Designing Difficulty in Video Games

By Design Diary

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Difficulty settings are often controversial in games- some people want a straightforward experience so they can enjoy the story, whereas others want a game that's deep, complex and more difficult. The main challenge for developers is to find a way to make their games engaging but also approachable in order to appeal to as many players as possible. There are 3 main approaches to including difficult content in modern games- including difficulty settings so players can select the one that suits them like in DOOM Eternal, having optional features that make the game easier like in Dark Souls, or by making the more challenging content optional which is an approach used by many games. In this video we're going to explore all of these different approaches to adding difficulty into a game, whilst still maintaining a mass-market appeal. 00:00 Introduction 00:51 Difficulty Settings 02:43 Problems with difficulty settings 03:56 Difficulty in Dark Souls 06:14 Optional content 07:28 Summary