There is nothing worst than starting to play a game and realising midway that the game is rigged against you! That’s where knowing about game balance fundamentals comes into place. The worst is when it’s not even because the game is supposed be that way, it’s because the game wasn’t well planned from the start.
Imagine if Catan had three robbers; or a game of Uno where you constantly keep getting handed wild cards and you kept having to draw cards into your deck! (Wait… That exists? *Shudder*)
Balance is what keeps a game interesting from first turn to last. It’s the invisible hand that guides every decision and moment of tension into a satisfying, cohesive whole. Whether you’re creating a quick, casual card game or a strategy epic, balance defines the player experience.
Let’s look into what balance means, how you can master it, and practical steps to ensure your game remains interesting (and doesn’t frustrate your players).
Game Balance Fundamentals… What’s it About?
At the heart of every balanced game lie three basic elements:
- Fairness: Every player should feel they have an equal shot at winning. No single mechanic or choice should be winning every playthrough. This doesn’t mean luck can’t swing a game—it means skill and though is what should matter the most.
- Meaning: Every decision a player makes should feel significant. Choices shouldn’t be “just cause”; each should have an effect on the outcome and narrative of the game. When players feel their decisions matter, they remain more engaged and have a better time.
- Flow: The pacing of your game must feel natural. It should neither stall and bore your players into stasis nor develop uncontrollably, you should be mindfull that players remain interested and into the game from start to finish.
Before diving into thinking about the game balance fundamentals clarify your game’s primary focus over the fairness, meaning, and flow aspects. Which aspect do you want players to feel strongest? Deciding this early is what guides your balancing efforts.
Types of Game Balance
Balance isn’t singular—it’s multi-dimensional. Understanding the types of balance helps pinpoint issues clearly:
Mechanical Game Balance
Mechanical balance deals with stats, abilities, and game rules. It’s often the first aspect developers think about, tweaking hit points, damage numbers, or resource costs. Mechanical imbalances can rapidly spoil gameplay, turning it into predictable victories or frustrating stalemates.
Psychological Game Balance
This is how players perceive fairness, power, and satisfaction. Sometimes mechanically balanced elements still feel unfair if players misunderstand their effectiveness or see them as overly powerful. Clear communication, intuitive mechanics, and consistent feedback are crucial for maintaining psychological balance.
Economic Game Balance
This relates to the flow of resources within your game—whether it’s currency, health, cards, or items. Economic imbalances can lead to runaway winners or impossible comebacks. Players should consistently feel resources are scarce enough to be valuable, yet abundant enough to remain accessible.
Narrative Game Balance
Narrative balance is about story pacing, ensuring peaks and valleys of tension. An engaging story or thematic scenario keeps players invested emotionally. Even abstract games benefit from a thematic or narrative sense of progression.
Regularly check each of these balance types through playtests. Often, issues arise when these dimensions don’t align harmoniously.
Symmetric vs. Asymmetric Game Design
Game design typically follows two structures:
Symmetric Games
In a symmetric setup, every player begins from the same starting point. Think of games like Chess, Checkers or Monopoly; your pieces, your goals and your options mirror your opponent’s. This makes it easier to spot balance issues: if one strategy or mechanic doweighs more than the others, you know exactly where to look for a problem.
It also means that adding a new unit, card or ability only requires tuning one set of other elements, since they should behave the same for everyone. A quick way to test symmetry is to swap player seats mid-session: if the same choices still feel fair, you’ve nailed the core.
Asymmetric Games
Asymmetry gives each player a different role, power, or starting gear/kit, etc… . Take Gloomhaven, for example: choosing the Brute feels nothing differente than playing the Spellweaver. Same with Slay the Spire, or other games of the sort.
This keeps every session fresh and it’s honestly great for replayability . The negative here is that you have do more work balancing everything. Each character needs its own tuning and you have to check how they all work together.
A simple way to handle this is to pick one or two key traits for each character (like how far they move or how much damage they do) and keep everything else the same. Then you should playtest or run lots of quick tests, track win rates, and tweak the few characters or scenarios that feel too easy or too hard or too unfair.
Finding the Middle Ground
You don’t have to go full mirror-match or wildly different. A hybrid approach layers a common core—shared movement rules, base stats, resource tracks—and then adds small asymmetric perks: unique special actions, starting bonuses or one-time abilities. This lets you focus most of your balancing on the central ruleset, then fine-tune each side’s twist in isolation.
For example, in a tile-placement game you might give every player the same tiles but allow each one to score with a unique pattern bonus. You’ll only need to balance the pattern values rather than redesign the entire board logic. Over time, this “shared backbone plus flavor” approach lets you scale up to more factions without drowning in spreadsheets.
Balancing Risk vs. Reward
Every choice in your game should present players with a clear trade-off, balancing potential benefits against possible downsides:
- Too much reward with minimal risk makes the decision trivial, limiting strategic depth.
- Excessive risk for minimal reward discourages player engagement, as actions become overly punishing.
Clearly define the stakes of each choice using payoff tables or probability simulations. Test scenarios frequently to identify imbalances. Small adjustments often yield significant improvements to overall gameplay experience.
Practical Steps to Ensure Balance
Step 1: Identify the main objectives of your game
Clearly outline what you want players to feel during gameplay. Is it an strategic game, more focussed on quick excitement, or is narrative immersion the main thing? What ever it is, decide what it should be about.
Step 2: Create prototypes from the start
Develop prototypes early and often. They don’t need to be perfect from the start, however constant and effective iteration is vital, so create your “mvp” in bussines terms. Build the most basic version of your game so you can get started.
Step 3: Playtest a lot!
Just playtest. And don’t always playtest with your frends and family, try and get a hold of diverse groups of playtesters. Different perspectives help highlight various balancing issues, from mechanical issues to narrative pacing problems.
Step 4: Gather feedback from your players and analyze
Document playtester feedback carefully. Watch for recurring things that frustrate your players or dominate gameplay.
Step 5: Adjust bit by bit, as you go.
Apply small, useful tweaks rather than massive gameplay changes. Gradual changes allow you to measure their effects more accurately.
Step 6: Iterate until you are happy.
Balance is never perfect on the first try. Keep refining your game repeatedly, refining things until it reaches a point you are happy with. But don’t go crazy, sometimes things just get as good as they can.
Common Mistakes in Game Balancing and How to Avoid Them
- Overbalancing: Trying to perfectly equalize every option can strip your game of excitement. Embrace slight asymmetry or controlled randomness.
- Neglecting Player Perception: Even mechanically balanced games can fail if players perceive unfairness. Always monitor psychological balance.
- Ignoring Mid-Game Dynamics: Ensure your game remains balanced throughout play, not just at the beginning or end.
Balance isn’t a single destination but an ongoing dialogue between your design intentions and player experience. Mastering balance means consistently engaging players, making each choice meaningful, fair, and exciting. Remember these guiding principles:
- Clearly define your balance goals early.
- Regularly assess and adjust all dimensions of balance.
- Combine symmetric and asymmetric elements thoughtfully.
- Strategically implement positive and negative feedback loops.
- Always ensure risk and reward are carefully calibrated.
With patience, testing, and iteration, you’ll transform your game from merely playable into genuinely captivating, fostering memorable player experiences every time. We have another article about game balancing by our friends over at FUNFOXGAMES, so check it out here!
