Special K for Games

Game balancing is potentially one of the most difficult aspects of game design. A well balanced game (assuming the developers have done the other areas well too) will generally excel above competitors in the field. Poor balance, on the other hand, can quickly lead a game to failure, or can see it progress down paths never expected by the developers.

One company notorious for their well balanced games is Blizzard. Just read the class forums at www.worldofwarcraft.com and you will see thousands upon thousands of posters praising Blizzard for their perfectly balanced classes… Actually, I was referring to Blizzard in its pre-WoW days, when it was discussed in common media in the same sections as EA and Ubisoft, not ecstasy and heroin. Specifically, I’m referring to Starcraft. This game has been claimed to be one of the best balanced RTS games of all time (if not the best balanced). Furthermore, it achieved balance without sacrificing creativity and diversity. Unlike Warcraft 2 before it, where the races were essentially mirrored with some slight changes, Starcraft had three different races with different pools of units. However, in the development of this game Blizzard managed to give each unit and race a perfect combination to allow them to excel in certain situations, and suck in others.

It is the complete balance of this game that is mainly responsible for its widespread success, especially in the online arena (where balance becomes so much more important). The game wasn’t (isn’t) perfect, and particularly in online play some dominant strategies did emerge (Zergling rush). However, for the majority of online play situations where rushing techniques weren’t employed or weren’t allowed, the game favoured no particular strategy or race and provided.

Furthermore, Blizzard have proved that game balance cannot be fluked, and is the product of careful planning. Clearly balance is an area that Blizzard put a lot of thought into, and with good reason, as it has seen them continually create successful games. Warcraft III followed in Starcraft’s steps in creating very well balanced races, without reverting the mirroring of units seen in earlier games. World of Warcraft is a perfect example of how finicky good balance can be, especially in an online environment, and one that is constantly updating. Although Blizzard arguably haven’t done as good a job with balance in WoW as in previous titles, they have demonstrated that in an online environment, balance is even harder to perfect. And despite all players’ complaints, if you look at the numbers, they must be doing something right