Homework 9: Balance

The blog will describe each aspect of balance from Book of Lenses 1st Ed. as it applies to our game Fly Fairy Fly.

1. Fairness: It's important to think of the game from each player's point of view. One of this big questions is whether to make the game symmetrical or asymmetrical. I plan to make our game asymmetrical because it seems more interesting to me. In other words, the main character (the fairy) will have more powers than the AI, but other elements like weather and obstacles will balance the game and not make it as easy.

2. Challenge vs. Success: A game is defined by its goals and its challenges. The player in our game will have to juggle many different challenges simultaneously (health, power, time, etc.) just like real life, but in a way that makes it fun and not too strenuous. There will be multiple levels in the game, and each one will get tougher to match the increase in skill that the player obtains after completing each subsequent level.

3. Meaningful Choices: Our game will not have a dominant strategy, and the choices will equal the desires giving the player a sense of freedom and fulfillment. I will give the triangularity at certain points where the player can choose a low risk/low reward (skipping collecting all of the coins to complete the level and avoiding death) or a high risk/high reward (going for it and collecting all the coins to gain the most points but risking death).

4. Skill vs. Chance: This game will most likely require more skill than chance.  There may be some elements of chance here and there, but it will be mostly about improving one's skill to complete the game.

5. Head vs. Hands: This is an element that I want to have around 50/50 in my game. I want the play to have good hand/eye coordination while at the same time using their mind, senses, and intuition to progress.

6. Competition vs. Cooperation: This is a one person game and will most likely have no sense of cooperation. However competition will be relevant especially since the player will get a final score after completing the game to compare with their friends who also play the game.

7. Short vs. Long: Since this is meant to be a simple game developed within a semester, I see no reason in designing it to take a long time to complete. Therefore this game will be relatively short. There will also be a time limit imposed on the player within which they must complete the game.

8. Rewards: The players will be praised based on how they complete each level most likely with positive word text and sounds. Also extra points will be given based on how many items they collect and the time in which it takes them to complete each level. We will try to implement a spectacle at the end of the game to give a good sense of closure.

9. Punishment: Because the game will be relatively short, if the player dies, they must restart the entire game. This will hopefully not be too negative of a punishment since it won't take them very long to reach where they left off. This will make the risks more excited. Resource depletion will be necessary if they player gets hit by the enemy.

10. Freedom vs. Controlled Experience: There will be a controlled amount of space within which the player can explore but, because of the time constraint, the play must always be thinking about moving forward as quickly as possible.  This game will not have much of an exploration element. It will be more like a racing game. However, the player will have the freedom to go about collecting items and defeating enemies in whichever order they prefer.

11. Simple vs. Complex: Our game will be a combination of very simple tasks but oriented in a way that makes it emergently complex. Every time the fairy lands on a new island, they will have to use their ears to find a compass which they will then have to use to find more fairy dust so they can fly to the next island all while avoiding enemies and beating the clock.

12. Detail vs. Imagination: Also due to the short amount of time to develop the game, the level of detail will not be extremely high, and instead will rely on the players imagination to fill in the gaps.  This is a win, win since it will also be easier on the computer to run most likely. We want to be able to inspire imagination in the player which is why the game environment is set in a dream world.