The level of challenge in the game, as determined by the relative ease of the gameplay.
4
votes
1answer
145 views
What is the logic behind these design decisions regarding difficulty levels?
In some games you are unable to play on the harder difficulties before complete it on a lower difficulty. Why?
Achievements are popular. In some games you do not get an achievement for completing the ...
3
votes
1answer
79 views
How should I balance temporary buffs to make my game fun?
As a game developer, I understand many players (usually in RPGs) expect short term buffs to be available to them, such as potions, war cries, drugs, etc.
As a player, I've never understood what fun ...
0
votes
1answer
39 views
Matching game difficulty
I'm currently making a matching game where the player is given a color or image type and the player has to click on all of the matching colors of images as fast as possible. My problem is how would I ...
5
votes
2answers
156 views
How can I make my Color Mixing game more difficult?
I am making my first game and it is coming out too simple. Are there standard "techniques" to making it more difficult?
The game is pretty simple. Picture the game 2048. When you slide in a direction ...
0
votes
2answers
104 views
Incentive for players to choose hard difficulty
In a single-player game with difficulty settings, it seems obvious for players to choose the easy difficulty setting. How can I make incentives for players to choose harder difficulty settings?
1
vote
1answer
53 views
Word Puzzle: Less or more difficult [closed]
I'm working on an app which is a Word Puzzle. Player has to arrange about 10 words in correct order to solve it.
I have two options to build it:
Give user feedback (right or wrong) when he has put ...
12
votes
7answers
2k views
How do I design very difficult games? [closed]
I would like to design games with very high difficulty levels. I have read these questions:
How is game difficulty tested/balanced?
What is an optimum failure rate that will keep people coming back ...
5
votes
6answers
1k views
How can I know how difficult a question is?
I'm making a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" style of game. I'm really stuck at the part where I should arrange questions from easy to hard.
Isn't this subjective? How can I tell how hard/difficult a ...
1
vote
1answer
136 views
Approach to puzzle generation
I have a task in hand about making a puzzle generator, that can fill a game board with colored pearls, that then needs to be solved by the player.
The core rules are
Pearls are placed in a grid, ...
82
votes
5answers
8k views
What is an optimum failure rate that will keep people coming back to my game?
I'm guessing some research has been done into this but I can't find much information. The question might be a bit too vague in itself as it depends on so many other factors.
I'm developing a puzzle ...
4
votes
4answers
3k views
How can I procedurally generate the right difficulty of enemy waves? [closed]
I'm programming a space-shooter mobile game with a sandbox gameplay style similar to Defender's.
The player faces infinite waves of enemies moving towards his ship.
The game has many upgrades the ...
4
votes
2answers
249 views
How can I estimate the difficulty of user-generated content in my puzzle game?
I'm making a puzzle game where one player makes a puzzle, and other players attempt to solve the puzzle the first player made. The puzzles are a grid of squares that may contain different kinds of ...
8
votes
3answers
806 views
How can I scale the number and challenge of enemies in an attack wave as the game progresses?
I'm currently making a defense game where enemies will spawn and attack the player's army. It's similar to a Tower Defense game, except there is only one level. The enemies will keep spawning until ...
3
votes
3answers
2k views
Algorithm for game difficulty/pacing curve generation in single player RPG
I'm looking at this article about pacing in entertainment and games. It suggests that all good entertainment roughly follows a pacing/engagement curve like Star Wars(below).
I'm interested in how I ...
7
votes
4answers
225 views
Measuring enemy “success” against player
I've been toying with an idea for a game prototype where the player must defend against waves of enemies, but between each wave the enemies "evolve" to better combat whatever tactics the player is ...
1
vote
3answers
278 views
How to properly handle equipment enchants
In my game, the player starts with a set of equipment and unlike many other hack-and-slash RPG's, this base set of stuff never changes - the player never acquires a new weapon or armor.
The only way ...
44
votes
13answers
3k views
How to make some monsters appear more dangerous than others?
My game is an open-world co-op MMO with retro graphics, permadeath and no leveling system.
The problem I'm facing, is the fact that I don't know how to make some monsters appear harder than others. ...
4
votes
1answer
533 views
Music Rhythm Game Difficulty Question
I have curious question about music rhythm based genre while I'm making a code for the game. Is it really better if I set a random pattern encountered on every music played or there is a specific ...
1
vote
1answer
2k views
Connect-three game: Increasing level-of-difficulty as play progresses
I'm writing a connect-three type game (think Chuzzle, but without all those nasty locks, and with no big chuzzles) and I'm trying to figure out how to increase the level of difficulty as play ...
17
votes
7answers
25k views
What name should I give each difficulty level? [closed]
I have a game with 4 difficulty levels (or levels of AI) and I'm wondering what to name them instead of the boring Easy, Normal, Hard, Impossible.
13
votes
6answers
1k views
How is game difficulty tested/balanced?
How is game difficulty typically tested or balanced so that there's a steady progression of difficulty; how do I ensure that no level is too difficult or too easy for its point in the game?
Are play ...
