Will players appreciate my difficult game?

Discussion in 'Public Game Developers Forum' started by Appvism, Sep 11, 2013.

  1. Appvism

    Appvism Well-Known Member

    Feb 9, 2013
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    Hi all,

    I have a new iOS game coming out very soon called Switch (in iTunes, it'll be called Switch - Dodge and Destroy, pending approval). Its a horizontal scrolling dodge em up, where the aim is to complete the game without dying by either dodging or destroying the on-screen action. More info about the game can be seen here: http://www.appvism.com/projects/switch.html

    I have made this game fairly difficult and challenging to complete, with no lives and no continues, instead aiming for the joy of completing it with a single life (or 1 credit clear/1CC).

    My question to you guys is: Do you think iOS users/gamers in general will appreciate/enjoy this (is there a market for this?) or do you think most people will complain about the difficulty?

    The game plays like an endless runner/scroller, but there is an ending.. However, with only a single life and no continues, it is not forgiving and will show no mercy for careless mistakes (especially if made near the end!)..

    Interested to get your thoughts on this as both a developer and a gamer.

    Thanks for any feedback!
     
  2. lena

    lena Well-Known Member

    Mar 26, 2011
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    There is a market for tough games, but most succesful tough games do the exact opposite: they're difficult but forgiving, either having lots of checkpoints, or very short levels so that restarting isn't as irritating. I'm afraid you will be artificially limiting your audience a lot with this. Why not offer two modes: hardcore mode, with no lives, and easier mode, with multiple? Spunk & Moxie did this well (as do many other games, but this one comes to mind).
     
  3. Foursaken_Media

    Foursaken_Media Well-Known Member
    Patreon Indie

    Exactly... there is a big difference between "difficult" and "frustrating"... but its very easy to mix the two up.
     
  4. Destined

    Destined Well-Known Member

    Aug 11, 2013
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    #4 Destined, Sep 11, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2013
    no significant market for that. I think you alienate the key casual market. That said you need to really heavily reward progress like endless runners if you want this to work.

    If you really want that in your game you can add a hardcore mode or something.
     
  5. araczynski

    araczynski Well-Known Member

    Oct 5, 2009
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    programmer
    omaha, ne
    to each their own (there's an audience [of variable size] for any genre and difficulty), but I personally detest difficult games. I started gaming in the mid 80's so have seen the gamut, but the only constant that made me enjoy a game is a good story and progression. difficulty tends to frustrate me, especially now that I'm older and get paid for solving difficulty/tasks, I don't want to pay OTHERS for adding more of it to my life.

    i think/believe that every game that's ever made should have mechanics/options to cater to as broad a market as possible in terms of difficulty. it should not be difficult to appease both the hardcore permadeath freaks and those completely on the other end of the spectrum, who have better things to do than repeat things ad naseum(sp).

    some people play for epenis achievements, some play to relax at the end of a long day.
     
  6. 8-Bit Avrin

    8-Bit Avrin Member

    May 10, 2012
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    I think the harder you make a game the smaller target audience you'll have. I would implement different difficulties and include an option for the user to change it. I usually play games on normal. I don't have much free time and I play games mostly to relax and reduce stress so I'm personally not a fan of "hard" games unless it's a puzzle game like Portal 1 & 2.

    Good luck with your game, it looks neat.
     
  7. jdstorm

    jdstorm New Member

    Sep 3, 2013
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    Just make extra lives an in app purchase. problem solved. everybody wins
     
  8. lepke

    lepke Well-Known Member

    Aug 30, 2013
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    Japan
    Difficult or easy most important is to make a good game.
     
  9. crazykingjammy

    Nov 9, 2011
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    flow

    in short, unforgiving games blows peoples high. (flow)

    The concept of a split second to make a decision for all or nothing is very anti-focusing.

    The idea is that the unforgiving missions and tasks are not imposed by the game itself, but the player in the strife to attain perfection. This type of physcology explains that you wont get as mad if YOU spill the milk on your computer, vs your younger brother spilling the milk on your computer.

    Aside from early arcade games, I dont know much memorable games that are absolutely unforgiving. And even early arcade games, while it was one hit death, you had lives to continue right where you left off.

    Perhaps you can add health? This allows players to make a mistake, and give the experience that they have control over themselves to apply more to the moment as they just lost a life.

    The idea of regenerating health adds even more flow, because when the player makes a mistake it adds hope that they are in control to fully redeem this mistake. This is very flow inducing.
     
  10. Appvism

    Appvism Well-Known Member

    Feb 9, 2013
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    Hey all,

    Really appreciate you honest thoughts and opinions here, thank you! Since my game is more like a dodge em up, with a strong shmup influence in general, i think that's why i wanted to focus more on difficulty/hardcore/pattern memorisation!..

    I've actually bitten the bullet and i'm adding in continues, if available, for the player. Instead of dropping in a nasty iap, my plan is to make it points based so score a certain number of points and you get a credit to continue if you die (or save it up for later).

    As suggested, adding a difficulty level is also another option that i'm thinking of. Perhaps, keeping my current level as hard/normal and making an easy mode with less objects and at a slower scrolling speed.

    But i do want to keep the game as simple as possible, with the focus is on the gameplay.

    Cheers,
     
  11. Destined

    Destined Well-Known Member

    Aug 11, 2013
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    geometry dash could be a good model for you to follow level wise.

    They also have a "practice" mode where you can continue when you die.

    Super hexagon is the only unforgiving game I have liked, but even then it is only 60 seconds of your life!
     
  12. neilw711

    neilw711 Well-Known Member

    Nov 19, 2012
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    App Developer
    Virginia, USA
    Like what everyone else says, create different difficulty modes. My game was actually really difficult for the majority of players and they all complained. The best thing I should've done was to create an easy mode so players can get used to the gameplay and then challenge themselves with a more difficult mode.
     
  13. Destined

    Destined Well-Known Member

    Aug 11, 2013
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    When I teach game coding to kids where I work I always say your first level should be a cakewalk to allow your user to get used to the game! This is especially true if you want them to graduate from free to paid.
     
  14. klink

    klink 👮 Spam Police 🚓

    Jul 22, 2013
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    No thank you
    USA
    #14 klink, Sep 13, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 13, 2013
    The best games make the user feel like that they accomplished something special. So it needs to appear very challenging but doable through the use of skill and strategy. You need to slowly ramp up the difficulty level and add extra challenges as you go along. Creating an easy or practice mode just insults the users intelligence. Take the original Sonic or Mario games for example. They start out challenging but doable but as you progress through the game the difficulty level goes up exponentially. If you go back and play the first levels you can't believe how easy they now are. So maybe it's not that your game is too difficult it's that it needs to be better crafted to prepare the user for the challenge.
     

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