u/ErrorUncertainty

For games with multiple different upgrade routes and options available to the player, how are you balancing them 1) against each other, and 2) against the progression of increasing enemy difficulty?

I would guess the gold standard is "a lot of playtesting", but I'm assuming there must be lots of spreadsheets and maths and attempts to simulate different scenarios to get it roughly right first?

What systems do you use for this? What goes into making them?

Platform(s):
In-browser, HTML/Flash/etc.

Genre:
2D Space Shooter (Probably vertical scroll but I can't remember)

Estimated year of release:
Late 2010s maybe?

Graphics/art style:
IIRC: Classic 2D space shooter, dark and gloomy, greys and accent colours, relatively detailed

Notable gameplay mechanics:
Grid routing weapons system
The key feature of this game was that each ship (you could unlock more) had a certain amount of grid space inside, through which you would map out a route for your lasers or whatever to path through the space, being enhanced by booster grid squares and other powerups along the way, before exiting the ship at designated output points. You had to make the most powerful weapon you could. You would then fight with the ship.

This was not just another of the many 'modular' ship building games where you add components to the outside of a ship - the key difference was the set grid inside each ship you could use, and the routing of a weapon path through that grid. Half of the game was finding the most efficient routing of this path with the resources you had available.