How can you ensure your game is both fun and fair for all players?

1 Define your core gameplay loop

The core gameplay loop is the set of actions that the player repeats over and over again in your game. It is the foundation of your game design and the source of your game's fun. To ensure your core gameplay loop is both fun and fair, you need to define its goals, challenges, rewards, and feedback. Goals are what the player wants to achieve in your game, such as completing a level, defeating an enemy, or collecting an item. Challenges are what the player needs to overcome to reach their goals, such as obstacles, puzzles, or enemies. Rewards are what the player gets for overcoming the challenges, such as points, items, or progress. Feedback is what the player sees, hears, or feels to know how they are doing in your game, such as sounds, visuals, or haptics. By defining your core gameplay loop, you can create a clear and consistent game design that is both fun and fair for all players.

2 Adjust your difficulty curve

The difficulty curve is the change in the level of challenge that the player faces as they progress in your game. It is a crucial factor in your game's fun and fairness, as it affects the player's motivation, engagement, and satisfaction. To ensure your difficulty curve is both fun and fair, you need to adjust it according to your game's genre, audience, and goals. For example, if you are making a casual game, you might want to have a gentle difficulty curve that gradually introduces new concepts and mechanics to the player, without overwhelming or frustrating them. If you are making a competitive game, you might want to have a steep difficulty curve that requires the player to master complex skills and strategies, without making them feel hopeless or bored. By adjusting your difficulty curve, you can create a game that is both fun and fair for all players.

3 Implement your game networking and multiplayer

If you are making a multiplayer game, you need to implement your game networking and multiplayer features. Game networking is the process of sending and receiving data between the game clients and the game servers, such as player positions, actions, and states. Multiplayer features are the aspects of your game that involve interaction and cooperation between multiple players, such as chat, matchmaking, leaderboards, and teams. To ensure your game networking and multiplayer are both fun and fair, you need to consider some key issues, such as latency, synchronization, cheating, and griefing. Latency is the delay between the input and output of the game, which can affect the responsiveness and accuracy of the game. Synchronization is the consistency of the game state across different game clients and servers, which can affect the fairness and reliability of the game. Cheating is the use of unauthorized methods or tools to gain an unfair advantage in the game, such as hacks, mods, or bots. Griefing is the deliberate act of ruining the game experience for other players, such as trolling, spamming, or team-killing. By implementing your game networking and multiplayer, you can create a game that is both fun and fair for all players.

4 Test your game extensively

The final and most important step to ensure your game is both fun and fair for all players is to test your game extensively. Testing is the process of finding and fixing errors, bugs, and glitches in your game, as well as collecting and analyzing feedback, data, and metrics from your game. Testing can help you improve your game's quality, performance, and usability, as well as your game's design, balance, and polish. To test your game effectively, you need to use different methods and tools, such as debugging, playtesting, user testing, and analytics. Debugging is the process of identifying and resolving errors in your code, using tools such as editors, compilers, or debuggers. Playtesting is the process of playing and evaluating your game yourself, using tools such as consoles, emulators, or simulators. User testing is the process of letting other people play and evaluate your game, using tools such as surveys, interviews, or focus groups. Analytics is the process of measuring and analyzing data and metrics from your game, using tools such as dashboards, reports, or graphs. By testing your game extensively, you can ensure your game is both fun and fair for all players.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?