⚡8 Boosters | ⏱️23 min How does this help you?
It gives you the tools to design fair, engaging and emotionally satisfying games by mastering the hidden systems behind progression, challenge and player trust. From economy loops to power curves, it teaches you how to build systems that feel fair, flexible, and rewarding. You’ll walk away knowing how to shape not just gameplay, but how it feels.
You will learn
✅ How to build fair matchmaking.
✅ How to balance game economies.
✅ How to design with balance early.
✅ Why players feel balance, not see it.
✅ How to use time to boost engagement.
8 XP Boosters Inside
Does this feel balanced?
Understanding the Seven Kinds of Balance.
Systems Thinking or How Everything Connects.
Build Economic Systems and Use Time as Currency.
Progress Curves or How Growth Feels.
Multiplayer Balance and the Metagame.
Tools of the Trade: Spreadsheets, Simulations, and Iteration.
Design for Fairness, Not Perfection.
Authors
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.
Game Balance by Ian Schreiber and Brenda Romero
If you’ve ever built a game (or even just played one), you know when something feels off. This XP Booster helps you fix that. It’s about making games feel fair, fun, and worth playing again.
Game Balance is by Ian Schreiber and Brenda Romero, two people who’ve been designing and teaching games for years. And this isn’t some dry theory. It’s full of real-world advice, practical tools, and the kind of insights that stick with you.
Most people think balance just means adjusting numbers. Make the sword hit a little harder. Nerf the sniper rifle. But the truth is, game balance is about way more than stats. It’s about pacing, perception, and how the player feels moment to moment.
In this XP Booster, you’ll learn how to balance difficulty, progression, and resources… how to design systems that stay fun over time… and why game balance isn’t something you do once, it’s something you keep doing as your game grows.
So let’s jump in and take a fresh look at what really makes a game feel right.
