Designing PERFECT difficulty for my indie game! | Devlog

[@Challacade]

I've received a ton of good feedback regarding scaling difficulty, and I've reconsidered how to address this. There will definitely be an option to turn it off, or opt into Master mode where the game is locked at max difficulty. I'm still open to more feedback on this.

[@Bub.tv21]

How did you achieve this adaptive difficulty in code terms?

[@Caveman835]

I'm struggling with the first boss fight, and ngl I kinda rage quitted. Every time I wanted another go, i had to wait about another 2mins before I could have another try. Really annoying and I think you should add a save point near the bosses.

[@charliejooste399]

As a fan of harder games I’d like to see an option to have persistent difficulty so when beating a hard boss it’s clear beating it was a result of my own skill improving rather than the game getting easier

[@AtomSpirit_]

Agreed

[@thetrollboy]

Yeah, if I didn't know the game had adaptive difficulty and then finished it and found out that I didn't improve the game just got easier as I went I would be super bummed. I feel like transparency with difficulty and being able to switch and change stuff is always the best route for player experience.

[@Dommy610]

I was about to reccomend this.

[@PanzerSparrow]

I agree, but then the adaptive difficulty wouldn't be a hidden mechanic anymore. I don't like adaptive difficulty, but for now it seams that is what Challacade is checking out and this solution would make the adaptive difficulty know to all players, leading to a lot of them turning it off. And at that point it's just a glorified choose your difficulty option

[@mitigamespro8757]

Maybe bosses shouldn't have adaptive difficulty applied to them, only normal enemies. Since bosses usually have mechanics that you're able to learn, and you can actually get in the mindset of trying to beat them, instead of just having annoying normal enemies that make your day harder. Just an idea ofc.

[@billydrink]

the main problem I have with difficulty in games is that more often than not a higher difficulty just means higher stats. High difficulty should be a test of skill, not patience. A game that I believe does this really well is Dan the Man in which hard mode enemies do have slightly higher health, but more importantly they all have new or evolved attacks.

[@Legendary_Honey]

Terraria also does this very well, and rewards the player with higher difficulty exclusives items, which is a touch that I really like. You learn the game at a lower difficulty if it is daunting to you, and then get rewarded for playing at a higher difficulty when you feel more confident.

[@PipPanoma]

This was touched upon with added projectiles and attack speed.

[@Oofator]

​@@Legendary_Honeylaughs in master mode

[@JoseDiaz-hx7fv]

@@Oofator laughs in Death Mode (Calamitty exclusive)

[@freddyspageticode]

I like Nintendo's typical approach to this (which i think GMTK made a video about at one point) whereby there is the main sequence of objectives (i.e. progress to the next level, beat this boss, etc) and then there are optional more difficult objectives (collect all the stars, beat a secret boss, etc). I think this solves the problem in an interesting way by allowing players seeking an easier challenge to find that easily, and those seeking more difficult challenges will find them as well with just a little bit of effort, and it's clear that the experiences are separate. It's also more seamless than having to commit to an explicit difficulty setting right off the bat.

[@Shellshock5280]

you should be careful with this because there's no worse feeling than when you're working on overcoming a challenge and it gets noticeably easier. in most games we can tell and it is not fun. I've always believed in having a static difficulty but this can be done well

[@Lay_Dax]

A good rule of thumb is to frame everything you want players to like as a reward. So instead of it lowering when you struggle, have it start at the low level and quickly rise to meet you. Additionally instead of letting players use strats or item that are easier but with less rewards, let them use strats or items that are harder but with greater rewards. Ultimately it is an identical system content wise, but its presentation and progression is different. Also I would still add accessibility options that the players has to toggle on or off, as no system will be perfect, so its better to cover your bases instead of investing into just 1 system.

[@melkerhallstrom9339]

I’m not physically disabled myself but it makes me very happy to see that you consider the experience of people that are for your game as well! The game is looking great so far, I can’t wait to play it :}}

[@PipPanoma]

I've seen comments on evolved attacks that are more than just stat increases. You could learn from FFXIV, where they design the hardest difficulty of a fight first and then remove mechanics for the lower difficulty. Additionally, I think you could implement something like Smash Bros or Kid Icarus Uprising with a visible difficulty meter that you can only completely fill up by playing well. By not keeping the difficulty a secret but presenting the highest difficulty as an achievement, you could keep the challenge aspect of playing a high difficulty without sacrificing adaptive difficulty.

[@Le_soupion]

Personally I'm not a fan of the adaptive difficulty, it doesn't feel like you've beaten the game, but rather that it's let you beat it. This could be a good idea if it's an option you can leave unchecked, so those who want the full experience can still enjoy it.

[@MaxFrostbite11]

Maybe the game could base a base difficulty (like the aforementioned "medium") and it can not dip lower then that. The game won't sell you the win but rather try to stop you if you are to good.

[@ewanlier7148]

well if you dont know it does feel like you have beaten it, i think there should be a setting to always keep it on hardest but your not present with the option at the start

[@rmt3589]

You sound like you enjoy roguelikes.

[@Kennedy00Louis]

Like some others said, it'd be nice to have an option to have the difficulty constantly at max for anyone who wants a challenge all the way through. Re4 unlocks the Professional mode when you beat it once, so you can play again with max difficulty and it never goes down.

[@antoniodavidelombardi2556]

I like how in Dark Souls and Elden Ring difficulty settings are provided by in game options like summons and Spirits and build variety. I would like for your game the introdaction of Pets for exaple: Dog, fairy, ghost, spirit, ecc. (If the idea of Pets doesn't suit the setting of your game, even a passive object such as a medallion or a ring could be fine.) And they may heve descripions like: Feiry: "this companion is perfect for inexpirients travelers (the mob are more calm and it heals you)" or Dog: "this companion is a trouble meker but he has a good sense of smell (the mob are more aggressive but evry "X" mob killed your dog finds a wepon)". (Sorry for any grammatical errors, English is not my first language)

[@metawarp7446]

Wow I like the pet idea. I can just imagine how souls fans would react to a hidden difficulty modifier :p It would be crazy

[@stephen5070]

Maybe the player can equip difficulty medals which can increase in game rewards, and to unlock bonus content for additional replay value. The Boss medal makes fighting bosses super hard but you’ll get an overpowered weapon for winning which will spawn even more enemies in dungeons and teleporting out is disabled so you have to fight for your freedom. For me personally each difficulty mode need to be unique to keep the game fresh.

[@sparklingwater925]

I do like the idea of voluntary debuffs.

[@yahirdoesbadvids]

Bug fables does basically exactly that. there is no difficulty slider, but in the begining of the game you get a badge that you can put on that makes the game harder in exchange for increased exp and loot (and special items for beating bosses with it on.) And you can remove it or put it back on any time you want. Obviously as a turn based RPG difficulty scaling in that is different and is limited with what it could do, but I think it's a good concept as it's a risk reward system that is encouraged from the beginning without taking away intent of the original difficulty of the game (nor does it lock you into that difficulty)

[@goldwarlord]

Another possibility to scale difficulty is providing more/better items. The extreme case of this is the Invincible super leaf in Mario 3D world. In your game I guess mobs could drop more healing items, weapons, etc

[@jaminweil8645]

I love how far this game has come.

[@siidaf]

It's a good idea but unfortunately many users may find that the difficulty varies and would give the game the feeling of being less real. Furthermore, even if few players notice, they will tell others. An alternative method could be the following: 1) the initial difficulty is fixed (obviously) 2) the difficulty gradually increases during the game (obviously) 3) If a player is very good, the difficulty will increase faster. If a player is weak, the difficulty will slowly increase. The difficulty never diminishes additional technique: in addition to the main plot you could add secondary missions: if the player is good, these extra missions will be difficult; if the player is weak, these missions will be easier

[@antonioromano6362]

I think having certain challenges increase the difficulty for the rest of the game is also a good thing, but I do agree that the difficulty should never decrease below the baseline, it just doesn't seem fair even if ultimately it's the same thing. Completing certain sections flawlessly or generally going a long time without dying could change the whole in-game world, and it could be both a noticeable or hidden effect, with maybe the option to revert these changes if you just got (un)lucky

[@zupreme3520]

Most people mention how they don't like feeling like the game let them beat it by becoming eaiser, but I would like to give an anecdote on the opposite extreme. One finger death punch has adaptive difficulty in a speed percentage that is visible and speeds up the entire game if you've been doing well and slows it down if you're not. I generally always did well but got annoyed that I felt like the game was punishing me for being too good at it, giving me a harder challenge for the same reward, trying to achieve a perfect score on a level became impossible while it would be easy for a worse player. My main takeaway is that transparency is good and at least having the option to lock the game to a persistent difficulty tier would be preferable. Also, having cooler rewards for higher difficulty generally helps alleviate frustration since you don't feel like you're getting artificially gated for no reason, atleast there's some upside to it.

[@soninhodev7851]

one thing that video games do sometimes is this, they make the main game one difficulty level, but they then add optional challenges that can be completely skipped and that are much harder than the base game example: strawberries in celeste, the KONG letters in donkey kong country games, you get the point.

[@saparapatepete]

Something you can do is to also adjust the rewards depending of the difficulty level. For example, in harder mode, enemies may be smarter or have harder patterns but drop more rewards and in easy mode give less rewards but be easier. That's easy to implement if your game has a form of loot and/or enemies that drop coins when defeated.

[@wolf_li]

As a Dev who been making enemies for the last few months it's very reassuring watching this since I was doing a lot of this for simplification purposes since I can c&p the code for new enemies but yeah, can totally make these values variables to not only adjust difficulties/mod support but also you could add a complex bonus menu to allow players to crank the difficulty up in a lot of ways after they best the game. Almost like a in-depth kind of cheats menu from classic games. Good stuff. 👍

[@Tantandev]

Wow, I've never really thought of adaptive difficulty! I will try and implement something like this for my game, it would fit very well, thanks for sharing!

[@clerklyant2983]

i really appreciate the sprite work ,It all comes together very cohesively.

[@PolyCons]

Yeah, and the character is just... wow! How does he come up with character design so well?

[@aladvs]

Pssst... update your devlog playlist. Aside from this, your game is turning out really well! I really love the aesthetics and it feels really nice to play. I'm currently working on a similar game and your demos have helped so much figuring out what feels good to play and I really appreciate it. Keep it up!

[@xeniaa777]

I love the fact that you listen to all feedback and take time to read comments❤❤

[@quintondeanmusic]

Having enemies/nodes that read themselves as data is so helpful. Great job. Game is looking great

[@Mushrooms683]

If you could somehow change it so that instead of doing "better" or "worse", the game calculates PROGRESS, I think that would be ideal. If the player's been putting in effort and getting nowhere, it might be time to reduce the difficulty a bit. So no one gets stuck, but if you are up to the task, it's authentic.

[@liamduguid]

I really liked this difficulty feature in Bastion. Basically you could unlock these totems, then after you'd unlocked a totem you could choose to toggle it on and increase the difficulty in some way like enemies dealing more damage, or more hp, or more of them, or something. You'd also get more currency with more totems on, but honestly I think I would've used them without the currency bonus. It sounds like it's the same as difficulty toggles/sliders/modes in the settings menu, but it felt very different and I actually used it and enjoyed using it.

[@guksungan1267]

Good point. I think the main complaint is the lack of agency and this feature adds that. Also reminds me of "How Game Designers Solved These 11 Problems" video (kzbin.info/www/bejne/qHu9qoOajq6VkKs) where the game attuned to player behavior based on skill level. I wonder instead of a in the face toggle, the game can adapt/design around behavior that more skilled players exhibit.

[@liamduguid]

​@@guksungan1267 "the game can adapt/design around behavior that more skilled players exhibit" This is a cool idea, reminds me of speedrunning, or highscore systems. If there's some thing you're trying to optimise for like speed or score, then a better player might take the more risky option to perform better. You just have to figure out what thing players want to optimise for and if it makes sense to have that incentive in your game. There could be natural ones, like saving time grinding for money, exp, or fighting a boss. If you're a better player you might take the more difficult strategy that happens to save time. But if you're a weaker player you can do it the easy way, improve your skill, then become good enough to do it the faster way maybe. Gotta make sure the slower safer way isn't better than the faster riskier way, or the good players will choose the slow way. Then of course there's the cost of designing and implementing, basic things like the totems that change stats are usually super easy to implement compared to, say designing combat with good risk reward strategies for example. There's nothing stopping trying both either.

[@ChuckDart]

Mom, he posted again!

[@unidentifiedperson1357]

i think changing the abilities of the enemies might be confusing. like all of a sudden it takes an extra hit to kill an enemy you've fought before, or it catches you off guard because their faster than they used to be. i think a better way to do it is to spawn more or less enemies.

[@miguelenriquegarcia-parraq288]

I really like your idea of difficulty. Normally I hate when "harder" just means more damage and more health but making the enemies actually faster, both on walking speed and reaction speed sounds like a great way to keep combat engaging. Great work :>

[@blakesch3774]

Wow, first video of yours I watched, saw your channel through youtube shorts, im an aspiring indie developer, you seem to know a thing or two, i'm subscribing for sure

[@Levi---q7p]

I'm gonna piggy back off of what @jrose705 said and be upfront about adaptive difficulty, and give the player an option to allow a set difficulty setting instead. I'm always going to vouch for more options in any game, because that means you're going to have a wider audience to please. When you force a player into one experience, many people may enjoy that experience, but others won't. That's where a toggle will seriously save you. Make the auto difficulty default, warn the player about it, and then let them choose if they want a specified difficulty in settings. Otherwise, this is super cool!

[@mz_eth]

I used to have a somewhat standoffish perspective to difficulty before I made games, very pro dark souls approach, but after having players play test things, it really makes you sensitive to the scope of players and the learning process for games. great video, its definitely a tricky subject :)

[@Challacade]

Reading these comments I totally understand the different perspectives. It’s tricky finding a solution that makes everyone happy, and the feedback is helpful

[@MrMpa31]

@@ChallacadeThe problem stems from the idea that every game should be for everyone. This is the path to generic mediocrity. There should be games for everyone but not every game should be for everyone. Targeting a niche audience is how we get diversity and variety

[@humble-hedgehog]

I really like the modular approach to your enemy code! One thing you could also try to do is have the difficulty lerp slowly between the two extremes. This way the difference will be less noticeable and players have less chance of "accidentally" getting in the wrong difficulty bracket.

[@Plide]

One alternative I like to adaptive difficulty is ranking systems. For example, in the Mega Man Zero games, you get better ranks on the levels by taking less damage, completing mission objectives, beating the level fast, defeating lots of enemies, and using few cyber elfs (permanent powerups). I'm not sure how suitable it would be for your game, but it's an option I'm personally a big fan of. Players trying to get though the game can just ignore ranks, but experts can try to get the best rank possible.

[@snuffy_tv]

Ive never heard of this kind of difficulty but it sounds super cool

[@johncooper5275]

The more if these I see the more excited I get for this game

[@ACompetitiveHalo]

I think you could handle this the way some RPGs do. You've already done most of the work by making the stats modular. Let the player decide at the start of their playthrough certain paramters like: Player damage - 0.25x --> 3.0x Enemy health/damage - 0.25x --> 3.0x Enemy Spawn Rate - 0.5x --> 3.0x Boss Health - 0.5x --> 3.0x Boss Ability Cycle Cooldown - 0.5x --> 3.0x High-Tier Weapon Scaling - 0.5x --> 3.0x Stamina Cooldown - 0.5x --> 2.0x Ironman Mode - On/Off etc. This way, the player can create their own difficulty level and scale it how they like. It would also make it super easy to create natural challenge modes like "Hardcore Ironman" with all the sliders set to their hardest extremes and Ironman Mode on for the "hardest possible difficulty". Giving players the freedom to create their own difficulty level would probably fare better than determining how hard the game will be for the player by just looking at how often they die.

[@OwenAFK]

I think you should add a cool-down to weapons, by giving each weapon a max amount of uses before needing to wait for it to recharge gives the player a reason to switch weapons while still letting them have a favourite and allowing for more strategic gameplay when it comes to using and switching weapons, also you should saturate the colors in your sprites and backgrounds, just make them a bit lighter and tint their colors a bit like make the grass a bit on the yellow side, I think it’d help the feel

[@lennystudios3.14]

As long as you add a way to turn it off, for challenge purposes, it sounds great!

[@SkylerFoxx-GameDev]

Adaptive difficulty is an interesting concept, and one that I contemplated for my own game at one point. It definitely has a lot of pros and cons, but ultimately I decided to go with a more traditional difficulty selection screen. It is kind of interesting how difficulty is one of those big game design problems that has never found a perfect solution, nor do I really think there CAN be a perfect solution given how the difficulty of any given task is super subjective.

[@randomuser-vs3oe]

I absolutely love the aesthetic of this game.

[@sachadedesse]

Adaptive difficulty feels like the first option you described, with the choices of difficulty, but managed by an algorithm, so in a sense it's like the "worst of both worlds". Plus, you can trick this algorithm by dying on purpose or something similar, so, not sure about this one decision. I personnaly prefer the first idea of "no difficulty settings" at all, but of course it would require a lot of balance work. I think you can avoid people getting frustrated by adding additional or conditional objectives or something similar

[@Challacade]

Ultimately, my assumption in the video is that this mechanic would not be noticeable, because I would not communicate to players that it is happening. To them, there are no difficulty options at all, so to me, that is the best of both worlds. I still believe there’s potential with my idea, but I do understand the flaws it has. I think I will be making some changes.

[@lightningguy14]

Another good way to add difficulty options that feel natural, is to have items or skills that can give you advantage for a price. Like having an item that makes your attack stronger but lowers defenses. And for players who want the game to be easier then can use items that give then small benefits without any disadvantages. Like something that boosts defenses or gives more health. The price for using that items is that it takes up a slot that could have been used for a stronger but harder to use item.

[@aon1086]

I discovered the channel recently, I loved the videos :) I definitely recommend leaving the game for a more difficult direction (of course not to the point of being impossible),I think if the enemies are mechanically good and the game controls are smooth, people will still play and feel more rewarded,After all, every great enemy is a challenge At least that's my opinion, good luck I hope the game works out

[@evilreiko]

1:46 Adaptive Difficulty is fun, in theory. For players, in most games, it's not fun, because player "feels" like he was cheated, and most players will notice it, and don't like it. 0:19 Difficult Options is unfair, because player doesn't know is it too easy or too hard before starting game, plus he can't change it mid-game. As a dev myself, I did lots of research, most interesting option, is having no difficulty, but allow player to choose difficulty seamlessly. For example: in some games, you can pick a long-range weapon, which allows player to easily kill/damage most enemies (so that's easy difficulty), while he could pick another close-range weapon, which player need to attack/dodge/parry most attacks (hard), and then there's mid-range weapon (medium). Another thing is, difficulty by paths, like Megaman & Mario. For example, there's the main path (normal difficulty), and there's optional path where there's a chest, but there's some difficult platforming and enemies guarding that chest (hard), and there's a path that has less enemies but also less items (easy path).

[@Cappy-Bara]

I think it would be important and interesting to have different types of adaptive difficulty based on playstyle. Such as if a player is doing poorly because they keep getting hit vs they are wiffing their shots, then you need to adapt in different ways

[@thesimsdreamer]

I played your demo and watched several of your videos, and I love the aesthetic of your game. I died a bunch as I was playing your demo, and, to put in perspective, I can SL1 Dark Souls. One way to influence the difficulty of a game is the HP pool. You could scale difficulty by giving the player more HP. I also suggest more than 3 hearts initially.

[@szfaner3491]

You might want to look into Titanfall 2 tutorial sequence for inspiration if you will want to define initial difficulty without player choosing one. Basically, they have a track where they measure player performance and allow them to repeat it as many times as they want in order to beat the score, and then the game suggests the difficulty level based on that. You might just want to make a similar process secret. Another thing that comes to my mind is to create an incentive for the player to use more challenging mechanics like perfectly timed strikes, avoiding damage, activating cursed shrine that powers up enemies or bosses etc. in order to get a (meaningless progression wise, or just different but same power level as normal items) gratification from the game like collectibles, some lore etc. In this way, progression could be easier, but more skilled players would naturally gravitate towards those challenges. Stuff like dreamer bosses from Hollow Knight for example, you don't have to beat all of them but if you want then "true ending" becomes possible, but it can just be a side area unlock.

[@NeverEvi]

"I'm gonna kindly ask that you forget everything" My time has come

[@AsmosMaster]

I agree with all the comments mentioning that the adaptative difficulty should be optional and I would take this one step further. I recall some 3D Mario games where when you die a lot on the same level a message appears asking you if you want to use an special item that will make you unbeatable (I think it was a golden leaf) and therefore making the experience more feasible. At that time, where you are frustrated due to failing a lot, having that message only increased that frustration (In my case I don't like having to decrease the difficulty but more of overcoming it) cuz it stop me for a click to continue trying. So, in this case I suggest you to have an special item to spawn near where you respawn and if you try to pick it up a message mentioning that using this item will decrease the difficulty (in whatever way you like) should apppear, which you can accept or not. In this way, even the message will be optional too and having the item at a side will not stop you to continue trying on the same difficulty

[@DavideScarioni]

I think that "Adaptive difficulty" should be an option to choose when I start a new game and not the only and definitive way to play your game: if a player want a challenge, he would like to have the same difficult for all the game, otherwise you "are ruining" his experience imho.

[@uthomaz]

Yes but, i think you could change middle game like Minecraft do

[@naukowiec]

You could add different endings or some easter eggs based on the difficulty level a player completed the level/game with. At the same time, you might want to think about the effect of cheese strategies to overcome difficult monsters. If a player has to cheese their way through your game due to difficulty, but is "rewarded" for it by increased difficulty, which in turn prompts more cheese, they will not be able to enjoy the game. You could keep track of the performance of the player on the input side, i.e. how many times did they swing the sword, how many projectiles they shot, etc.

[@guksungan1267]

Really interesting. I can already see some of the backlash in the comments, but also a direction to address them. I would say it's a presentation problem. Because technically one can play hard mode by just playing better. The challenge is that players have certain expectations, and simply hiding the adaptive difficulty may be abrasive to those assumptions. Hopefully that helps and good luck!

[@michaelhyman3d]

I like what time crisis did where if you beat a certain part of the game fast enough or skilled enough you unlock alternative routes that were more difficult but faster for people who wanted to speed run. The main route was much easier but slower.

[@kamielmonsecour29]

I really want to start making games and you talking about modding your game sounds really fun. I would love to try to make mods for this game when it comes out!

[@petroskorovesis727]

Instead of different objects of the same enemy per difficulty, you could have modifiers on the already implemented attributes (ex. health) where those modifiers would change depending on the skill level. For further customization on the enemy, you could have modifier attributes for each enemy. It could be multiple modifiers like a base modifier and attribute specific modifier. So the total health of an enemy would be enemy.health*enemy.baseModifier. Special modifiers could be derived from the base modifier like: damageModifier = baseModifier*1.2 or your your own equation. Base modifier could be the difficulty itself or calculated through the difficulty. Just some ideas off the top of my head!

[@ahsanramzan7533]

Stopping kids from saying 1st also amazing game been here from the start

[@RohanDaDev]

I gaurantee you, people WILL find out about adaptive difficulty one way or another- usually via steam reviews. This will 100% result in some negative reviews. People like me (someone that plans on buying this game) absolutely hate being fooled like this- and many other players as well especially since you're making a souls-like that doesn't really need adaptive difficulty. I'd highly caution against implementing this as folks in your target audience aren't going to like it. OR if you are going to implement it- be upfront about it and let those that play be able to turn it off.

[@anorthkey]

Maybe also add a way to change how much adaptative difficulty is changing the game, but ye overall adaptative difficulty is not rlly nice so you either make your game accessible or you make it so that people have the choice to change the difficulty

[@RohanDaDev]

@@anorthkey Ye I think a good way is to have 1 'Normal' mode and 1 'Easy' mode Like Furi OR just have accessibility settings that can dial down some things.

[@jeffamz]

this game feels so well!!

[@tuopi27]

as an idea, i would recommend a "nightmare mode" where the gameplay starts harder, and goes up naturally without dropping. would make for a fun "hard mode" without too much extra coding required additionally, i would say for the nornal gameplay that the amount the difficulty can go up should be much more than the amount it can go down. eg it starts on the second lowest setting, but can go up 3 or 4.

[@gavinanderson9711]

I think this system is a really smart idea, maybe instead of making different versions of the enemies you could have ranges that increase or decrease based on how the player is doing.... and of course a always maxed difficulty option would be cool!

[@mangoes1012]

Hi I like your videos. You totally nailed that telling people about an adaptive difficulty system might lessen the experience for them and you can kind of see that response here in the comments. I do think one thing that's important for this kind of system is making sure that players are getting challenged and that might be hard if the game scales difficulty after a couple minutes of poor gameplay. Another way you might be able to gauge skill of the play is whether they seek out stuff like secret bosses, or whether they tey to sneak past enemies or fight every one they see. My two cents is that it's important to listen to feedback, but you are also the game developer here and you have obviously put a lot of thought into the system, so you gotta trust yourself. Like you said, if you do it right most people won't even notice. Idk why I wrote all this. Good video i guess. Bye

[@megamri]

The speed run routs with the difficulty scaling are gonna be so cool

[@tadeotorres3571]

New UI looks cool

[@slecuyer21]

Make the adaptive or dynamic difficulty optional. Some people love a challenge, and the reward for practicing or finding a better technique is great. Some players just want to play the game and don’t want to get stuck and frustrated. Most people know what kind of player they are, so I’d inform players of this option and allow them to choose how they’d like to play before they even start the game

[@InkedToast]

I think if you could try something like in BOTW or TOTK, where after a while stronger versions of the enemies appear, such as the silver bokoblins. :)

[@NagKai_G]

I think that something you could do would be to have a way (hidden or not) to enable/disable this form of modular difficulty, as there seem to be many people in the comments who are reluctant or opposed to modular difficulty. It is just a thought though, and it would likely need more time to develop into something that works well for both the game and the players, but i feel like because the discussion around this topic is so large, bringing this thought up might be good for getting the brain thinking of some different possibilities

[@rootbindev]

I really love the graphics

[@arctiformgames]

I like this idea a lot! Adaptive Difficulty makes for a great experience when its done correctly.

[@omertahirkayakoy2253]

The game looks awesome!

[@cbbbbbbbbbbbb]

I absolutely hate adaptive difficulty. I would rather change my difficulty to easy than to play a game with adaptive difficulty. I feel like it entirely takes away my choice. I don't have a lot of time to play video games, but when I do, I always put it on the hardest difficulty. Even if I die 99 times out of 100, that one time that I get through the level / boss / whatever, makes me feel like even with the short amount of time I have to play, it was worth it. I think other comments mentioned this too but make it a choice if you can. Obviously, that would be asking way too much from a solo dev. Not only do you have to create a balanced system at all levels of difficulty, but also an adaptive system. It's probably too much for even triple A studios to spend time on. But as one person with an opinion, I will always feel more rewarded in playing a game at a set difficulty rather than one that "adapts" to my level. I want to level up my gameplay, not be patronized.

[@Mangarinne]

To be honest it's a little bit off topic, but this video was randomly recommend to me but I have to say, your game looks nice

[@plantb0y]

I had to like instantly in the first 3 seconds because I heard Pikmin music haha

[@metawarp7446]

I can just imagine how souls fans would react to a hidden difficulty modifier :p It would be crazy

[@fygygufyufyyfhchcxgxy4290]

Another great video! It was interesting to see you talking about...uhhhhh, what feature was this devlog about again? I forgot.

[@Challacade]

This is the only video I’m happy that people won’t remember!

[@Akona-ys4cx]

I was searching for indie games then I stumbled upon your video of a devlog for this game, it looks so cool, what I hope you'd do is to make it available for mobile, I don't have a pc and I really want to play this game ❤❤

[@BlindingShad0w]

While it may be more effort to create a system where certain areas/missions are simply more difficult and optional may allow skilled players to feel rewarded for their skill

[@dennismakesgames]

Awesome video as always :)

[@basantrajsoy]

There's also this thing on mega man zero games, if you complete stages with an s rank, the boss fights are slightly different with new attack patterns.

[@HighPerformanceGames]

This is a good approach, nice work. However its a good idea to let the player be aware of this future, by making an option that can be turned off and on.

The concept of adaptive difficulty and visible to the player is present in Demon Souls, something to explore if you want to keep that route

[@mitigamespro8757]

Yeah except it's like the opposite, since the game gets harder the more you die xD

[@brandonjacksoon]

Really good idea, I like it!

[@OmriKipi]

Great idea! but it should be option. Like : Adaptive, Easy, Medium, Hard.

[@Soulessblur]

To throw in my 2 cents, while I personally aren't bothered by adaptive difficulty features, I can see why some are bothered by it. Removes the medal of honor they feel they accomplish by beating the game. It can also lead to players intentionally playing worse to get better results, which doesn't sound fun. If it were me, I'd include adaptive difficulty in the base game, but then design New Game + around a higher tier of difficulty that *isn't* adaptive. Give players a difficulty selection at the start of the game so they can create a better baseline, but secretly change it as necessary (not within the same fight mind you, or you risk people catching on. If a player dies a bunch to boss 6, make boss 7 easier). In the difficulty selection, make sure to tease the locked "Very Hard" difficulty, and also make it so the game won't naturally adapt to that tier during the first playthrough. That way, whether you flailed the whole time or beat the game without dying once, EVERY player will have a unique experience waiting for them in New Game +. You're right, adaptive difficulty is best when the player doesn't know about it. So I don't think an optional toggle is a good idea. But, with this kind of implementation, even a player finds out after the fact that game could go easy on them, they'll know it didn't do that when it actually mattered, and you tested them with the most challenge you could offer.

[@thatsagoodquestion5889]

maybe think of adding a similar, more complex pattern for the stronger variations of enemies. If you simply change one of their stats, maybe make it so the stat modified is random from one mob to the other (like if dog A has more health, but later on dog B has more speed) it might make the enemy feel ever so slightly different and refreshing from one to another

[@danielmalasky8520]

I think the best way to go about it would be something like hollow knight the difficulty is fixed throughout the game. But there are hidden rewards for players who accomplish the harder platforming sections. And there are options to rematch bosses at s higher difficulty later. The less skilled gamer will be satisfied with what they can accomplish and beat the game. And the more skilled player will take on the more difficult challenges.

[@Rikaisan]

My main issue with this system is that if you get used to the way an enemy behaves, but then die, the changes on your "how many hits this enemy takes" "how fast it moves" and so on can get invalidated and it might frustrate some people, but great idea nonetheless c:

[@kaisoku202]

Could you add a Serpentine (Draconic Snake) as another opponent or even a level focused around some kind of dragon? It would be really interesting to see such enemies.

[@Some0ne...]

after i watch this, i finally knew that why dev didnt get well in develop game. just because game develop and gamer are two mind set which is not easy to switch one and other. just like an engineer cannot think like architect at the same time, althrogh we all have that knowledge, but the mindset is not easy to switch when designing, so that a buildilng has always built with several party. Before I watching the video, just look at the title, I think that it would so easy for me as a gamer, even I watching the video, i can instanly figure out what is the difficulty, and how to make it be perfect, every hit should be deduct how many hp, what's the bullet route shall run like, what kind of debuff add on it, etc... however, when i see the data box, i knew that it is anti-humanity to turn all these experience into data. cuz human is hard to thinking code and simulate the actual gaming experience at the same time.... I think this game would be a legendary if it finally built up in MMO.

[@SolarMothOfficial]

id also make it so once you defeat a boss or complete a dungeon it slightly changes the base difficulty so itll still bump difficulty but moreso at the players pace

[@MrBobbyfresh]

I like the adaptive difficulty concept, never really thought about it. Makes tutorials almost like an intro test 🤔

[@scriptmage]

I find adaptive difficulty usually very disruptive to my gameplay, especially in games like Crash Bandicoot or Rocksmith where it is very noticeable for me as a player. I much rather prefer to disable that option. It always feels to me as if the game is pitying me to a degree of condescension. Often it causes me to be stuck longer on parts as it forces me to reload old saves to reset the difficulty and start over.

[@parkie2582]

I like the idea of adaptive difficulty, but i think it can be unessicairly punishing. Players who do good in the game might get angry because the difficulty increasing could be seen as punishing. A way to remedy this could be to either add ways in the game to artifically increase decrease or even lock the difficulty using items or a npc. I'd also recommended finding a way to show the difficulty level in game, either in a menu, or even with the players sprite. There are a lot of possibilities and I really like where your game is going. Good job and keep up the good work!

[@indexrequiem375]

Great devlog, if only I could remember what it was about..

[@Challacade]

Thank you for watching and forgetting! 😉

[@maxinedobbs4360]

On the topic of increasing difficulty, I caution against changing enemy health or damage resistance too much. Skyrim has this problem, where difficulty is “increased” by making fights insanely long. I also don’t personally vibe with adaptive difficulty, but I think difficulty changes should affect other things, like enemy attacks and damage, and less so their health bars. I think the key is to try the various difficulties for various enemies, adaptive or no, and see for yourself if they are enjoyable experiences.

[@Alex_gee_white]

at the end of the day adaptive difficulty like you're describing is kind of a heuristic, rather than a true solution to the problem. it's nice to try to meet people where they are in their skill level, but really the ideal system would use its metric of the players skill level to adapt the game to provide the player with more opportunities to improve the skills their lacking, not adapt to provide them with an easier or harder enemy version. so if a player is being killed by an enemy type that to beat requires the user use a specific gameplay mechanic, but the user is struggling, first, a context hint say in the loading screen when they respawn, then you respawn them a little earlier on so their not facing the same difficult enemy or enemies, but a lower set or fewer, so they can practice their skill in the needed mechanic before going against the same enemy again.

[@Zenith07]

I kinda hate Adaptive difficulty especially if i happen to notice it or was notified by it, i like the idea of it but i would always stick to my current difficulty and overcome it.

[@taunhawk9888]

I like your idea of secret difficulty adjustments in code based on player performance. Looking forward to testing this out. I am someone who typically always picks the easiest difficulty when given the option. I don't care about challenges when playing games, I am more interested in the story and the world I am playing in. If a game is too difficult to play, I simply loose interest and stop playing. There are plenty of other games to put my energy in. I feel the harder the difficulty the greater the rewards but a difficulty setting should never limit the ability to complete the game.

[@Samiyoichi]

The way I screamed YESS when I saw u uploaded 😅 btub this game would be so fun On ps it should be a Playstation game one day

[@Yuneek-hh6fl]

So hype for this game