How are applications like games designed? Namely, where do the balance calculations, etc. come from?

Question

Game development

Let's say there is a certain game, the user has 1 game character available and everything revolves around him - performing some tasks / killing monsters / fighting between users, for which the character receives experience points, when a certain amount of which is collected, the character level increases, the higher the level , the more experience points required to get the next level, etc. Also, for all this, game currency is given, the more difficult the task or the stronger the monster (etc.), the higher the reward.
Actually, the question is, how do they think, how much experience to give, how much is needed to the next level, how much money to pour? Not out of my head and not at random. How is all this calculated, where does all this mathematics and mechanics come from?
ps I read a couple of similar questions here, but still did not find the answer there.

Answer 1

In my experience, 5 main types of number balancing are used (this includes the experience required for levelup, the number of monsters on the mission, all sorts of character characteristics in RPGs, etc. - anything that can be expressed in numerical form):
A popular game of a similar genre (or completely different) is taken, and the numbers are stolen from it. In the absence of a professional balancing designer in the team, this method often gives acceptable results (see many social games on the Russian market cloned from Western analogues).
* No need to really count anything.
* Great for the first balance iteration (combined with other methods on subsequent iterations).
* All disadvantages are copied along with the advantages. Perhaps there are fundamental problems in the original game that are not visible on the surface.
* When changing the balance, it is difficult to predict where the game might break. The smallest change, like adding a factor to hero damage, can break the whole balance.
* It is not clear what problems the designers of the original game were solving. "Why is the damage factor multiplied by 1.1?" "Why is the formula cubic and not quadratic?" etc.
The values ​​are taken at random, based on the experience of the game designer. If this is already the fifth MMO in which gamedis has taken part, then he can throw in a few formulas in a notebook, taking into account many future problems.
* The result is very fast, after several calculations.
* Great for the first iteration of the balance, after which you can move on to step 3 - experiments.
* Need a very competent game designer who has previously developed more than one similar project.
* Even very experienced people can be grossly mistaken.
The first available values ​​​​are hammered into the game (either on the basis of paragraph 1 - they are taken from any game, or on the basis of paragraph 2 - they are intuitively selected), then the game designer sits down for the game (either by himself or asks teammates / friends / focus -testers), starts playing and studies where the holes are in the balance - which levels take too long, which spells are too weak, etc.
Experiments should be used in every project to catch superficial problems. Some developers of mods for games balance the whole game experience in this way: played, twisted the numbers, played some more.
* All superficial problems are immediately visible.
* You don't need any theoretical training and calculations, you just need to start the game and see.
* You will still need to check the work, you can do it at the stage of the initial balance.
* Checks take a very long time.
* Players often spend more time in the game than gamedis can afford (applies to MMOs and other big games), so some areas cannot be checked.
* Personal experience is good, but it's always worth remembering that different people's play style is different, and the player may follow a different path than the designer.
The most theoretical method: a certain value is set in which balancing is evaluated (time, a certain coefficient of complexity, etc.), and then all the numbers are summed up to it.
Example 1: We want the player to level up every 3 minutes. At each level, the average speed of gaining exp is calculated, for example, 10 units per second at level 5 and 11 units per second at level 6. 10*60*3 = 1800 experience needed from 5 to 6; 11*60*3 = 1980 experience needed from 6 to 7.
Example 2: we are making a casual match-3 game and alternating difficult levels with easy ones. A level with a probability of winning about 50% is considered difficult, and a level with a probability of winning about 95% is considered easy. We calculate the probability of winning in each of the levels (based on the initial positions of the balls, for example), and place them in the desired order.
* You can pre-plan the player's experience, even at very high levels.
* It is easy to make significant changes to the balance - the calculated tables will immediately show where problems arise.
* The table can just lie on the table and remind you what mathematical restrictions should be taken into account.
* We need a person who understands mathematics. At least be able to draw parabolas.
* A lot of work in Excel, thousands of numbers (on one project I had a document with about 30 tables, in which there were 10-25 columns and hundreds of rows - it was very time-consuming to remember them all and keep them up to date).
* The game can be calculated very well, but it will not be interesting to play it - the pleasure of the game is much easier to find point 3 - experiments.
Player statistics are measured: what level they get in the first 10 minutes of the game, what missions they complete, how many steps of the tutorial they watch before canceling it. Based on these data, conclusions are drawn.
For example, if quest No. 7 is completed by 97% of the players, quest No. 8 - by 45% of the players, and quest No. 9 - by 95% of the players (the percentage of those who reached this quest is considered), then it is immediately clear that quest No. 8 is somewhat it confuses the players a lot, it is necessary to check the text of the mission, the conditions for execution, and so on.
* Real data from thousands of players, problems are immediately visible.
* Need to know what to count. The choice of metrics determines the effectiveness of this method.
* Not all gaming platforms are suitable for this method: you need an Internet connection and the ability to quickly update the game is desirable (for example, in social networks you can have a very crooked balance, but in the first days after the release, collect statistics and twist it to an acceptable level).

Answer 2

Actually, the question is, how do they think, how much experience to give, how much is needed to the next level, how much money to pour? Not out of my head and not at random. How is all this calculated, where does all this mathematics and mechanics come from?

Do you need a technique? Or ready made solutions?
Isn't it more interesting to come up with it yourself?
Here the usual logic goes,
look at the code of text-based RPGs
, or at least the same browser games.
The developer must calculate the balance himself, at his own discretion.
For example, if it will be too easy to play = uninteresting.
Or let's say the game becomes too difficult, then some will not stand the nerves and they will leave.

Answer 3

See the Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) rules system