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Making difficulty curves in games

http://www.davetech.co.uk/difficultycurves
24•hakkikonu•3d ago

Comments

ComputerPerson•58m ago
Difficulty settings, though. He mentions them only briefly (in this incredible article).

Normal varies so much.

As a "cozy" gamer, I want the standard setting to be something I can play without having to switch my context to to the internet for help or a guide. This was one of many triumps of Baldur's Gate 3: the difficulty settings make sense in how they translate to gameplay, and the default is fun.

teamonkey•34m ago
What is ‘normal’ is unfortunately subjective and can mean a lot of different things to different people. Also often what is listed as ’hard’ is often normal, because most people will see ‘normal’ and decide they’re better than that and have a miserable old time.
ComputerPerson•31m ago
This reminds me of UX. Seems like it could be a subdomain.

I think I disagree with your basic point, though what you say about normal vs. hard is funny. I'm fortunate enough to work with a UI/UX pro, and these things have right answers; they're incredibly obvious after they've been explained to you.

reactordev•54m ago
Experience curves are just as important.

However, this article reminded me of this meme

https://imgur.com/gallery/eve-online-learning-curve-jj16ThL

nkrisc•20m ago
This will depend on the game of course, but the best is when you can adjust the difficulty of mechanics individually.

City builders do this a lot where you often have lots of difficulty settings you can adjust to tailor the game to your preferred playstyle.

I’ll also say this: if you’re making a game and you add in a mechanic or mini-game that is not typical of the genre, make it optional or provide a way to skip it. Few things things in gaming piss me off more than a memory or Simon Says puzzle in an MMO or similar. If I wanted to play puzzle games, I’d be playing a puzzle game, not your game.

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Making difficulty curves in games

http://www.davetech.co.uk/difficultycurves
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