Game Balance

<p>Within the field of game design game balance can best be described as a black art. It is the process by which game designers make a game simultaneously fair for players while providing them just the right amount of difficulty to be both exciting and challenging without making the game entirely predictable. This involves a combination of mathematics psychology and occasionally other fields such as economics and game theory. </p><p><em>Game Balance</em> offers readers a dynamic look into game design and player theory. Throughout the book relevant topics on the use of spreadsheet programs will be included in each chapter. This book therefore doubles as a useful reference on Microsoft Excel Google Spreadsheets and other spreadsheet programs and their uses for game designers.</p><p>FEATURES</p><ul> <p> </p> <li>The first and only book to explore game balance as a topic in depth</li> <p> </p> <li>Topics range from intermediate to advanced while written in an accessible style that demystifies even the most challenging mathematical concepts to the point where a novice student of game design can understand and apply them</li> <p> </p> <li>Contains powerful spreadsheet techniques which have been tested with all major spreadsheet programs and battle-tested with real-world game design tasks</li> <p> </p> <li>Provides short-form exercises at the end of each chapter to allow for practice of the techniques discussed therein along with three long-term projects divided into parts throughout the book that involve their creation </li> <p> </p> <li>Written by award-winning designers with decades of experience in the field</li> </ul><p>Ian Schreiber has been in the industry since 2000 first as a programmer and then as a game designer. He has worked on eight published game titles training/simulation games for three Fortune 500 companies and has advised countless student projects. He is the co-founder of Global Game Jam the largest in-person game jam event in the world. Ian has taught game design and development courses at a variety of colleges and universities since 2006.</p><p>Brenda Romero is a BAFTA award-winning game director entrepreneur artist and Fulbright award recipient and is presently game director and creator of the <i>Empire of Sin</i> franchise. As a game director she has worked on 50 games and contributed to many seminal titles including the <i>Wizardry </i>and <i>Jagged Alliance</i> series and titles in the <em>Ghost Recon</em> <i>Dungeons & Dragons</i> and <em>Def Jam</em> franchises.</p>