Game Difficulty - Trials?

[Sean Doherty]

I'm experiencing a rather annoying problem! Every week or two I release the next iteration of my game. However, I am finding that my test group is finding it extremely hard. In fact they are having trouble getting past level one and two.

The problem is that I find this levels so easy that I can almost complete both levels without even moving? I guess I am not a good judge of the game's difficulty. The main problem is that it is actually fairly easy to complete the levels if you follow a few standard tactics. One of the tactics that does not work happens to be retreat. Guess what everyone seems to do as soon as they run across an enemy they haven't seem before?:)

Anyone has any rules of thumb on how difficult a trail version should be? I'm kind of thinking of having the trail version be the first six levels. However, at the rate that I going to need to ramp up the difficulty, I'm not sure your going to see much of the game.

Thanks

[svero]

I think it depends on the kind of game it is and what audience you're targeting. One thing I would say, is that the demo should be balanced in a way that most players (in your target audience) won't have too much trouble completing the demo. Assuming this is a level by level game, which seems to be the case, I expect players will need to complete the free levels to consider buying. So you don't want anyone stuck on level 3. With that in mind I'd lean towards it playing too easy vs. too hard. It's a delicate balance though, because if the game isnt challenging at all then maybe it's not fun. But again, that depends a bit on the target audience.

[Sean Doherty]

Does anyone have an opinion of games whether a game should allow you to continue from the last level you lost? Shooter style...

Thanks

[Vorax]

I am doing that in my game kinda. If the player dies, their score and men are reset, but they can choose to continue from there. Since their score is reset, they are starting all over again on the high score list. The only way to get the absolute best score is to start at level 1 all over and go all the way.

I am trying not to get people stuck, but I am also worried that they might wrap the game to quickly. I am curious what others are doing as well.

[chanon]

In cases like this, maybe you could explain the tactic you use as a hint/tip message in the first levels of the game. Explain it as part of the tutorial that the best way to pass the level (or defeat the enemies) is to use this and this tactic. If there are many tactics required, you should explain them one at a time a level each. Each level adding a new tactic for the player to understand. This way you might not have to adjust the design of the core gameplay too much (if you don't want to).

If people still naturally use the "retreat" tactic even though you advise other tactics in the game, then maybe you need to adjust the design of the gameplay so retreating is more forgiving.

I know this may seem to take away the fun from having the player "discovering" the tactics on their own, but .. well .. it depends on your target market. Some people just won't give the game a second/third try if they can't win the first few levels.

[Anlino]

Why don't have checkpoints, etc a new station at each tenth level? When you have finished level 10, 20 or 30 and so on, you can choose to start from there. But since i am making a level-per-level puzzle game, i really can't give you any tips from experience, so take my advice with a grain of salt;)

[Teq]

ooh, thats a toughie, I guess (as a player, rather than programmer) I prefer to be eased into a game for the first run, nothing that tries to undermine my intellect, but enough 'guidance' for me to get into a game, I've a short attention span, so long winded tutorials, or simplistic levels just turn me off, I want action with a few tips and without an interuption to the flow of gameplay.

[Ronkes]

Anyone has any rules of thumb on how difficult a trail version should be? I'm kind of thinking of having the trail version be the first six levels. However, at the rate that I going to need to ramp up the difficulty, I'm not sure your going to see much of the game.

The purpose of a demo is not to show as much of the game as possible. The purpose is to sell your game and the way you do that is by letting the player have as much fun as possible.

If I play your game and it shows me all the cool stuff that it has to offer, then I'll probably think something like: "Wow, this game has a lot of cool stuff." If I play your game and I'm finishing levels and having a good time, I'll think something like: "Wow, I rock at this game." That last reaction is the one you are looking for, because it's about me instead of about the game and that makes me more likely to purchase the full version.

I recently wrote an article about learning curves (http://www.casualgamedesign.com/?p=27) on my blog Casual Game Design (http://www.casualgamedesign.com/), which might be useful to you. In your case I'd say that the retreat tactic is 'common knowledge' since most/all of your testers are using it. Therefore, you should allow this tactic to be used, especially in the earlier levels.

[Anthony Flack]

Hmm, the solution depends so much on the game...

If the levels are extremely hardwired to be a certain difficulty (like a logic puzzle game), then I'd say put those levels in later and make some easier ones to come first.

If the game is a bit more accommodating towards variable tweaking, I'd say give it several difficulty settings. Make your standard one "hard" and create two more progressively dumbed-down versions for "medium" and "easy". Hard-down is the way I'd recommend you tackle this in any given situation - it's easier to strip stuff out to make it easier without messing up the play balance than it is to whack extra stuff in to make it harder.

If people really want to retreat, you might want to consider punishing them less for it. At least early on. Or, if that's really against the spirit of the game, find ways to encourage them to charge in. Give them the hurry up...

Continues - again, it totally depends on the game, and how it plays out. I was thinking about different ways to handle this for ages, until I decided to get rid of lives and continues altogether - who needs em? I just keep a score for each level you play, and a total score for all levels combined. You can go back and replay a level at any time, if you want to try to improve your best score. And finishing a level unlocks the next one (well, there are some branching structures in there too, but that's basically how it works). Cuts down on player frustration, means I can make some proper hard levels without punishing people too much, and it encourages people to search for ways to maximise their score on each level, which they otherwise may not bother with. (nb: in my game, we're talking about 60-odd levels, usually about 2 minutes long, to give you some idea).

[Sean Doherty]

Continues - again, it totally depends on the game, and how it plays out. I was thinking about different ways to handle this for ages, until I decided to get rid of lives and continues altogether - who needs em? I just keep a score for each level you play, and a total score for all levels combined. You can go back and replay a level at any time, if you want to try to improve your best score. And finishing a level unlocks the next one (well, there are some branching structures in there too, but that's basically how it works). Cuts down on player frustration, means I can make some proper hard levels without punishing people too much, and it encourages people to search for ways to maximise their score on each level, which they otherwise may not bother with. (nb: in my game, we're talking about 60-odd levels, usually about 2 minutes long, to give you some idea).


What if you have a game where players are able to upgrade their weapons over the course of the game? It stands to reason that if they can play level one with the weapons from level 50 they will do a lot better than they did with level one weapons. My only concern here would be the online high score?

[RohoMech]

I think a huge part of your solution is going to require looking at your target audience and thinking about how much time they'll want to invest in getting good at your game.

Most shooter games (Ikarugi, Mars Matrix, Dodonapachi etc) are *hard* very hard, people spend a ton of time mastering them and showing off. I don't expect that from a "casual gamer" who wants to play something during their coffee break.

I totally agree with svero on the "lean towards easy" thing. People might see your game as really easy, but they'll probablly play the demo to completion. If they get stuck on level a few times, they'll think the rest of the game is much harder and give up right away.

I think if you look around at most of the casual gaming portals, and try those games out, you'll get a good idea of what difficulty should be. Most of them let you finish a level in 5-10 (at which point they save). Levels get harder kinda slowly but they introduce a lot of items really early in the game to keep it fresh and interesting.

Hope that helps, and good luck, its not an easy problem to deal with.