Designing PERFECT difficulty for my indie game! | Devlog

Play the free demo on Steam!
store.steampowered.com/app/25...
Join my Discord!
/ discord
I teach game development/programming courses on Udemy, check them out if you're interested!
Lua and Love2D:
www.udemy.com/course/lua-love...
C# and MonoGame:
www.udemy.com/course/monogame...
Music: Piklopedia from Pikmin

[@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.

[@CatVSDog.]

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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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 :}}

[@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

[@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.

[@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

[@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)

[@jaminweil8645]

I love how far this game has come.

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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?

[@grantlattery3188]

4:35, changing frame data of attacks would be super jarring but adding new attacks could work

[@arctiformgames]

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

[@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!

[@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

[@lennystudios3.14]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@MrBobbyfresh]

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

[@rjose705]

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

[@rjose705]

@@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@dennismakesgames]

Awesome video as always :)

[@snuffy_tv]

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

[@-TerraPixl-]

Great vid, I 100% agree with the adaptive difficulty.

[@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!

[@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

[@ItssVenom]

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!

[@omertahirkayakoy2253]

The game looks awesome!

[@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.

[@brandonjacksoon]

Really good idea, I like it!

[@Volt-Eye.]

3:40 am new to coding and gamedev. And I have a question. How do you structute your game code ? What programming paradigm is best for game dev ?

[@johncooper5275]

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

[@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

[@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.

[@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 :>

[@randomuser-vs3oe]

I absolutely love the aesthetic of 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.

[@TurnOffTheAirCon]

Hi im new to the game (love your work btw) how do i swim? it seems that some areas in the game are out of reach unless i swim but the problem is that i drown after a few seconds, im just wondering whether this is completely part of code or something is wrong?

[@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.

[@professionaldumbass5570]

The jellyfish could be used as weapons I actually never knew xD

[@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 ❤❤

[@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!

[@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!

[@milcac3626]

shouldn't the camera be fixed in boss rooms or is the off screen Boss deliberate

[@rootbindev]

I really love the graphics

[@nikitos-mw9nb]

Great job!

[@plantb0y]

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

[@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.

[@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

[@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. :)

[@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

[@trancepeirce3107]

What do we think about optional content? Harder content/bosses that exiat but are not required to beat a game.

[@ahsanramzan7533]

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

[@druidofpies]

That’s a cool system! One thing I’m pondering: how do you implement a modular attack system? Like for a projectile, wouldn’t you have to do checks for whether it’s a straight shot, boomerang effect, orbiting, sine wave, etc.? Or would that behavior be pre-coded and one just picks and chooses

[@Challacade]

New behavior will need to be custom coded, but even now there’s already a good number of options, where different combinations can make some unique attacks without anything custom

[@sebastianikemanvtuber-en2911]

What resolution are your scenes? The pixelart is great but looks so crisp on the video.

[@tadeotorres3571]

New UI looks cool

[@ChuckDart]

Mom, he posted again!

[@nathanielmarquardt]

I think adaptive difficulty is a great idea, but one suggestion I have is to implement a challenge mode that unlocks after you beat the game. this mode would let you crank the difficulty up to max level

[@foxxy_dono]

Hi what is the engine you use to create your game?

[@Yuneek-hh6fl]

So hype for this game

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@_xtel]

Sorry if I missed it, but will this be on Steam? I couldn’t find to wishlist it.

[@Challacade]

Not yet, but very soon.

[@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!

[@randywilliams6248]

Very good progress, been patiently waiting for updates on this! I have to ask, what engine are you using? You may have specified this in the past but I'm curious due to unity controversy. I'd very much like to start my project soon and its a shame to see what was hapoening.

[@Challacade]

I’m using a framework called Love2D

[@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.

[@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

[@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

[@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

[@jaydengroom7798]

this is so inspiring

[@beegdigit9811]

Could you dedicate the video on the architecture of your game/code? It would be interesting to hear how you keep thinks modular and extensible.

[@metawarp7446]

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

[@rifat.ahammed]

Great Thinking

[@georgeL_cs]

did you use a 2d or 3d engine/template to make the game?

[@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.

[@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.

[@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

[@DraiAnderson-xp9wi]

which game engine have you used?

[@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!

[@JustinSixVideos]

I don't believe in perfect, but I appreciated your insights into designing better levels of difficulty in games. I also agree on preferring having a game with 1 difficulty only with adapative difficulty. I also saw resident evil doing adapative difficulty and wanted to try making it in a game.

[@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

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