Day 90: FotLC through the 113 lenses from The Art of Game Design

Day 90 - Lens 53: The Lens of Balance
There are many types of game balance, and each is important. However, it is easy to get lost in the details, and forget the fig picture. Use this simple lens to get out of the mire, ask yourself the only important question:

Does my game feel right?
Saying 'mostly' doesn't feel very satisfying... saying 'Yes!' feels arrogant and overconfident. I 'think' that my game feels mostly right. I think that it needs to have a bit more tension. I think it's probably good that that tension can be lacking for players learning the game and that as players become comfortable with the mechanics that they will apply pressure on each other and that that will ratchet up the tension to the level I would like to see.

I have been messing with the end game a little and I think that removing the head taking makes the end of the game feel less well defined. I also think that that section of the game didn't add a lot to the game other than that sense of a defined ending. Removing it raises the point value of the other aspects of the game, which is good.  I think that with another couple of iterations on the end game mechanics that part will feel right. Probably It's just a mater of making the end of the game trigger when a player moves onto the last city... making the game end the following turn. Doing that would allow the other players to take the capturing players bases, but then not be able to challenge for the city, or to move to the city to challenge, which is what the head taking accomplished in a much more complex way.

So, I think the 'feel' of the game is right, but that I still need to iterate on some small details a bit.