Wardog’s boss on balance: “we won’t even get it right” by season 2
The pursuit of perfect balance in a massively popular game is often a balancing act between developer ambition and player chaos. In the fast-paced world of competitive gaming, where exploits and optimal loadouts are discovered faster than patches are released, the challenge of tuning a title like Wardogs has become a central focus for its creators.
Joe Brammer, the boss behind Wardogs, has been candid about this persistent difficulty. He acknowledges that true game balance is rarely a solved equation, suggesting that figuring it out is a long-term endeavor that may not even be fully resolved by the next season. This reality is underscored by the competitive nature of the gaming landscape, where players in various genres—from fighting games to Call of Duty and MOBAs—quickly uncover advantageous strategies, pushing developers to constantly adapt.
Wardogs proved the viability of this approach, selling three million copies in a short period. Despite this success, the inherent difficulty in maintaining equilibrium became a constant point of discussion. Brammer himself admitted that the development team faced a significant hurdle, stating plainly, “we definitely have a balancing issue.”
When addressing community feedback, the developer sought to balance honesty with anticipation. While some players were excited about the game’s progression, others were looking forward to anticipated changes, such as progress wipes. Brammer noted that the current development cycle was intentionally managed, suggesting that the developers kept the season short while they worked on necessary adjustments.
Despite the acknowledgment of internal challenges, Brammer pinpointed what he saw as the greatest failure in the project: the lack of proper balancing itself. He posited that since balancing is an evolving process, the ultimate outcome is always a matter of time and adaptation, with the producer warning that achieving perfect balance in the next season remains an uncertain goal.
However, Brammer shifted focus, identifying the true stumbling block as external to the game mechanics. He suggested that the real failure lay not in the numbers, but in the community infrastructure, pointing out that the team’s larger issue involved community servers and the decision not to host official infantry and level cap servers.
Nevertheless, the team remains firmly committed to the project. Brammer affirmed that they are currently in an ongoing process of learning, adapting, improving, and fine-tuning the game, always keeping the long-term vision in mind. The commitment is clear: continuous evolution, even amidst the complexities of competitive development.
Buy on Amazon
Credit
