| { | |
| "pattern_name": "Balancing Effects", | |
| "description": "Rules and effects in games that lessen the differences of value used to measure competition between players.", | |
| "content": [ | |
| "For games where players play against opponents, the players need to feel that they can affect the outcome of the game. If a game is designed with a certain game time or amount of gameplay, and players feel powerless, these players have to two possibilities: endure gameplay that is uninspiring or suffer that gameplay breakdown due to the players desire to stop playing. To avoid these situations, games can have [[Balancing Effects]] built into them so that all players are more likely to feel that they have a chance to win over their opponents until the intended conclusion of the competition." | |
| ], | |
| "using_the_pattern": [ | |
| "[[Balancing Effects]] can be designed in a game to be preemptive or correcting. Preemptive [[Balancing Effects]] try to maintain [[Player Balance]] so that imbalances do not occur, while correcting [[Balancing Effects]] try to correct imbalances when they have occurred. An alternative to [[Balancing Effects]], which can be used together with them, is [[Limited Foresight]]. This also gives players a [[Perceived Chance to Succeed]] but in this case, it may only be an [[Illusion of Influence]].", | |
| "[[Handicaps]] are preemptive [[Balancing Effects]] that are put into effect before gameplay begins. Making [[Extended Actions]] into [[Interruptible Actions]] is a form of preemptive [[Balancing Effect]] as other players can interfere with the actions, especially if they do not have any effect before they are completed. [[Delayed Effects]] in general have a certain [[Balancing Effect]], as they give players the possibility to prepare for the effects. Other ways of creating preemptive [[Balancing Effects]] consist of designing [[Illusionary Rewards]], requiring [[Tradeoffs]], allowing players to choose [[Selectable Sets of Goals]] that best fit their abilities, or providing [[Diminishing Return]] to players that otherwise could become clear leaders. If the effects are direct, these effects can ruin the [[Illusion of Influence]] for players and even make them avoid trying to achieve what should be goals for them. Having [[Balancing Effects]] affect the players indirectly can solve this, for example through [[Character Development]] or making [[New Abilities]] additions to those already used with [[Budgeted Action Points]].", | |
| "Examples of correcting [[Balancing Effects]] include giving [[New Abilities]] or [[Improved Abilities]] to disadvantaged players and giving [[Ability Losses]] or [[Decreased Abilities]] to advantaged players. The classic case used in [[Races]] is a [[Decreased Ability]] in the form of [[Movement Limitation]] giving a lower maximum speed. To avoid players losing [[Illusion of Influences]], the positive effects are usually [[Rewards]] to the disadvantaged players for completing goals, while the negative effects are usually [[Penalties]] to the advantaged players for failing goals. The evaluation function that determines the [[Balancing Effects]] is for the same reason often hidden from players, for example, by making all [[Pick-Ups]] look the same though they have different effects, or by hiding the actual rolling of [[Dice]] to be able to fudge the results. Another example of a correcting is to decide the order of [[Turn Taking]] so that disadvantaged players give the most advantageous positions.", | |
| "[[Transfer of Control]] can also be used to correct imbalances, but these are often linked to the [[Rewards]] or [[Penalties]] of any of the players. A common solution is to have forced [[Shared Rewards]], so that the player who gains the [[Reward]] must share it with someone else, typically the most disadvantaged player. Controlling how [[Spawning]] occurs can also be corrective, either placing disadvantaged players at [[Strategic Locations]] or placing advantaged players at bad locations.", | |
| "Games with more than two teams or players competing against each other automatically have some corrective [[Balancing Effects]]. Players in these games perceived as leading may be the starting point of [[Mutual Goals]] for [[Uncommitted Alliances]], which have the intentions of ganging up against the leader. This is common in games with [[King of the Hill]] goals but can also be found in games that allow [[Player Decided Results]] and [[Player-Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties]]. Sufficient [[Game State Overviews]], for example, public [[Scores]], so players can notice leaders, are required for this form of [[Balancing Effect]] to occur.", | |
| "[[Game Masters]], as [[Dedicated Game Facilitators]] that have constant access to the complete game state and can enforce their own [[Player Decided Results]], can perform both preemptive and corrective balancing effects during gameplay.", | |
| "Games using primarily [[Randomness]] to judge outcomes can easily be designed to have [[Balancing Effects]] over time or when considering several game sessions together. However, games with [[Dedicated Game Facilitators]] can fake the [[Randomness]], for example, the results of [[Dice]] rolls, to explicitly create [[Balancing Effects]] during gameplay." | |
| ], | |
| "consequences": [ | |
| "The presence of [[Balancing Effects]] strengthens or prolongs players' [[Perceived Chance to Succeed]] but lessens the [[Perceivable Margins]] of the game and removes feelings of [[Game Mastery]] in the game. [[Balancing Effects]] often provide the [[Right Level of Difficulty]] and [[Smooth Learning Curves]] in games by making challenges sufficiently difficult.", | |
| "[[Balancing Effects]] are used in [[Multiplayer Games]] to avoid too large differences of [[Asymmetric Abilities]] between players. They can achieve [[Player Balance]] or [[Team Balance]] during gameplay, often to maintain [[Tension]] as long as possible in the game and to allow [[Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses]]." | |
| ], | |
| "relations": { | |
| "Instantiates": [ | |
| "Player Balance", | |
| "Smooth Learning Curves", | |
| "Team Balance", | |
| "Tension", | |
| "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", | |
| "Right Level of Difficulty", | |
| "Perceived Chance to Succeed" | |
| ], | |
| "Modulates": [ | |
| "Character Development", | |
| "Penalties", | |
| "Asymmetric Abilities", | |
| "Multiplayer Games", | |
| "Transfer of Control", | |
| "Improved Abilities", | |
| "Ability Losses", | |
| "Decreased Abilities", | |
| "Spawning", | |
| "Rewards", | |
| "Dice", | |
| "Pick-Ups", | |
| "Turn Taking" | |
| ], | |
| "Instantiated by": [ | |
| "Extended Actions", | |
| "Player Decided Results", | |
| "Movement Limitations", | |
| "Interruptible Actions", | |
| "Illusionary Rewards", | |
| "Budgeted Action Points", | |
| "Handicaps", | |
| "Diminishing Returns", | |
| "Dedicated Game Facilitators", | |
| "Game Masters", | |
| "Tradeoffs", | |
| "Player-Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties", | |
| "Delayed Effects", | |
| "Randomness", | |
| "Score", | |
| "Shared Rewards", | |
| "Rewards", | |
| "King of the Hill" | |
| ], | |
| "Modulated by": [ | |
| "Game State Overview", | |
| "Uncommitted Alliances" | |
| ], | |
| "Potentially conflicting with": [ | |
| "Perceivable Margins" | |
| ] | |
| }, | |
| "examples": [ | |
| "Power-ups in Monkey Race 2 in Super Monkey Ball 2 give speed boosters only to the players that are not leading the races. Further balancing effects can be added by players through the option that makes the leader have a lower maximum speed than the other players.", | |
| "Multiplayer online first-person shooters often have possibilities to force teams to be balanced in numbers. Some, such as Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, have functionality that can automatically reassign teams based on experience to try and balance the teams further." | |
| ], | |
| "label": "14. Game Design Patterns for Game Mastery and Balancing", | |
| "pattern_links": [ | |
| { | |
| "name": "Turn Taking", | |
| "file": "TurnTaking" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Player Decided Results", | |
| "file": "PlayerDecidedResults" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Tension", | |
| "file": "Tension" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Handicaps", | |
| "file": "Handicaps" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Delayed Effects", | |
| "file": "DelayedEffects" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Game State Overview", | |
| "file": "GameStateOverview" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Decreased Abilities", | |
| "file": "DecreasedAbilities" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Character Development", | |
| "file": "CharacterDevelopment" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Dice", | |
| "file": "Dice" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Smooth Learning Curves", | |
| "file": "SmoothLearningCurves" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Game Masters", | |
| "file": "GameMasters" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Interruptible Actions", | |
| "file": "InterruptibleActions" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Player-Decided Distribution of Rewards & Penalties", | |
| "file": "Player-DecidedDistributionofRewards&Penalties" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Spawning", | |
| "file": "Spawning" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Budgeted Action Points", | |
| "file": "BudgetedActionPoints" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Perceived Chance to Succeed", | |
| "file": "PerceivedChancetoSucceed" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Movement Limitations", | |
| "file": "MovementLimitations" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Perceivable Margins", | |
| "file": "PerceivableMargins" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Improved Abilities", | |
| "file": "ImprovedAbilities" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Transfer of Control", | |
| "file": "TransferofControl" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Uncommitted Alliances", | |
| "file": "UncommittedAlliances" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Higher-Level Closures as Gameplay Progresses", | |
| "file": "Higher-LevelClosuresasGameplayProgresses" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Illusionary Rewards", | |
| "file": "IllusionaryRewards" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Randomness", | |
| "file": "Randomness" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Team Balance", | |
| "file": "TeamBalance" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Right Level of Difficulty", | |
| "file": "RightLevelofDifficulty" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Player Balance", | |
| "file": "PlayerBalance" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Penalties", | |
| "file": "Penalties" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Dedicated Game Facilitators", | |
| "file": "DedicatedGameFacilitators" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Shared Rewards", | |
| "file": "SharedRewards" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Rewards", | |
| "file": "Rewards" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "King of the Hill", | |
| "file": "KingoftheHill" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Diminishing Returns", | |
| "file": "DiminishingReturns" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Multiplayer Games", | |
| "file": "MultiplayerGames" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Extended Actions", | |
| "file": "ExtendedActions" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Pick-Ups", | |
| "file": "Pick-Ups" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Asymmetric Abilities", | |
| "file": "AsymmetricAbilities" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Score", | |
| "file": "Score" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Ability Losses", | |
| "file": "AbilityLosses" | |
| }, | |
| { | |
| "name": "Tradeoffs", | |
| "file": "Tradeoffs" | |
| } | |
| ], | |
| "pattern_id": "BalancingEffects", | |
| "playable_concept": "Not available yet", | |
| "metadata": { | |
| "version": "1.2.2.2", | |
| "date_processed": "2025-04-26", | |
| "source_file": "BalancingEffects.htm", | |
| "converter_version": "1.2.2.2" | |
| } | |
| } |