Agenda

How does a game designer determine how many Hit Points an enemy should have? How does the designer determine how much damage a player should do? What are some of the fundamental structures of game design that affect this calculation? In short – how do you balance a game?

Obsidian's "The Outer Worlds 2" is a hybrid FPS/RPG that contains both guns and leveling-up. This genre mashup posed some unique challenges to game balance and required multiple revisions to NPC Hit Points and player damage during its development. At each revision, some design philosophies became clearer and more focused, while others were discarded.

This talk will introduce a design theory of game balance, explain the reasoning behind it, complicate it with genre expectations, and ultimately determine how to make a "balanced" game using Hit Points and damage. Throughout, this theory will be supported with concrete examples from "The Outer Worlds 2."

Takeaway

A philosophical (and sort-of-mathematical) framework for how to design a balanced game. A language to better communicate with game designer colleagues. Ideas for how different implementations can deliver on (or frustrate!) genre expectations.

Intended Audience

Game designers who are not experienced in combat design, developers interested in design philosophy, or anyone who wants to turn fuzzy ideas into a concrete player experience.