availed) and will not fly on couch gaming. I believe this will not solve your particular case, so I will not elaborate any futher. Handicaps I would complain on any handicap system based on the skill of the players. I believe Bálint expressed the issue better than I could . With that said, handicaps in either direction are viable if they are on player volition. That is, if the players go to a menu where they select what handicap they want and th

Cites PSquall · 2018-08 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “Why do some games persistently have mostly one viable strategy, while others can have many?”

League player here, so everything i say about Dota has to be taken with a grain of salt. League is designed to support several distinct roles/lanes in mind: Support, Carry, Mid, Jungle, Top. While in the recent past the game changed alot and the meta reflected that (No Marksman as carry, funneling a hyper carry etc.), those roles are pretty much consistens and Riot changes seem to aim to keep it this way (e. g. make funneling impossible, so no "jungle support" in mid). But most likely, you dont see support champs in toplane, or mages in jungle etc. That said, everytime there are changes, that targets a specific type of champ, e.g. tank buffs or an assassin item gets nerfed, you feel those ch

Cites Philipp · 2023-09 · Game Development Stack Exchange · on “How should I organize the type advantages and disadvantages for my monster-catching RPG?”

First of all, are you sure you need that many different types? Just because they are thematically appropriate does not necessarily mean they are useful from a game design perspective. When you are already struggling with how to balance them, then it might be easier to start out with fewer types (probably by merging some of them into one), prototype the game, look for design problems that become apparent during playtesting, and introduce additional types if those might help to fix those design problems. The first step of the design process should be to start simple and then add additional complexity. In case of a damage-type mechanic like here, that would be a standard rock-paper-scissors set