Universe at War Designer Diary - Universal Balance and Structure

Released at the tail end of last year, the real-time strategy game Universe at War: Earth Assault depicted a struggle for global conquest between three very different factions. Now developer Petroglyph--the studio behind the popular Star Wars real-time strategy game Empire at War--is hard at work bringing Universe at War to the Xbox 360. Here to talk about the game's transition to Xbox Live--not to mention the balancing process that brought it to release in the first place--is Petroglyph's lead designer of multiplayer and balance, Chris Rubyor.

Universal Balance and Structure

By Chris Rubyor
Lead Multiplayer/Balance Designer, Petroglyph

First, let me start by saying balancing an RTS is no easy task. The initial launch balance alone can take up to a year depending on how the factions are designed. The best you can hope for is hitting the 90 percent-balanced range. When an RTS game ships, it is safe to say that there will always be a series of patches to fix the remaining issues the hardcore fans find. My job is to get the unit balance and economy systems as tight as possible, so casual players can still have an enjoyable experience without ever having to download a patch.

In the early stages of development for Universe at War, the design team created three very important balance goals. First, every faction must feel and play differently. Second, unit combos and mixing are vital to mid- and late-game strategies. Third, pacing must feel good for both PC and console players. Whenever we found ourselves straying from the path, it was this set of goals that helped to center our focus.

Now, how do you get RTS factions to play and feel different? It's all in the design and theme of the faction, and of course, time. From the beginning of development, we knew Novus was going to play fast but be more fragile than the other sides. The Hierarchy was all about mobility and power. For the Masari, we went with a more traditional RTS design, but added a modal twist that allows players to alter offensive and defensive states through the use of light and dark powers.

At the very core of UAW, the unit balance boils down to some very simple methodology. Is unit "X" good against vehicles, aircraft, or walkers? Is unit "Y" good at destroying structures or infantry? Before we started balance, a matrix with this information was created for all the units found in UAW and used to weigh the strengths and weaknesses of each faction. This chart was instrumental to the core balance of UAW. It helped to ensure units didn't spill out beyond their desired roles. The matrix helped to flush potential issues with early-, mid-, and late-game tactics. It was also instrumental in helping the balance team find unit combinations that needed strengthening.

When it came time to get our hands dirty and start the long process of balancing, we decided to go back to our C&C roots. Instead of crunching the numbers, we went with a "how do the units and combinations feel in combat" approach. Do they feel overly powerful? Can they be countered? Is the unit fun to use? Visually, does the unit's damage match the graphical effects? Most importantly, does the balance fit the faction theme? To help this process, our code team had multiplayer up and running very early in the project. This was crucial to obtaining feedback quickly on unit functionality and balance. So for 10 months we played multiplayer games daily, taking in feedback and adjusting units.

The final element to our balance efforts and a concern for the console was pacing. We knew that spammy gameplay and quick build times wouldn't work on the console, regardless of how good the interface is. At the same time, we didn't want the game to run like a turtle in a rabbit race. After months of experimentation and testing we were able to home in on what worked for each faction. If I had to come up with a comparison so that gamers could visualize what we did, think of it as a cross between C&C Generals and Starcraft. This encompasses build times, unit speeds, popcap, economy, and the time it takes for units to be destroyed. Honestly, it's eerie how the pacing and balance seem to come together. Maybe it's because we were so focused on how the units felt and played in combat versus crunching the numbers on a spreadsheet.

Overall, the design team feels the balance and pacing in UAW hit the 90 percent mark and caters to both console and PC gamers. We are really happy with how everything turned out. I would also like to mention, since the PC version was released earlier, 360 players will get the benefit of four months' worth of map and mission polish, camera zoom tweaks, and unit balance updates.

Now, let's dive into some the multiplayer features console players can expect to see when they log into Live.

When we created the matchmaking structure for UAW, it was important to us that the system was easy to navigate, allowed players to browse and join games seamlessly, and offered some fun features. Also, the multiplayer environment needed to have a positive feel so that both console and PC players could coexist in one happy virtual universe.

As a fan of the Xbox achievement system, it was exciting to be able to get an opportunity to work with the feature. Of course for UAW we wanted to offer players more than just gamer points as a reward for their long hours and dedication to playing the game. So we expanded the Xbox achievement system by allowing players to unlock unique medals. What's fun about these medals is that they are faction-specific and provide unique buffs that can be used during gameplay. In addition, we created a set of shared medals that players will be able to configure through UAW's embedded "medal chest" system. So if you just started playing UAW, you can still join the battles prepared. Our goal with the medal system was to add additional value to the achievements players earn for all the hard work they put into the game.

Another exciting new feature we added to Universe at War is "Conquer the World." In this mode players are presented with their own personal view of Earth. After they have selected their faction, players can proceed to conquer territories around the globe. When matching starts, players will be connected with other players of equal skill. Also, CTW is designed to work with interoperability, so opponents can be either PC or console players. Once a player has conquered the planet with a specific faction, they can either start over with an increased level of difficulty, or continue with all territories conquered. There are also a handful of achievements tied to this mode, so competition should be fierce.

In addition to conquer the world, players can match via "Ranked" games against others of equal skill. Similar to conquer the world, ranked games are set up to be interoperable. This mode is tied to UAW's embedded leaderboard system, so players can check out their ranked standing at any time. Another feature about the Universe at War leaderboard system is that players can look up details about any player on the ladder. Not only can they check out their Universe at War achievements, but they can compare stats, challenge players, and even send private messages.

For standard custom match games we designed the interface and features to give players the ability to easily set up or find matches. Players can customize their games from a wide variety of maps and options to create a fun and unique experience. One of my favorite features is the ability to turn off "Hero Respawn." With this set to "off" players really need to look after their heroes, because once they are destroyed, they don't come back.

Lastly, console players will be able to view and save replays from all their online game sessions. These will be awesome to use for bragging rights, especially when it's a PC player getting crushed by a superior console veteran.