Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
on the other hand is a fresh, entertaining experience for both sets of players. For
the beginner, such a narrative screen is a valuable immersive tool hiding the artificial
task of learning the controls. For the more advanced player, it is a lifeline that helps
engage and entertain through a section of the game that would otherwise be dull.
While the writer is focused on this aspect of the game, the game designer needs
to determine a beneficial pace and order with which to teach the control structure.
Making such an introduction too fast or too slow will damage the game, making
it frustrating to one group of players. Frustration is, obviously, bad. Frustration
destroys immersion, and a joint objective of the games designer and the writer is
immersion.
Difficulty Curves and Learning Curves
Aside from thinking about controls, the designer will also be concerned with estab-
lishing the game's difficulty curve. Difficulty curves are a way of plotting the way that
gameplay challenges that the player faces are distributed through the game. Getting
this distribution right creates a sense of progression and a balanced series of gameplay
challenges. This is the reason games are generally easier at the start than the end.
At the start, the player needs an environment that allows them to learn the con-
trols without becoming frustrated. However, once the player has learned how to
interact with the gameworld, the challenges can become more difficult, thus offering
an increasingly interesting and rewarding experience.
Difficulty curves are comprised of a wide range of game elements. Depending on
the style of game, these elements can include challenges such as enemy types (defined
by ability, weapons, moves, or relative level of intelligence), the speed of the game, or
even the combination of controls a player will need to utilize to progress successfully.
Taking enemy type as an example, the table below illustrates the sort of difficulty
curve to be found in a first-person shooter (FPS) title.
Weapon
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Pistol
S
S
F
F
F
F
Machine gun
R
R
S
S
F
F
F
F
Rocket launcher
R
R
S
S
F
F
R = Rare, S = Some, F = Frequent.
In the early levels, a player will have to fight a small number of enemies armed
with pistols. By the middle of the game, the player will be fighting against larger and
more heavily armed soldiers.
It is worth noting that in many difficulty curves, the learning and teaching does
not stop at the end of the formal first-level tutorial. Instead, the player will discover
new moves and opponents as the game progresses. As such, the techniques used by
the writer in the tutorial section need to be taken into account by the game writer if
their plot is likely to encompass evolutions of the gameplay.
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