Tuning difficulty

512px under is my first game made public. I’m happy with the feedback so far but most player have found the game to be too challenging and punishing. To my excuse, I’ve spent the last weeks writing and playtesting the game, so I now have my set of safe strats that allow me to rush from one room to another. It has become hard to play this game as a newcomer, to see it with a brand new eye. Watching other people play your game is essential.

I still think this game should be challenging. It does reward acquired skill and knowledge of the game. As moms say, we should be proud of our death counts. But I know that too much difficulty can make it for a frustrating experience to some players. So, let’s try to tune the difficulty down, but how ?

Having different difficulty modes would be a nice way to content every kind of gamer. But it means more content than I can fit in the Pico-8 cartridge. Or maybe a totally new cartdridge, like “511px under”. But now that feels messy.

In the end, I think a clean way to handle this is to make small concessions here and there. I looked for tiny adjustments in the room layouts to let the players a space to breath. If they want to play it hardcore, they still can. If they want to play it safe, it should also be possible.

One example is room C-2. The original room requires series of perfectly timed wall jumps, just one room after the player is introduced to the mechanic. That’s, of course, too challenging for most people. That’s a room where some might just rage quit. Not because they suck, but because the game is unfair. It demands too much skill in no time.

The revision gives more space to land before the spikes and it adds a platform that allows the player to rest. It breaks that demanding serie of wall jumps but still allows experienced players to rush through.

Another kind of adjustement consists in moving the tricky parts out of the main path. The most demanding moves are left for those who want a 100% completion, but they can be skipped in a first playthrough. I hope these kinds of design decisions will make for a more fun experience.

These changes will be part of the next version of 512px under. It will also contain a few bug fixes.