So, i have been developing a 6 v 1 game for a while now, and i have been wondering, how to properly balance it and make it fun for both sides?
The idea is that its a 6 seekers vs 1 hider combat based game with the hider having beefed up stats but not overpowered to the point that the seekers feel helpless
My issue is that i have absolutely zero experience with game design and balancing so i cant really figure out the ideal stats
Do i dynamically update the stats to match the amount of players alive?
Personally I just write a system how I intended to write it and then playtest it and change numbers until everyone I’m playing with agrees that it’s fun, if number changes don’t work then I go to modifying the systems entirely.
For example, a while back I was developing a shooter. That shooter had a jetpack in it used for double jumps.
Initial testing had people complaining about spamming the jetpack, so I added a cooldown to it.
When I tested again, I had complaints that the cooldown was too long but people were still spamming it.
So, I then lowered the cooldown but made the jetpack have 3 charges, which only recharged while the user was on the ground. This system was the solution everyone liked. It made the jetpack spammable enough to be fun, but not spammable enough to cause issues in gameplay. The charge system also made people think more about when they used it.
tldr, don’t try to judge balance based on what you think is fair or not. Design things how you want to, then modify them based on feedback received. Of course, you’d want to receive feedback in a more closed testing environment rather than live servers with actual players.