Game Balance

by Ian Schreiber, Brenda Romero

Within the field of game design, game balance can best be described as a black art. It is the process by which game designers make a game simultaneously fair for players while providing them just the right amount of difficulty to be both exciting and challenging without making the game entirely predictable. This involves a combination of mathematics, psychology, and occasionally other fields such as economics and game theory.

Game Balance offers readers a dynamic look into game design and player theory. Throughout the book, relevant topics on the use of spreadsheet programs will be included in each chapter. This book therefore doubles as a useful reference on Microsoft Excel, Google Spreadsheets, and other spreadsheet programs and their uses for game designers.

FEATURES



The first and only book to explore game balance as a topic in depth

Topics range from intermediate to advanced, while written in an accessible style that demystifies even the most challenging mathematical concepts to the point where a novice student of game design can understand and apply them

Contains powerful spreadsheet techniques which have been tested with all major spreadsheet programs and battle-tested with real-world game design tasks

Provides short-form exercises at the end of each chapter to allow for practice of the techniques discussed therein along with three long-term projects divided into parts throughout the book that involve their creation

Written by award-winning designers with decades of experience in the field Ian Schreiber has been in the industry since 2000, first as a programmer and then as a game designer. He has worked on eight published game titles, training/simulation games for three Fortune 500 companies, and has advised countless student projects. He is the co-founder of Global Game Jam, the largest in-person game jam event in the world. Ian has taught game design and development courses at a variety of colleges and universities since 2006.

Brenda Romero is a BAFTA award-winning game director, entrepreneur, artist, and Fulbright award recipient and is presently game director and creator of the Empire of Sin franchise. As a game director, she has worked on 50 games and contributed to many seminal titles, including the Wizardry and Jagged Alliance series and titles in the Ghost Recon, Dungeons & Dragons, and Def Jam franchises.

Genres: Game Design, Games

806 pages, Paperback

Published August 17, 2021

Reviews

[Dima Vesnin · Rating 5 out of 5]

прочитал годовой курс по этой книжке, нескольким группам, прорешали почти все задания, разобрали все объяснения, формулы и графики, ставили под вопрос буквально всё, и после всего этого, и своей работы над играми, с лёгким сердцем сообщаю что это лучший учебник по балансу. 10/10

[Adam Saczko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive, insightful and nailing the proportions of every touched topic. A prolific reference material to various trains of thoughts.

[Denis Romanovsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Huge, both theoretical and practical book on game balance. Perhaps, it includes all the modern knowledge on the balance craft, covers most of the modern game genres, important math and even Excel spreadsheets. Highly recommended!

[Moha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the most comprehensive resource on game system design and balance (and one of the very, very few). However, it occasionally delves into less essential topics at the expense of providing sufficient depth on more critical subjects. Additionally, its length, over 800 pages, could potentially be reduced without sacrificing important content.

[Mario Russo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on Game Balance, covering a wide array of topics. Must read. There is not much books on this specific subject. Even do have some tips on spreadsheet late in the book.

[Mavis Chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great detail and covers multiple genres and business models. Must read for folks in game design and product management.