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. Game Balance 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. FEATURES The first and only book to explore game balance as a topic in depth 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 Contains powerful spreadsheet techniques which have been tested with all major spreadsheet programs and battle-tested with real-world game design tasks 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 Written by award-winning designers with decades of experience in the field 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. Brenda Romero is a BAFTA award-winning game director entrepreneur artist and Fulbright award recipient and is presently game director and creator of the Empire of Sin franchise. As a game director she has worked on 50 games and contributed to many seminal titles including the Wizardry and Jagged Alliance series and titles in the Ghost Recon Dungeons & Dragons and Def Jam franchises. . Language: English