Hard enough for you?

mevok

New member
May 29, 2015
1
0
0
Visit site
Hello all,

I've created a game for iOS that, due to link posting limitation for new members, I cannot tell you about yet! :tongue:

That's fair enough of course. So instead I thought I'd ask people's opinions on game difficulty levels. Throughout my game's development and well into beta-testing, it was apparent that the game was considered very hard by the majority of players. And all this time I have asked myself whether this might be considered a strength or weakness of the game.

As a developer you naturally know your project inside and out. You play-test it over and over, getting each game element just right, so you have a lot of experience of it. And as a result you can play it with ease. You even begin to worry that it might be far too easy. Then you watch your first beta tester struggle during the first stages of the game and have to reassess your thinking and make adjustments.

With so many alternative games available out there, do players spend as much time learning to master a game as I did during the 80's and 90's? Back then you probably only had one game at a time in use. You would have paid a lot to buy it, often on the basis of just a few fuzzy screenshots on the back of the box, and would simply persevere with it until you got the hang of it.

Today, with so many games to choose from, many free, it seems a high initial difficulty level would be a hindrance -- that there would be an evolutionary trend towards ever easier titles. Yet on the other hand, a game like Flappy Bird became a massive success; some would say entirely as a result of how ridiculously difficult it was to play. I suggest that probably became it's defining characteristic.

So what do others think? All other things equal, does a difficult game put you off or do you instead treat it as a challenge?
 

Ledsteplin

Ambassador
Oct 2, 2013
50,164
694
108
Visit site
Welcome to iMore! Make yourself at home and enjoy the site! I think Flappy Bird was an anomaly. There were many copy cats that followed, most of which had little success. In my opinion, even the hardest level of difficulty should be attainable by the upper third avid gamers. You don't want them to lose interest because it's too difficult.


☮