This article was written in response to my peer's attitude to balance. For people with no math education balance quite often looks like black magic. I wanted to alleviate this anxiety and explain balance in common terms without using math or formulas. After all, it's all about the gameplay feel and motivations we put into the game. Math formulas are only one way to express that.
The first part tells about combat and situational balance.

The second article is about balance for rookies. It tells about progression balance, dynamics balance, and opportunity costs.

This article is basically an illustration of how to use Machinations framework (the idea, not the tool itself) in design. It shows how to decompose gameplay into resources, establish links between those resources, and with that knowledge evaluate or create new gameplay.

An introductory-level article about prototyping. The article is targeted at amateur audiences to show the idea that one doesn't need a fully designed and implemented game (or other product) to check if the idea is good or bad and if it will find audience response.

The gamers will optimize the fun out of the game. Between fun and optimal they will take the latter. It's our job as game designers to ensure that the most optimal way is also the most fun. It's a simple take, but surprisingly too often overlooked. Here I tried to highlight how games can influence player behavior by manipulating what's optimal in the game.