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Questions tagged [difficulty]

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The level of challenge in the game, as determined by the relative ease of the gameplay.

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15 votes
5 answers
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Suppose I’ve got a game which is split into levels (level 1, level 2, etc). I might decide on locking levels. That is, when a player first boots up the game, they can only play level 1. Once they have ...
Robin's user avatar
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30 votes
3 answers
6k views

In designing many different types of games where a player's skill is a factor in progressing through the game, one is able to put challenges ahead of a player of varying difficulties. For example, in ...
Robin's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
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I work on a simple arcade game. The player controls a diver. The diver moves forward at a constant speed. The player can use input controls to move the diver up or down. Along the way, the diver ...
Erel Segal-Halevi's user avatar
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26 votes
12 answers
8k views

For a sidescrolling shooter I’m working on, I got stuck on the following: The game allows the player to buy upgrades for their character. This oppertunity comes in the form of a shop that sits at the ...
tkers's user avatar
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1 vote
4 answers
313 views

I'm developing a game where products fall from the sky, and you need to catch them. A bomb also falls, and if you catch it, you die. I have 3 different products with 3 different scores. I want the ...
Diego Alcu's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
2k views

I'm using RPG Maker MZ to make a game but am having extreme difficulty in developing good systems for leveling my characters and making for a challenging, but fair and balanced battle (especially with ...
EmptyArray2500's user avatar
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0 votes
0 answers
113 views

I'm making a roguelike (not a deck builder though) heavily inspired by slay the spire. I'm looking to flesh out my ascension style difficulty levels with creative and interesting penalties for the ...
Harry's user avatar
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24 votes
8 answers
7k views

There is currently a lot of discussion in the World of Warcraft playerbase about a recently added feature: Horrific Visions. Visions are personal areas you can enter alone or with a handful of players ...
Nzall's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
817 views

I am targeting mass casual audience as I am developing the hyper-casual game. The problem is that I have played Helix Jump and Color Bump 3d and those games have a pretty big difference in difficulty ...
Ruslan Plastun's user avatar
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16 votes
4 answers
6k views

I am currently making a run 'n gun platformer, in which the player dies instantly when they get hit. I'm curious how to make this feel fair. I'm aware of putting checkpoints frequently enough, ...
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5 votes
3 answers
457 views

I am making an classic 2D arcade ball game. There will be 100 levels in this game. And after the 80th level passing the level by doing some arcade stuff will be very difficult. For example level 100 ...
Tarkan Genç's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
2k views

I am developing a small, turn-based game with spaceships. The user-controlled spaceship has two modes, let's call them offense and defense mode. The user can freely switch between modes. There are ...
AerisLeg's user avatar
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8 votes
3 answers
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I've though about creating the game for the easiest difficulty level, and from there scale up and create the other, more difficult difficulty levels, but I'm not sure it's the fastest way to go. How ...
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4 votes
1 answer
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I love rage games and have made a rage game too, but I always wondered how to test if levels in these types of games are too hard or not, since it's ironically too hard to test. For example: If I ...
Noodles's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
553 views

Introduction I'm creating a game where the player can obtain 1 to 3 stars for each level based on the score it gets (based on the completion time). The levels are grouped in "worlds" each of which is ...
Carlo Moretti's user avatar
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-2 votes
1 answer
154 views

It is kind of like a theoretical question. I was trying to make a game like Pineapple Pen just for the sake of learning libgdx more and just for fun . Pineapple Pen is pretty hard game but there is ...
Sagar Balyan's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
286 views

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 ...
Mike Hunt's user avatar
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3 votes
1 answer
520 views

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 ...
MackTuesday's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
416 views

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 ...
Yatoniea's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
631 views

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 ...
DasBeasto's user avatar
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0 votes
2 answers
226 views

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?
clickbait's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
153 views

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 ...
Balkrishna Rawool's user avatar
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12 votes
7 answers
4k views

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 ...
4rlekin's user avatar
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6 votes
6 answers
2k views

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 ...
user52711's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
220 views

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, ...
Nils Munch's user avatar
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87 votes
5 answers
9k views

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 ...
Will Calderwood's user avatar
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4 votes
4 answers
6k views

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 ...
glampert's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
518 views

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 ...
snollygolly's user avatar
  • 141
9 votes
3 answers
2k views

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 ...
TommyBs's user avatar
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4 votes
3 answers
5k views

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 ...
Alex Stone's user avatar
  • 573
7 votes
4 answers
378 views

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 ...
Lewis Wakeford's user avatar
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1 vote
3 answers
554 views

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 ...
PeterK's user avatar
  • 373
44 votes
13 answers
4k views

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. ...
Nick's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
1k views

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 ...
David Dimalanta's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
3k views

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 ...
Raceimaztion's user avatar
  • 440
18 votes
7 answers
45k views

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.
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Steve T
14 votes
6 answers
3k views

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 ...
Bob's user avatar
  • 750