Numeric planning is also known as game balance designer. Mainly responsible for the rules and system design of game balance, including AI, levels, etc. Except for the plot, the content requires numerical planning, and most of their daily work is dealing with data.

Of course, we're just talking about video games.

The balance in board games does not have real-time detection and update and repair functions of human intervention like online games.

This makes it impossible to reverse the output of board games, but all products must be unmistakable and good. And what we are going to discuss this time is the "fairness" and "unfairness" created by these board game designers.


Board games are unequal balance

Chess is generally considered the most "fair game" between duels due to the mirror symmetry (among the players) of the opening positions of the pieces, and the complexity of their combinations, even if White has the upper hand, in actual game composition It is also difficult to perceive this subtle advantage brought by "sequence".

But there are also board games that make people feel that there is too much luck - "Monopoly". Players start the game with the same starting amount, use luck to roll dice and trading strategies, buy and sell land for rent, until other players Bankruptcy, the last player standing is the winner.

The whole game is full of luck events, psychological game, even metaphysics. For example, gambler's fallacy (believing in a random probability event such as coin flipping, and the result determines the future), Choice-supportive bias (inclined to agree with your own choice), etc.

So, we can see that it is precisely these design imbalances that create a certain degree of entertainment. Among them, the theme of imbalance is asymmetric board games, where the host’s microphone is given to the players.

Asymmetric game is a game world built by designers that is more complex and mutually restrictive. This kind of game nature brings unique design challenges to players and designers. Like in video games we know DEAD BY DAYLIGHT, Friday the 13th, board games ROOT, Terra Mystica, and so on, both sides of the confrontation use "unequal" skill rules and resources to achieve different game goals and results.

The former is a competitive cooperative game with different numbers of opponents, while the latter is more like a resource competition under different rules. These imbalances extend the game for players, and different experiences under the same topic increase the gameplay. We can even trace these game features back to more than 1000 years ago.

Why do I have less money than him?

The fundamental imbalance experience is to enable players to have different experiences in a game, and the sense of imbalance is best represented by a true sense of interweaving between players.

Unequal numbers on both sides: the game DEAD BY DAYLIGHT, familiar to video gamers, and the game Pawn and Thief, familiar to board players, are based on unequal numbers. In addition, as the progress of the game progresses, the number of teammates also decreases with the development of the game, and the social interaction and cooperation deepens the stickiness of players.

Skill purpose is not equal: under the same rules, each player has different skill characteristics, such as resource discounts, additional actions, and different health, such as rich individual character skills in Dice Throne.

Rules are not equal: each other, Yin and Yang combination.  It is the most important feature of nonlinear games, and ROOT and HUNTER ITERM are the most typical representative board games. Each player views the entire battlefield from a different vantage point, playing with each other.

Each player of the beasts and hunters in the "monster" has a unique card library and skills, and has different character goals and action stages according to different background plates. Different rules mean that they have different resources, abilities, goals, etc., and are freer to choose.

Players are like Tetris, different shapes that fit together perfectly to achieve high scores. Asymmetry, the use of role-playing to make the game more interesting, the unique dynamics created by different abilities, and the combination of skills and strategies.

Asymmetrical rules and goals lead to the most significant differences in how players experience the game, and so many "different" moments are the best way to achieve sustainable, manageable variables.



Need more imbalances

HUNTER ITERM once again lets us see the fun brought by asymmetric games.

Compared to the familiar asymmetric game, I think the most immersive are the "time" settings of HUNTER ITERM. From dawn to night, it is very immersive and deepened. There’s even the "bonfire" (blood return) stage.

In other words, HUNTER ITERM can even be fully electronic, exquisite style, giant and small humans to form a strong contrast, coupled with the interlocking skills, I believe that it will also be obtained high quality results.

Among them, board game designers can also learn a lot of skills, add some autonomy in selection projects or the ability to compete. Increase the interaction between players to solve the balance problem, such as the simplest combination of the enemies.

The most important thing is to create high-open sharing space that keeps the players’ strategies in checking with each other, also it can lay the foundation of the game which the role can be flow more smoothly on the "layout".

The sense of imbalance in the game has created the freedom of choice and strategy. Among them, the complicated relationship in solvability is confusing. The fairest chess mentioned above is also considered by some experts to be based on "first-mover advantage". However, according to the current situation, there is no completely winning play, nor the most strategic way so far.

Then think about you as a board game player, in which games can obviously experience the sense of "imbalance"?