ABSTRACT
This chapter takes us through a full production cycle of a game from conception to post-release and talks about the kinds of tasks a game designer should be concerned with in terms of the balance of the game at each step. In the earliest stages of a game project, before the game is even barely playable, the mechanics are shifting wildly and constantly. The main concern isn’t having a balanced game but having a fun game or a game that otherwise meets its design goals. Sometimes, a new piece of content or new expansion set will contain entirely new mechanics. Those may be in development for some time and will follow a process similar to the development of the original game in terms of the phases involved, just usually on a shorter timeline. At the stages of development where the peoples are specifically playtesting for balance, it’s one thing to say “go ahead and playtest the game for balance.
