Devlog #9

This week we played a game called Battle Battle and got our next project. Tuesday was mainly playing the game, and it reminded me of DnD (Dungeons and Dragons). We were tasked to make a modification to our character sheets for Thursday, which we played again, but for this time, our modifications were added in. I didn't see until after class that this was a lesson on balance in games.

Balance has to be one of the most important parts in a game. You have to make characters or items powerful enough to want to be used, but not so powerful to the point that it wipes out the enemy within a move. After Thursday's class, I realized that a lot of the games I played were pretty unbalanced. However, it was not my teammate's fault for most of the opponents I went against, it was mostly mine since my character was relatively weak overall and my game plan was not suitable for it. "... balancing a game is nothing more than adjusting the elements of the game until they deliver the experience you want" (Schell). The experience I would want is winning more games than I originally did on Thursday. Taking this into consideration, I thought that if I gave my character more hit points and changing what rolls meant what, I could have more of a balanced game, and therefore a more joyful experience.

Even before Thursday's class, on Tuesday, with my unmodified character, it still felt relatively unbalanced in the sense that I didn't feel like I had any cool powers. Being able to gain more tokens and then add all those tokens to one roll sounded good on paper, but as the type of player I am, I didn't really use it too much, as I prefer saving up until I have an overpowering amount and then be able to win immediately. However, I would lose all my hit points before that would happen, due to having a lower HP than other characters. But after rereading the readings for this week, I realized that I could give my character a reward, or give my opponent a punishment for taking me down. Since my player was the Psychic, I could really play into that sort of power. "Players greatly treasure the powers they have earned, and to have them taken away may feel unfair to them" (Schell). If I were to go down that sort of path, I would have to be extremely careful to make it to where it helps me, but doesn't hurt the other player too much. One example that I came up with is that if the Psychic lost a game, in the new game they use their powers to take a token from the opponent or change one of their rolls' meanings temporarily to help them and be more prepared in case of a future loss.

The short game time for Battle Battle was what made it a bit fun. While DnD is a lot longer and you spend a lot more time with your character, that could get exhausting and you would want a short game.  But then you can even do games that last years. Battle Battle could be like that too, once modified enough. It was enough to play for a few minutes, but we managed to play for most of the hour and a half class, with there being no expectations of the same results. In the document given to us about poker, it says "You can play Poker for a few minutes, or hours on end. You can link the hands into a tournament, or have people flow in and out of the game" (Garfield) These three games can all have sessions like this, with either playing a few minutes or going on for hours. Most battle games of this caliber should follow this sort of playstyle of being able to fit a quick game in a small break or be able to play for an entire evening. I think that's what makes these sort of battle games more fun than others, and the enjoyment of the players is very important when it comes to making a game.