How games are balanced

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Balancing a game is one of the most complex tasks in game development – especially when you’re dealing with a cast of wildly diverse and varied characters. So how do developers do it?

Sources and resources

– Sources

Jeff Kaplan Battle.net Forums
https://us.battle.net/forums/en/overwatch/topic/20757706588?page2#post-24

Jaime Griesemer GDC 2010
(“Design in Detail: Changed sniper rifle firing time from 0.5 to 0.7 seconds for Halo 3”)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012211/Design-in-Detail-Changing-the

Rob Pardo GDC 2010
(“Creating a Standard (and Trying to Meet It!): Blizzard Design Philosophies”)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012291/Making-a-Standard-(and-Trying

Kosuke Yabuki GDC 2018
(“ARMS: Insights from Mario Kart 8 into a showcase fighter for Nintendo Switch”)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024907/-ARMS-Building-Mario-Kart

Akali's win rate has dropped sharply – here's why Dot Esports
https://dotesports.com/league-of-legends/news/akali-win-rate-plummeted-league-of-legends

Developer Update – Symmetra Redesign PlayOverwatch on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?velN-QGyToxM

Leroy Athanassof and Geoffroy Mouret GDC 2018
(“Intelligent game design in Rainbow Six Siege”)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1025323/Intelligent-Game-Design-on-Rainbow

Stefan Engblom GDC 2017
(“Finding a Healthy Metagame: Balancing Cards in Clash Royale”)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024272/Quest-for-the-Healthy-Metagame

Analysis: Why we should buff more than Nerf Core-A Gaming on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?vbsC8io4w1sY

Epic pulls overpowered Infinity Blade from Fortnite, says it "messed up Polygon"
https://www.polygon.com/fortnite/2018/12/14/18141134/fortnite-infinity-blade-removed

Live Gameplay QA Issue #1 League of Legends Boards
https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/xwOObpq2-live-gameplay-qa-issue-1-feat-feralpony-smashgizmo?sort_typerecent

– Additional resources

Developer Insights: Arena Balance Through Science Hearthstone
https://playhearthstone.com/en-gb/blog/22788308/

Rock-Paper-Scissors – A Method for Competitive Game Play Design Gamasutra
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/130150/rock_paper_scissors__a_method_for_.php

The unbalanced design of Super Smash Brothers ForrestTheWoods
https://medium.com/forrest-the-woods/the-unbalanced-design-of-super-smash-brothers-3fbc9b346e15

Chapter

00:00 – Introduction
01:40 – Making compromises
03:37 – Using counters
07:16 – Testing the balance
10:47 – Nerfing and buffing
12:56 – Balancing skill levels
14:18 – Conclusion
15:15 – Patreon Credits

Showing games

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Infinity Ward, 2016)
Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment, 2016)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Sora, 2008)
The King of Fighters XIV (SNK, 2016)
Tetris 99 (Arabia, 2019)
StarCraft II (Blizzard Entertainment, 2010)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Sora, 2018)
League of Legends (Riot Games, 2009)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (Ubisoft Montreal, 2015)
Street Fighter V (Capcom, 2016)
Call of Duty: World War II (Sledgehammer Games, 2017)
Splatoon (Nintendo, 2015)
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo, 2017)
Hearthstone (Blizzard Entertainment, 2014)
Halo 3 (Bungie, 2007)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward, 2007)
The Walking Dead: 400 Days (Telltale Games, 2013)
Weapons (Nintendo, 2017)
Dead or Alive 6 (Team Ninja, 2019)
Halo Wars 2 (343 Industries / Creative Assembly, 2017)
Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee! (Game Freak, 2018)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Project, 2015)
Life is Strange 2 (Dontnod Entertainment, 2018)
Team Fortress 2 (Valve Corporation, 2007)
Clash Royale (Supercell, 2016)
Dota 2 (Valve Corporation, 2013)
Fortnite (Epic Games, 2017)
Killer Instinct (Double Helix Games, 2013)
Rocket League (Psyonix, 2015)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Infinity Ward, 2009)
Monopoly Plus (Ubisoft Pune, 2014)
Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment, 2019)
Prismata (Lunarch Studios, 2018)