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I'd rather have someone tell me that my game is too hard than to be told it's too easy.
InfectionFiles- 09/03/2014 10:53 PM
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CloseThat's an interesting opinion! I want people to at least be able to continue the game.
I'd rather my game be way too easy than hard.
I'd rather my game be way too easy than hard.
Yeah, it's a thin line to walk. Do you have it be too hard and the person can't advance? Or too easy and the player is bored because they weren't challenged? And given that a player's ability to play any given game is a crap-shoot, I've been thinking more and more about multiple difficulty levels being useful.
The real problem is where the difficulty lies. If difficulty can only be overcome by grinding, then you're doing it wrong. If you actually have enough tactical moves to do, setups to change and equipment to adjust to make it work, then that hits the spot.
Difficulty can equal frustration if done poorly.
Difficulty can equal frustration if done poorly.
ivoryjones
75
Hmm I'd have to agree with Gourd here. Usually because if someone says your game is too hard, most of the time it's implied that they won't likely complete it, rather than a game that's too easy...
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
Hard in what way?
Hard as in, "This boss has so many different attacks I need to watch out for! If I reconfigure my party setup, I should be able to defend against Attack X, Y, and Z, but I'm still open to Attacks A, B, and C. But maybe if I set this character to..."
^^ This is good.^^
Hard as in, "I KNOW this guy's attack patterns, but I need to spend an hour over here grinding for levels"
^^ This is stupid. ^^
I want to feel like I'm accomplishing something. Grinding for an hour to beat a boss isn't accomplishing anything other than wasting time.
Hard as in, "This boss has so many different attacks I need to watch out for! If I reconfigure my party setup, I should be able to defend against Attack X, Y, and Z, but I'm still open to Attacks A, B, and C. But maybe if I set this character to..."
^^ This is good.^^
Hard as in, "I KNOW this guy's attack patterns, but I need to spend an hour over here grinding for levels"
^^ This is stupid. ^^
I want to feel like I'm accomplishing something. Grinding for an hour to beat a boss isn't accomplishing anything other than wasting time.
It depends on the game. If it was made to provide a challenge, then too hard may just be people not up to the challenge... however, if I'm telling a story, I'd rather it be too easy.
It pays to remember this: you can breeze through your game easily enough because you know where every fucking item, treasure and weak-point is. Your audience doesn't, so if you think your game is a challenge when you play it, it'll be much harder for other players who don't know everything.
Of course, if you actually tell them shit in the game a few times and they don't bother reading (especially in the case of an RPG)? Fuck them. I've had some people complain about certain games where I literally loaded the town full of items and they just traipsed into the dungeon without even gathering a few of 'em and got slaughtered because 'OMG MONSTERS DO FUCKING DAMAGE!!!'. In and RPG. Where townsfolk mention that monsters are dangerous and that you should use items.
Honestly, some people are stupid and/or just don't pay attention to what is being said in a game. The thing is that you have to try to head off their stupidity as much as you can or else all you'll hear is whining from the idiot-quarter. This means not allowing sequence breaking, making sure NPCs will recycle information that was just given/there's a diary function in case the player was distracted or stupid, spelling out tips for harder monsters, slapping items in their faces because god forbid they grab the 7 fucking chests that are staring them right in the face on the very first map they appear in*... You know, idiot-proofing. >.<
Frankly, when playing a game I prefer easy to hard, especially if there's a good story. I don't want to get stuck and never see the end of the game. Now, if it's a sandbox game I can forgive it a bit, but when a game is plot-centric? Yeah, no.
*Yes, I am still sore about that one how could you tell?
It pays to remember this: you can breeze through your game easily enough because you know where every fucking item, treasure and weak-point is. Your audience doesn't, so if you think your game is a challenge when you play it, it'll be much harder for other players who don't know everything.
Of course, if you actually tell them shit in the game a few times and they don't bother reading (especially in the case of an RPG)? Fuck them. I've had some people complain about certain games where I literally loaded the town full of items and they just traipsed into the dungeon without even gathering a few of 'em and got slaughtered because 'OMG MONSTERS DO FUCKING DAMAGE!!!'. In and RPG. Where townsfolk mention that monsters are dangerous and that you should use items.
Honestly, some people are stupid and/or just don't pay attention to what is being said in a game. The thing is that you have to try to head off their stupidity as much as you can or else all you'll hear is whining from the idiot-quarter. This means not allowing sequence breaking, making sure NPCs will recycle information that was just given/there's a diary function in case the player was distracted or stupid, spelling out tips for harder monsters, slapping items in their faces because god forbid they grab the 7 fucking chests that are staring them right in the face on the very first map they appear in*... You know, idiot-proofing. >.<
Frankly, when playing a game I prefer easy to hard, especially if there's a good story. I don't want to get stuck and never see the end of the game. Now, if it's a sandbox game I can forgive it a bit, but when a game is plot-centric? Yeah, no.
*Yes, I am still sore about that one how could you tell?
A game being too hard will frustrate players and make them give up.
A game being too easy might be boring.
This is why you always have difficulty settings.
A game being too easy might be boring.
This is why you always have difficulty settings.
This status isn't regards to much or anything that someone told me (though I've been told my games are hard, but they are beatable shown by players)
But anyways!
Liberty nailed it on the head!
So, I just started active production on my Infection prequel game and it's legitimately been awhile since I've touched it and definitely since I played it!
Well I forgot where items and enemies were and actually had a hard time because it felt new and unexplored.
Probably one of the best things that could have happened for me and its development.
I added more easy items and made exploration more rewarding and it made it easier but in a good way, you have to work for it but it does pay off.
I do believe though that easy games are worse than hard games because I can't stand when something is too easy. That's why levels are a happy medium and the best.option. I probably won't do difficulty levels because I want a single experience to be played.
I don't have a traditional RPG game so there isn't a power scale from easy to hard, it's also not very long time-wise so again it starts out hard and really only gets slightly harder.
So I'm ramblibg now so gonna cut it off here, loved all the responses and thanks everybody for your thoughts on the matter. :)
But anyways!
Liberty nailed it on the head!
So, I just started active production on my Infection prequel game and it's legitimately been awhile since I've touched it and definitely since I played it!
Well I forgot where items and enemies were and actually had a hard time because it felt new and unexplored.
Probably one of the best things that could have happened for me and its development.
I added more easy items and made exploration more rewarding and it made it easier but in a good way, you have to work for it but it does pay off.
I do believe though that easy games are worse than hard games because I can't stand when something is too easy. That's why levels are a happy medium and the best.option. I probably won't do difficulty levels because I want a single experience to be played.
I don't have a traditional RPG game so there isn't a power scale from easy to hard, it's also not very long time-wise so again it starts out hard and really only gets slightly harder.
So I'm ramblibg now so gonna cut it off here, loved all the responses and thanks everybody for your thoughts on the matter. :)
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