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February 21, 2009
Difficulty Post Crossed to GamaSutra
A couple of days ago my post on "managing difficulty" went up on GamaSutra. Lots of great comments over there, some of which I'm addressing here.
One thing to keep in mind is that there's a meta-rule when you're discussing any aspect of design, and not just design for games. Design with your audience in mind. My "tips" were specifically intended for games with wide, mainstream appeal, often accompanying a license.
Also, I didn't discuss the latest critical darling, Left 4 Dead in the post about difficulty, and not because I don't have thoughts about it, but more because I'd need more information to make an informed decision. However, the bulk of the comments focused on the story manager, which I think is a bit separate from difficulty -- the story manager manages a sort of difficulty, but within an overall difficulty setting. We have been playing the game on Hard in our co-op group, and the difficulty is just right -- hard enough that we have to do encounters a few times to get them right, but not so hard that we can't -- but basically, that's a factor of overall difficulty, and not specifically of the story manager. So, I'm not sure how I'd talk about it, though it's an absolutely splendid implementation. Stephen Chin does make an interesting remark about more experienced players coming in for more attacks in L4D... I haven't noticed that, but if true, it's a great way of managing difficulty in a co-operative game.
Story management, however, is definitely a very interesting area and one worth mentioning. I think this is a technology many will be attempting to rip off from Valve in the years to come. I do like Spencer McFerrin's suggestion on the GamaSutra post that the world and fiction reinforce what's going on in the difficulty space -- it's a variable we know about, why not design a little dialog system around it? Great thought.
I did stay away from Bethesda games, though not consciously. I'm a bit too close to Fallout right now to be objective, and I haven't been through a cycle with the design team yet thinking about our audience. Also, who knows, they might not be happy about it if I talked about it here. Also, I play relatively few open world games, and so I don't have much basis for comparison. And they aren't licensed games. So, they were pretty far from my mark.
Bart Stewart mentioned unique challenges, places where it's okay to be a little harder. I agree with this, so long as they conform to the other rules; it should be easy to change the difficulty levels in these contests, and the easiest setting should be completable by anyone in your potential audience.
I got a comment on the blog and I'll reiterate here -- we need to permit people who are motivated by challenge to participate alongside those who aren't. If the dial is there to change difficulty "whenever", well, don't turn it if you want the challenge. I would say, in response to one of GamaSutra's posters, that though Jedi Knight offered additional rewards to players who finished the game on harder difficulty levels, this unfortunately broke the rule about not giving rewards for difficulty that make the game easier. Great idea, though, and maybe a stretch goal for players. Some others in the post commented on this as well, but it bears repeating.
Post-post Erratum: So, actually, I was wrong about this. I happen to have one of the designers from Jedi Knight in town, and he clarified for me. The Light vs Dark Force Power bonuses in the game at the end of each level were for a) not killing (or killing) the non-combatants, and b) for finding secrets, as far as he recalls.
Rubberbanding came in for some heat; I haven't formed any opinions about that. I prefer games in which the driving AI can manage on its own, but I haven't really thought about it enough to speak intelligently, so I'll just leave that one up to developers who work in that space.
OK, I'll keep an eye on the post and round-up for any more comments I might have missed. If anyone's come over from GamaSutra to visit, thanks for dropping by! Give me a shout in the comments, let me know you're lurkin' :)
Posted by Brett Douville at February 21, 2009 09:48 AM
Comments
A couple more things:
* Post has gone live over at GameSetWatch (http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/02/opinion_ten_tips_for_managing.php) and is getting some comments there as well.
* Jason Seip commented about difficulty and God of War, which would ask you if you wanted to drop the difficulty level after you died platforming a few times (whereas difficulty only appeared to affect combat, and therefore wouldn't help you). Good point! You have to be careful there, and while I applaud God of War for watching what was going on with the player, a little more care has to be taken.
Posted by: Brett Douville at August 4, 2009 08:00 AM