Comments on: Fake Difficulty http://jamesgecko.com/2009/08/fake-difficulty/ Hacker in progress Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:43:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: James http://jamesgecko.com/2009/08/fake-difficulty/comment-page-1/#comment-84 James Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:59:58 +0000 http://jamesgecko.com/?p=66#comment-84 <p>It's memorization based and there's not much indication what each action with accomplish. But the GROW games are also about exploration. This is clear from the outset; there's no bait and switch. Like Bejewled Blitz, There are few (no?) negative consequences for a bad choice, although there are plenty of good consequences for good choices.<br><br>I dunno. It seems like the game is structured with many separate playthroughs and some lateral thinking in mind. It's hard to slap a difficulty judgement on a game which initially seems to have more in common with a lottery than a skill based challenge. You're <em>supposed</em> to lose several times. My metric starts to break down.<br><br>I mentioned this before, but this rant was inspired by a Megaman-like flash game where you had both a gun and a sword weapon, but only the gun worked when the character was climbing on a ladder. Coincidentally, the only spot where you would even think about using the sword was above a pit of insta-death. The creator of the game argued that little details like that were what gave it that "old school difficulty." Because there was no indication that one of the weapons wouldn't work when on a ladder and there was no such note in the (extensive) instructions, I argued that this was not "real", but "fake" difficulty. My post was addressing such situations, not games like GROW where seemingly random events happening are the very reason one plays them.</p> It's memorization based and there's not much indication what each action with accomplish. But the GROW games are also about exploration. This is clear from the outset; there's no bait and switch. Like Bejewled Blitz, There are few (no?) negative consequences for a bad choice, although there are plenty of good consequences for good choices.

I dunno. It seems like the game is structured with many separate playthroughs and some lateral thinking in mind. It's hard to slap a difficulty judgement on a game which initially seems to have more in common with a lottery than a skill based challenge. You're supposed to lose several times. My metric starts to break down.

I mentioned this before, but this rant was inspired by a Megaman-like flash game where you had both a gun and a sword weapon, but only the gun worked when the character was climbing on a ladder. Coincidentally, the only spot where you would even think about using the sword was above a pit of insta-death. The creator of the game argued that little details like that were what gave it that “old school difficulty.” Because there was no indication that one of the weapons wouldn't work when on a ladder and there was no such note in the (extensive) instructions, I argued that this was not “real”, but “fake” difficulty. My post was addressing such situations, not games like GROW where seemingly random events happening are the very reason one plays them.

]]> By: Brett http://jamesgecko.com/2009/08/fake-difficulty/comment-page-1/#comment-85 Brett Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:54:37 +0000 http://jamesgecko.com/?p=66#comment-85 <p>Hey James,<br>Check this out... what type of difficulty would you call this?<br><a href="http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blog/2009/12/transform.html#monster" rel="nofollow">http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blog/2009/1...</a></p> Hey James,
Check this out… what type of difficulty would you call this?
http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blog/2009/1...

]]> By: James http://jamesgecko.com/2009/08/fake-difficulty/comment-page-1/#comment-64 James Mon, 15 Feb 2010 04:59:58 +0000 http://jamesgecko.com/?p=66#comment-64 <p>It's memorization based and there's not much indication what each action with accomplish. But the GROW games are also about exploration. This is clear from the outset; there's no bait and switch. Like Bejewled Blitz, There are few (no?) negative consequences for a bad choice, although there are plenty of good consequences for good choices.<br><br>I dunno. It seems like the game is structured with many separate playthroughs and some lateral thinking in mind. It's hard to slap a difficulty judgement on a game which initially seems to have more in common with a lottery than a skill based challenge. You're <em>supposed</em> to lose several times. My metric starts to break down.<br><br>I mentioned this before, but this rant was inspired by a Megaman-like flash game where you had both a gun and a sword weapon, but only the gun worked when the character was climbing on a ladder. Coincidentally, the only spot where you would even think about using the sword was above a pit of insta-death. The creator of the game argued that little details like that were what gave it that "old school difficulty." Because there was no indication that one of the weapons wouldn't work when on a ladder and there was no such note in the (extensive) instructions, I argued that this was not "real", but "fake" difficulty. My post was addressing such situations, not games like GROW where seemingly random events happening are the very reason one plays them.</p> It's memorization based and there's not much indication what each action with accomplish. But the GROW games are also about exploration. This is clear from the outset; there's no bait and switch. Like Bejewled Blitz, There are few (no?) negative consequences for a bad choice, although there are plenty of good consequences for good choices.

I dunno. It seems like the game is structured with many separate playthroughs and some lateral thinking in mind. It's hard to slap a difficulty judgement on a game which initially seems to have more in common with a lottery than a skill based challenge. You're supposed to lose several times. My metric starts to break down.

I mentioned this before, but this rant was inspired by a Megaman-like flash game where you had both a gun and a sword weapon, but only the gun worked when the character was climbing on a ladder. Coincidentally, the only spot where you would even think about using the sword was above a pit of insta-death. The creator of the game argued that little details like that were what gave it that “old school difficulty.” Because there was no indication that one of the weapons wouldn't work when on a ladder and there was no such note in the (extensive) instructions, I argued that this was not “real”, but “fake” difficulty. My post was addressing such situations, not games like GROW where seemingly random events happening are the very reason one plays them.

]]> By: Brett http://jamesgecko.com/2009/08/fake-difficulty/comment-page-1/#comment-63 Brett Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:54:37 +0000 http://jamesgecko.com/?p=66#comment-63 <p>Hey James,<br>Check this out... what type of difficulty would you call this?<br><a href="http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blog/2009/12/transform.html#monster" rel="nofollow">http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blog/2009/1...</a></p> Hey James,
Check this out… what type of difficulty would you call this?
http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blog/2009/1...

]]> By: James http://jamesgecko.com/2009/08/fake-difficulty/comment-page-1/#comment-43 James Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:11:46 +0000 http://jamesgecko.com/?p=66#comment-43 <p>The post was actually inspired by a retro flash platformer which had some irritating "Who could have possibly have seen that coming?!" moments.</p> <p>Since writing the post, I've stumbled across <a href="http://www.gamearchitect.net/Articles/IntentionalGameplay.html" rel="nofollow">this</a> article which breaks things out into "control", "difficulty", "feedback", and "flow." It basically says that difficulty is the tension between feedback and control, and players get annoyed with breaks in flow due to lack of feedback. </p> <p>It makes a lot of sense; I was trying to define fake difficulty due to events the player had insufficient decision making power to meaningfully change the outcome of, but his system makes sense in light of the fact that players <i>like</i> getting thrown for a loop by things they weren't expecting.</p> The post was actually inspired by a retro flash platformer which had some irritating “Who could have possibly have seen that coming?!” moments.

Since writing the post, I’ve stumbled across this article which breaks things out into “control”, “difficulty”, “feedback”, and “flow.” It basically says that difficulty is the tension between feedback and control, and players get annoyed with breaks in flow due to lack of feedback.

It makes a lot of sense; I was trying to define fake difficulty due to events the player had insufficient decision making power to meaningfully change the outcome of, but his system makes sense in light of the fact that players like getting thrown for a loop by things they weren’t expecting.

]]> By: James http://jamesgecko.com/2009/08/fake-difficulty/comment-page-1/#comment-102 James Sun, 16 Aug 2009 04:11:00 +0000 http://jamesgecko.com/?p=66#comment-102 <p>The post was actually inspired by a retro flash platformer which had some irritating "Who could have possibly have seen that coming?!" moments.</p> <p>Since writing the post, I've stumbled across <a href="http://www.gamearchitect.net/Articles/IntentionalGameplay.html" rel="nofollow">this</a> article which breaks things out into "control", "difficulty", "feedback", and "flow." It basically says that difficulty is the tension between feedback and control, and players get annoyed with breaks in flow due to lack of feedback. </p> <p>It makes a lot of sense; I was trying to define fake difficulty due to events the player had insufficient decision making power to meaningfully change the outcome of, but his system makes sense in light of the fact that players <i>like</i> getting thrown for a loop by things they weren't expecting.</p> The post was actually inspired by a retro flash platformer which had some irritating “Who could have possibly have seen that coming?!” moments.

Since writing the post, I’ve stumbled across this article which breaks things out into “control”, “difficulty”, “feedback”, and “flow.” It basically says that difficulty is the tension between feedback and control, and players get annoyed with breaks in flow due to lack of feedback.

It makes a lot of sense; I was trying to define fake difficulty due to events the player had insufficient decision making power to meaningfully change the outcome of, but his system makes sense in light of the fact that players like getting thrown for a loop by things they weren’t expecting.

]]> By: Ben L. http://jamesgecko.com/2009/08/fake-difficulty/comment-page-1/#comment-42 Ben L. Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:17:11 +0000 http://jamesgecko.com/?p=66#comment-42 <p>Interesting, and pretty much true. I can think of quite a few old platformers that fall under this heading as well.</p> Interesting, and pretty much true. I can think of quite a few old platformers that fall under this heading as well.

]]> By: Ben L. http://jamesgecko.com/2009/08/fake-difficulty/comment-page-1/#comment-101 Ben L. Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:17:00 +0000 http://jamesgecko.com/?p=66#comment-101 <p>Interesting, and pretty much true. I can think of quite a few old platformers that fall under this heading as well.</p> Interesting, and pretty much true. I can think of quite a few old platformers that fall under this heading as well.

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