About design problem solving and balancing the game mechanics, some real handy tips from great devs can be found in GMTK recent videos:
- Indetify the core of the problem instead of reckless fixes.
- Fast iterate between possible solutions and compare for the best.
- De-construct and list all the possible alternitive parameters, determine which of them cannot be adjusted otherwise the mechanism/characteristc will break, and which of them can be tuned. However, the root cause might actually be the ones you think cannot change, at such time, kill your darling!
- Make big changes. Double it or cut it half will give you more intuitive feeling about if that change is leading the design to the right fix.
- Reverse between punish or reward. If a punishing mechanism didn’t work so well, try make it into a rewarding way with flipped logic.
- Solve it elsewhere. If something is too tricky to solve in a system, try solve it in another system. See examples of UI design and pace fixing of TLOU 1.
- Study player behaviour. Compare in detail how different types of players play the game and find the difference, use it to adjust the design.
- Consider the big picture. Any adjustment to the game might bring unexpected effect to entwisted systems in game, test the change before go live.
- Mind the resource needed. Balancing adjustment should be made in simplest way and with fewest resources, otherwise the schedule will break.
- Test! Test! Test! Don’t tell the play-tester how you fix the problem, just see the natural outcome of the fix to confirm if it’s right.
Learn from Nintendo (Daddy).