Also, at least in single-player games, and sometimes in multi-player too (depending on exactly where and how) balance is actually not even necessarily a goal you should be pursuing at all. The imbalance is the point, the BFG should be allowed to be the BFG, it doesn’t need to be balanced. Even better is subtle imbalances that are not necessarily telegraphed directly. Not only does imbalance indulge the power fantasy when players can take advantage of it, but discovering those hidden “broken” mechanics makes players feel like they’ve either lucked out or outsmarted the game and is actually deeply gratifying on its own.
It can also lead to some very emergent metagames that maybe haven’t been considered. Sometimes the instinctual reaction to immediately patch out and hotfix any mechanic that is found to be unintentionally overpowered might mean you’re just being the “no fun allowed” police. And games are supposed to be fun. And in multiplayer sure you have to think about the fun of all players instead of just one, but maybe you should give some thought to what would happen if you embrace the mechanic instead. Maybe it could be a per-game setting instead of just removing it. Maybe it could turn into a whole new game mode. If some people are having fun with it and could have fun using it against each other, maybe let them? It’s understandable if you’re trying to make your game into an e-Sport but even sports have different leagues with different sets of rules.
Balance is overrated IMO. Imbalance can be entertaining, hilarious, and fun. Consider trying it.
Yeah, I also have to say that I’ll often not even bother trying to work out what’s good and what is not, because there’s a voice in the back of my head that says, well, it should all be equally viable, because of balancing.
That’s a big part of the reason why I like random map generation, because it isn’t possible to make all options equally viable. Sometimes, you level up your axe skill and never find a good axe, and just have to deal with that.
Sometimes the instinctual reaction to immediately patch out and hotfix any mechanic that is found to be unintentionally overpowered might mean you’re just being the “no fun allowed” police. And games are supposed to be fun.
Also, at least in single-player games, and sometimes in multi-player too (depending on exactly where and how) balance is actually not even necessarily a goal you should be pursuing at all. The imbalance is the point, the BFG should be allowed to be the BFG, it doesn’t need to be balanced. Even better is subtle imbalances that are not necessarily telegraphed directly. Not only does imbalance indulge the power fantasy when players can take advantage of it, but discovering those hidden “broken” mechanics makes players feel like they’ve either lucked out or outsmarted the game and is actually deeply gratifying on its own.
It can also lead to some very emergent metagames that maybe haven’t been considered. Sometimes the instinctual reaction to immediately patch out and hotfix any mechanic that is found to be unintentionally overpowered might mean you’re just being the “no fun allowed” police. And games are supposed to be fun. And in multiplayer sure you have to think about the fun of all players instead of just one, but maybe you should give some thought to what would happen if you embrace the mechanic instead. Maybe it could be a per-game setting instead of just removing it. Maybe it could turn into a whole new game mode. If some people are having fun with it and could have fun using it against each other, maybe let them? It’s understandable if you’re trying to make your game into an e-Sport but even sports have different leagues with different sets of rules.
Balance is overrated IMO. Imbalance can be entertaining, hilarious, and fun. Consider trying it.
Yeah, I also have to say that I’ll often not even bother trying to work out what’s good and what is not, because there’s a voice in the back of my head that says, well, it should all be equally viable, because of balancing.
That’s a big part of the reason why I like random map generation, because it isn’t possible to make all options equally viable. Sometimes, you level up your axe skill and never find a good axe, and just have to deal with that.
It’s “fun” if you’re of the OP class.