#240 Ryan Scott Aims for Balanceable, Not Balanced
Design AxiomsSeries
Ryan “Morello” Scott joins Dirk and David on the show to discuss his design axiom: balance isn’t important, but balanceable is critical. Ryan discusses why planning ahead for a balanceable piece of content is critical to avoid making balance feel chaotic for players and designers alike. With his experience working on League of Legends and Riot’s new FPS, Valorant, he shares specific examples of where balance went wrong and steps designers can take to make things right.
Episode Outline
01:09 Ryan Scott explains the basics of his axiom and how he arrived at that axiom
05:05 The basic process for character creation in a multiplayer game like League of Legends or Valorant
07:25 How to tell in the early design phase if something is balanceable or not
09:31 Examples of League of Legends champions that weren’t balanceable and caused problems
11:34 Does this axiom apply across platforms? Or is it only for multiplayer digital games?
14:16 Talking about balance in a broader sense and choice competition
21:26 Examples and counterexamples of this axiom
27:09 What does a balance-first focus look like, as opposed to balanceable?
29:55 Managing expectations and communicating with the community about balance
38:28 Ryan turns to Valorant’s character design and how Riot applies this axiom
47:16 Advice for designers wanting to implement this axiom in their own designs
In this Episode
Ryan Scott - @RiotMorello
David V. Heron - @davidvheron
Dirk Knemeyer - @DKnemeyer