Combat Power Inflation Part 3: Horizontal Design and Challenges

We need systems to support players staying for the long term, and we have to create strong feedback through visible and invisible Combat Power.

However, high Combat Power growth can create an inflation problem.

📌Horizontal design is one of the most helpful ways to reduce Combat Power inflation while still supporting a large amount of gameplay experience in F2P games.

How does horizontal design work?

• Horizontal design creates progression feedback without stacking all power into one Combat Power number.

• Horizontal design stores part of the player’s power as selectable options outside the active build.

• Horizontal design limits players to equipping only part of their options in the active build.

This approach helps players gain more gameplay experience while reducing visible and invisible Combat Power accumulation. The player owns many prepared items, but only equips one set for the current situation. That is horizontal design. The power is not only stacked vertically into one Combat Power number. Part of the power is stored in the inventory as future solutions.

⚠️Switch cost is the main challenge of horizontal design. In F2P games, every investment has a cost. If players switch away from their main build, they may feel they are losing the value of their previous investment.

We need to think about:

• How can we make the time investment feel fair?

• What is the acceptable switch cost?

• What benefit can justify the switch cost?

• Could we create more fun during the preparation time and convert it into a positive experience?

💡A good horizontal system needs to make switching feel valuable, not painful. The player should be able to prepare a new option with an acceptable cost, while still having long-term optimization depth after the first switch.

✅Example: Diablo III Armory as Horizontal Design

The system allows players to collect and prepare different weapons and armor sets, but before entering battle, they only select one build:

• Build A: Boss damage

• Build B: Dungeon clearing

• Build C: Survival build

• Build D: Team support build

Other horizontal systems:

New characters, heroes, cards, rebirth systems, rune systems, and gem systems.

There are many different systems that can support horizontal design. I may show more examples later.

#GameDesign #F2PGameDesign #GameEconomyDesign #GameSystemsDesign