Game Balancing

1
Game Balancing Flow

• Agenda

2
Game Balancing Flow

• Introduction

3
Optimal game balancing?

• Placed elements in the flow diagram
• Adams Rollings elements

4
High
Anxiety
Challenges
Flow zone
2

4

Boredom
1
3

Low
Low
High
abilities
5
The dynamic elements

• Provide a consistent challenge
• Provide the player with a perceivably fair
  playing experience
• Avoid stagnation
• Avoid trivialities
• Allow setting of difficulty level
• (Adams Rollings 2003, p. 272)

6
High

• Avoid stagnation

Anxiety
Challenges

• Provide the player with fair
• playing experience

• Avoid trivialities

• Provide a consistent
• challenge

2

• Allow setting of difficulty level

Boredom
1
3

Low
Low
High
Abilities/skills
7
High

• Avoid stagnation

• (Allow setting of difficulty level)

Anxiety
Challenges

• Provide the player with fair
• playing experience

• Provide a consistent
• challenge

2

Boredom

• Avoid trivialities

1
3

Low
Low
High
Abilities/skills
8

• How and why is the placement of the elements
  changed?

9

• How and why is the placement of the elements
  changed?
• Different player types different situations
• Every player contains elements from each player
  type

10
The Dream Scene

• Straight storyline
• Forced to pick up a gun and kill
• his colleague

11
The Fair ground-level

• Find your associate
• Ghost town-alike scene
• Moving objects, strange sounds
• No enemies!

12
High
Anxiety
Challenges
Explorer
2

Boredom
1
3

Low
Low
High
abilities
13
The Explorer

• Not disturbed by enemies
• Many things to explorer
• Only exploring the surroundings
• Experiencing the level as fair
• Not stagnating

14
High
Anxiety
Challenges
Explorer
2

Boredom
1
3

Low
Low
High
abilities
15
The Achiever

• Chaotic
• Many things to investigate
• Feel a consistent challenge
• New way to solve a level

16
High
Anxiety
Challenges
Achiever
Explorer
2

Boredom
1
3

Low
Low
High
abilities
17
The Killer

• Fair play experience
• You can fool some of the people all of the time,
  and all of the people some of the time (Adams
  Rollings p. 276)
• Provides an atmosphere, that appeals to the
  killer
• Shooting as a reflex
• Challenge will fall during the level
• Only make this scene once

18
High
Killer
Anxiety
Challenges
Achiever
Explorer
2

Boredom
1
3

Low
Low
High
abilities
19
High
Anxiety
Challenges
Achiever
Explorer
2

Killer
Boredom
1
3

Low
Low
High
abilities
20
Summary

• Why and how are games balanced to match certain
  player types?
• Bring and keep