Jeez, over three months since my last post. Project Nexus came out; Played up 'til the MAG Agent in the final stage then got my ass handed to me. Great stuff! Diablo 3 also came out. Abstaining from that 'til I'm done with MR2. On that note, back to topic.
Last time I posted I was doing some closed-group testing. The fine folks that participated caught a ton of bugs, most of which have been fixed. They also gave me a lot of feedback on a topic that I wrestle with constantly: Game Difficulty.
Anybody who's reading this has probably played MR1. A lot of the complaints I got for that game was from people getting stuck. "Exploding clowns keep killing me" or "Can't kill the monocle guys (Saucy!)" or "Can't find Keycard 2" and so on. People were getting stuck, not because the game was particularly hard, but because they were missing a clue. To survive the clowns you have to figure out their blast range. To beat the Saucys you have to notice that they say "OW" when hit by the same type of weapon they're holding. And my favorite, the area with Keycard 2 can be found if you look at the background and realize that there's a breakable wall.
Those things were deliberate. They were put there to challenge the player. Challenge makes the game interesting, whether its combat or exploration. As a designer, I want the player to struggle, yes. But I also want the player to succeed. I want the player to feel the satisfaction that comes from beating an enemy that seems over powered. That is the point of Game Difficulty.
But there are limits to what the average player can handle. My testers tell me that I am making the game too hard. From my perspective, every situation I present them with is winnable. Do I stick to my guns and leave it, knowing that it may turn a player off to the game? Do I compromise my design and make it easier?
It's a struggle for sure, but a struggle worth having.
Right now I'm building a version for public testing. As many of you know, I can only work on this on weekends so I expect that the test version won't be out for about 2 or 3 weeks. But for those who are still waiting, thank you for your patience and support.
-RevolverRoach
IMAGE: A combat scenario that most of my testers failed to beat and my notes on how to make it easier. And yes, I do most of my planning on paper. I've got math notebooks full of these things.
TheDavewithnoname
Lookin' forward to it, and you don't fail to impress. On that note, time will never be an issue; it arrives when it does :)