Game Design: “Shadows on Deck” - The Game Maker's Companion: Game Development - page 179

Difficulty
We've been careful to keep an eye on the difficulty of the challenges all along when designing the
game. We want to balance the game play so that it slowly gets harder as the player gets better at
the game. It is important not to flood the player with new mechanics and hazards all at once.
We'd like to remind you of a few game design principles that were discussed in The Game
Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners .
The Game Maker's Apprentice
When you design a game, you are not trying to beat the player but to help them overcome the
challenges you set for them in a satisfying way... the player is the game maker's apprentice!
It is your job to be the teacher; teach the player how to win in your game.
Learning Curve
The more time we spend on a task, the better we usually get at it. This is an important point to
remember. When you first introduce a new ability, give the player time to get familiar and better
at it, before you make the challenge harder. But don't overdo it. If the task becomes too easy, it
also becomes boring.
Difficulty Curve
To avoid the player getting bored, we introduce new abilities and features along the way, to build
on top of the tasks already mastered and to keep the game challenging and engaging. The
difficulty curve gets steeper as we progress through the game, until we reach the final challenge,
which is the most difficult of all.
To use Shadows on Deck as an example: in the first level, it is enough that Flynn has to jump
from roof to roof trying to keep up with the parrot. In the next level, it will be more dangerous to
fall-it's a long way down from a ship's mast, and we can introduce the seagulls here as something
extra to look out for.
When the pirates attack, we are into the third level and it is time to introduce some harder
monsters, namely the pirates, and we will also give Flynn the ability to climb. We continue in this
way to make the game harder in a steady way that won't suddenly frustrate the player. We want
them to feel like they're getting better, but make sure it never gets so easy that they get bored with
the game.
This is what game designers call balancing a game , and it's by no means an easy task!
To check that we have thought it through carefully, let's draw up the flow of the challenges
(see Figure 7-9).
First thing you'll notice is that no new monsters and hazards are introduced in the last two
levels. This is not because we got lazy. It's not a good idea to keep adding new abilities right up
until the end; too many new features could end up being very confusing. We want the player to be
well-versed in all of Flynn's abilities by the time he faces the worst of the monsters. Besides, if you
spend time and effort getting an ability just right, you want it to be used a lot, not just at the very
end. Again, the Zelda series is a brilliant example of how to execute this well.
Another thing stands out from the chart. Notice that there are no boss fights for the first two
levels. This is because boss fights are considered to be harder than the normal game play and, as
we pointed out earlier, it is important not to flood the player right at the start but allow them to
get used to your game and the mechanics.
On the other hand, the final level is nothing but a boss fight, but the hardest one in the game.
We want an exciting challenge right at the end of the game.