You have a great idea for a card game? Fantastic! But before you deal the first hands, make sure you have mastered the subtle art of balancing. Balanced gameplay is key to a smooth, enjoyable, and addictive gaming experience. It avoids player frustration with overpowered cards or strategies and encourages them to come back for more games full of twists and turns.
Our friends over at Fun Fox Games have written a fantastic article about balancing your tabletop games. We think you’ll find it very useful, whether you love board games or are starting to design one yourself.
And remember, till the end of the month you can use code Summer25 over at our website for 25% off the software until the end of June, and get 10% off with code FUNFOXGAMES.
You have a great idea for a card game? Fantastic! But before you deal the first hands, make sure you have mastered the subtle art of balancing.
Balanced gameplay is the key to a smooth, enjoyable and addictive gaming experience.
It avoids player frustration with cards or strategies overpowered and encourages them to come back for new games, full of twists and turns.
The more games your players play, the more likely they will be to recommend your game to other players.
What is balancing in card games?
Simply put, balancing means that no one card or strategy outrageously dominates the game. All options must be viable, providing players with a multitude of choices and possibilities. It’s a delicate balance to achieve, but essential to the success of your game.
The different types of balancing for each genre of bardgames
Balancing is not a one-size-fits-all formula. It must be adapted to the specific genre of your card game, taking into account the quantities of cards and their power:
- Effect card games: The emphasis is on the interaction between cards and their effects. Care must be taken to ensure that no combination of effects creates a disproportionate advantage. Each card must have its usefulness, and the power of the effects must be distributed evenly between the different cards.
Be careful that the quantities of your cards are consistent with their power and usefulness. - Deck building games: Balancing focuses on the diversity of cards and their synergy. We must avoid one type of deck dominating and encourage creativity in construction.
The quantity of cards available for each faction or archetype must be sufficient to allow for a wide variety of viable decks, without creating an imbalance in terms of power. - Resource management games: Balance lies in resource management (life points, mana, money, etc.). The acquisition and expenditure of resources must be fair and each player must have a chance of winning by managing their resources well.
The amount of resources available should be limited to create strategic choices, but not too scarce to avoid frustration. - Investigation games: Balancing concerns the difficulty of the puzzles and the distribution of clues. The players must be sufficiently challenged, but also have a chance to solve the investigation using their logic and the clues at their disposal.
The amount of clues should be enough to guide players without giving them the solution too easily. The trick is to offer players clues that lead to other clues. - Cooperative games: Balancing focuses on the overall difficulty level of the game and the distribution of roles between players. The game must be difficult enough to be interesting, but also that each player has a significant role to play in the success of the team.
The power of each player’s abilities must be balanced to avoid one player carrying the entire team.
Balance while not forgetting the different types of players
To create a truly balanced game, you must take into account the different types of players and their motivations:
- Competitors: They seek challenge and victory. Balancing should give them a level playing field where their skills and strategy make the difference.
- Collectors: They appreciate the diversity of cards and their rarity. Balancing should ensure that even the rarest cards are not essential to win and that all cards are fun to play. Give your players the opportunity to reach the maximum number of points while imposing difficulty on them.
- Adventurers: They like to explore the different possibilities of the game. Balancing should offer them a variety of strategies and quite different styles of play. Beware of similar mechanics which can easily disinterest this type of player.
- Star: They like to shine and stand out. Balancing should allow them to create original decks and showcase their creativity.
- Detective: They love solving puzzles and discovering secrets. Balancing should provide them with stimulating challenges and subtle clues to decipher.
In summary
Balancing is successful when all types of players are happy, their impact is equivalent (power) and there are the minimum number of cards necessary (quantity) so that it does not cost too much during production.
By taking all these aspects into account, you’ll be well on your way to creating a card game that’s balanced, engaging, and enjoyable for all types of players (without breaking the bank).
Remember, balancing is not an exact science, but rather an art that requires experience, listening and a lot of testing. So, draw your cards, get ready, balance!
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This article was written by Fun Fox Games, a self-business created by HAREL Quentin. If you would like to see his creations, go to: https://www.funfoxgames.net/
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