Week 9: Game Balance

This week, our class was introduced to the game Battle Battle. It is a dice game where players receive a character card and roll dice, competing against one another. Each card explains what each dice roll means. I played as the "Zombie Character." My character only took damage when one was rolled. The number 6 was equal to the number one, so if I rolled a one or six, I would receive damage. My character also had two hit points and 0 tokens. So if I rolled a 1 or 6 twice, I died. In class, we were asked to make changes to the character. I added two more hit points, and whenever my character rolled a 2, the other opponent would lose a token. If I rolled a 4, I revived one token. My character seemed much more balanced when playing this out with other players, and I didn't die so often. It was more fun and rewarded me for specific rolls.  In Chapter 13 of The Art of Game Design, it says, "Exploration is one of the great pleasures of gameplay. Players often enjoy exploring the possibilities of playing the same game with different powers and resources." This is true because we were allowed to explore different options to balance our character's card. If I were to leave the Zombie card as is, I would have lost more rounds than I won.  It was also fun to see my classmates' changes to their character cards.  In Design Lessons from Poker, it says, "As a game designer it is important to consider how much chance you want in your game." This is precisely what I experienced when changing my character card. I wanted to reward my character and give them more life, but I also wanted the game to be balanced and fair. It's fun to have control over changes to a character. This will be exciting for our new project, where we are creating a 3-player game against one opponent without violence. I am excited to see the ideas that my group members come up with.