Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
DYNAMIC DIFFICULTY ADJUSTMENT
continued
You should not try to implement a DDA system in a beginner-level project. Learn to build
and tune games in the conventional way first. However, if you are a more advanced
designer or you have been assigned the task of developing one, consider the following:
Any DDA system requires two mechanics: a performance-evaluation system to measure
how well the player is doing, and an adjustment mechanism to change the difficulty of
the challenges he faces. How you do this will naturally depend a great deal on the kinds
of challenges you're offering.
•
Don't use DDA as a substitute for ordinary difficulty modes that the player can set.
Players like to have the freedom to limit the maximum difficulty level of the game.
•
Make it optional, a feature the player can accept or reject. DDA systems are often used
in conjunction with player-settable difficulty modes.
•
Use it to make the game harder but not easier. It is generally simpler to make a game
more difficult than to make it easier. To make a game easier under computer control, the
software has to determine the reason for the player's failure, which isn't always clear or
measurable. Making a game harder doesn't depend as heavily on the computer's under-
standing of the reasons for the player's success.
•
Never arbitrarily take something away from the player, especially something that he
feels he's earned. It's OK to give the enemies more weapons; it's not OK to take weapons
away from the player.
•
Keep it subtle—this is the most important advice of all. The best DDA systems are
the ones the players never even notice.
Max Payne
is a good example;
God of War
is a
bad one.
As long as your adaptive-difficulty system remains an optional means of making the
game extra challenging for the hardcore player, it will be less prone to the problems
observed with such systems because the player cannot manipulate it to her advantage,
and she can switch it off if it becomes a problem.
DDA is an advanced design topic, and there isn't room to cover all its nuances here. You
can read more about the subject in the
Gamasutra
article “Difficulty Modes and Dynamic
Difficulty Adjustment” (Adams, 2008).
