Devlog Journal 9

This week we focused on identifying what balance means and how we can distribute it to an existing game. A quote I really liked that delved into many problems I’ve had before when playing a game was “the kind of gameplay action that is your favorite, cutting-edge technology, and beautiful artwork—but somehow the play was monotonous, confusing, and frustrating”. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've had my favorite share of frustrations with games that are far too complex and far too out of whack within its mechanics or any other form of system. It isn't necessarily always an exploit but, more so just one specific thing overdoes the other things. I play Destiny 2 a lot and the weapon balancing in that game is always very tricky to master because there are so many potential builds to make that make you overpowered and it's a matter of finding what makes it so good to keep it regulated and fair for others. Another quote I liked was “To novice designers, the business of balancing a game seems quite mysterious—but really, balancing a game is nothing more than adjusting…”. This was a bit of an interesting idea because when we see it being done it seems so complex, but in written format it really is just an adjustment. I know when Bungie puts out a hot fix weekly, they address certain weapons being overly powerful or underpowered and they'll need time to adjust it to make sure it works properly again. With the quote of "It is easy to learn Poker, but when you learn it you have learned much more than a single game. You have learned an operating system for a family of games." I'd say this is very true because this is applicable to many cars games in general. There are thousands of ways to play one game but it has a branch, a family tree that it derives from and gives different ideas.