Practical Game Design

Gameplay balancing

The concept of gameplay balancing goes far beyond the qualities of individual objects and characters, and into the nature of play itself. Take a look at the classic example of a flawed game design, tic-tac-toe. Why is it flawed? The starting player can never lose. All they need to do is put their mark in the middle. This is a failure of both the design of the rules and the game's balance itself. The game has a single, dominant strategy, and once you figure it out or run into it, you're incentivized to replicate it. The presence of a dominant strategy drastically reduces a player's options. Once introduced into the play pattern, the game loses most of its appeal. Therefore, a wide possibility space is a defining feature ...