Playing with Balance
Game Economy Design
- Publisher's listprice GBP 51.99
-
24 838 Ft (23 655 Ft + 5% VAT)
The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.
- Discount 10% (cc. 2 484 Ft off)
- Discounted price 22 354 Ft (21 290 Ft + 5% VAT)
Subcribe now and take benefit of a favourable price.
Subscribe
24 838 Ft
Availability
Not yet published.
Why don't you give exact delivery time?
Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.
Product details:
- Edition number 1
- Publisher CRC Press
- Date of Publication 27 March 2026
- ISBN 9781032971599
- Binding Paperback
- No. of pages400 pages
- Size 229x152 mm
- Weight 453 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 74 Illustrations, color; 74 Halftones, color 700
Categories
Short description:
Playing with Balance: Game Economy Design is your guide to understanding why games are unlike any other medium: they are built on verbs, not nouns. Players don’t just watch or read—they do. Every choice, action, and interaction forms part of a living system designed to engage, challenge, and reward.
MoreLong description:
Playing with Balance: Game Economy Design is your guide to understanding why games are unlike any other medium: they are built on verbs, not nouns. Players don’t just watch or read—they do. Every choice, action, and interaction forms part of a living system designed to engage, challenge, and reward.
Great game economies are about far more than numbers or virtual currencies. They are intricately designed systems that blend anticipation, frustration, fear of missing out, and the relief of success. Through systems thinking, we can create experiences that keep players coming back—not through manipulation, but by balancing curiosity, challenge, frustration and satisfaction across days, weeks, and months of play.
Oscar introduces the three loops of engagement - Core, Context, and Culture - showing how they build authentically on intrinsic player motivations to create value loops that feel desirable, meaningful, and fair. These foundations provide a framework for designing progression, difficulty, and rewards that truly resonate with different kinds of players. You’ll discover why ethical design isn’t just the right thing to do, but a commercial necessity—and why short-term exploitative tactics inevitably undermine long-term loyalty and success.
Drawing on deep industry experience and insights from leading designers, this book combines diverse perspectives with practical tools to help you calculate value, balance economies, and adapt from launch through LiveOps.
Whether you’re building a small indie project or running a massive live game, Playing with Balance: Game Economy Design gives you the tools to craft mechanics that feel alive.
MoreTable of Contents:
1. INTRODUCTION, 2. DEFINING AN ECONOMY, 3. DEFINING A GAME ECONOMY, 4. WHY DO WE PLAY? (AND PAY?), 5. WHAT IS A GAME ANYWAY?, 6. THE THREE LOOPS, 7. UNDERSTANDING UTILITY, 8. FUNCTIONS OF EXCHANGE, 9. SINKS AND SOURCES, 10. BALANCE, 11. VALIDATING YOUR GAME, 12. EVOLVING ECONOMIES, 13. SUSTAINABILITY AND ETHICAL DESIGN, 14. GAME DESIGN PRINCIPLES IN OTHER INDUSTRIES, 15. CONCLUSIONS
More
