Process
Pressure and countermeasure
You might say: the brake response
A pressure raises a cost, threat or scarcity signal; a countermeasure supplies negative feedback that reduces its effect or changes the available choice.
- What it does
- Converts imbalance into a new decision instead of an automatic win.
- Ask
- What response can the player recognise and choose?
What to look for
- Cost, threat or scarcity rising
- A countermeasure reducing its effect
- An available choice changing under pressure
Sources
- Michael Sellers, Advanced Game Design: A Systems Approach, ch. 7, p. 249
Combat can also be considered an ecology: two or more sides (player character versus monster, for example) attempt to “balance” each other by their actions—a nice way of saying that they each try to kill the other.
- Ernest Adams and Joris Dormans, Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design, ch. 6, pp. 113–117: negative feedback as counter-pressure
The losing, rather than the leading, team can field an extra player for every N points of difference.
- Ian Schreiber, Game Design Concepts, Level 16: Game Balance, balance types, dominant strategies and counterbalancing techniques
Give the disadvantaged players some extra resources.
- Ernest Adams and Joris Dormans, Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design, ch. 4, pp. 66–70
You have to balance your long-term goals with short-term requirements such as the protection of your base.
- Ian Schreiber, Game Design Concepts, Level 5: Mechanics and Dynamics, Feedback Loops; Use of Feedback Loops: opposing loops counteract pressure
as the player gets ahead of the pack, the opponents start cheating
Use it on your project
teardown-apply: hold "Pressure and countermeasure" (pressure-countermeasure) from the teardown at https://teardownatlas.com/game-design/ against my project
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