Reversing the difficulty curve in game design.

One of the basic rules of game design is that as a game goes on it should become harder. However there is an exception to this rule in which the difficulty of the game starts out hard and becomes easier as the game progresses. When done right this can give a game an added twist, but it is very easy to mess this up. Along with looking at this concept further I'm going to also talk about three games that use this where one succeeded, one failed and the last one may be a surprise to everyone.

Reverse difficulty works best in skill based games simply because they require the most player input to succeed. A year ago I posted an entry on the design elements behind action titles and I said the following:

"Because of the skill level required to play action games, the overall difficulty curve of the game should actually decrease the further the player gets, as their skill improves they should be able to handle fights easily. For example I had a friend over once who tried Ninja Gaiden Black on normal and couldn't even get past the first boss fight. When I play NGB I cannot play the game on normal anymore after playing it on very hard because I find it too boring."

When I posted this some people were confused and thought that I was saying that the designers made Ninja Gaiden Black easier as the game went on. That wasn't it, what I meant was as I found my skills improving at the game it became easier for me.

Because of the importance of player input with reverse difficulty it is harder to pull this off in RPGs, or games where progression is time based. Other then selecting commands there is very little input done by the player; it doesn't matter how fast you respond when everything is based on stats and dice rolls.

There is one area where designers slip up on with reverse difficulty and it has to do with handicapping the player to promote difficulty. For instance, forcing the player into a situation or enemy encounter that the player simply is at a huge disadvantage due to the design of the game, such as the enemy is resistant to the player's attacks or a multi enemy fight where the player does not have good crowd control. After dealing with the situation or later on the player is then rewarded with a skill or weapon to make those previous difficult situations moot. This just feels like a slap to the face in my opinion as the encounter isn't hard because the player wasn't skilled, but it was hard because the designers were effectively tying the player's hands.

With that said, it's time to talk about the examples of this design. Demon's Souls for the Ps3 pulls this off extremely well. Anyone who has played the game knows that this is a difficult game from start to finish. There is never a point that the player can let their guard down and the bosses were designed to challenge the player in a variety of situations. As time goes on the player will get the timing down for avoiding attacks and knowing the right time to strike and the game will become easier.

While the player does get improved weapons and gear they are not a substitute for skill. The hardest parts of the game may become a little easier thanks to the player doing more damage and taking less, however without the player learning the pattern and strategy for the fight they will not be able to win. The final stage in the game is a gauntlet of enemies that can kill the player easily, a fire breathing dragon and several mini bosses that have to be killed. Then after all that comes the final boss who can kill the player with a few hits.

Our second example is doing it wrong and it belongs to The Witcher 2. At the start of the game, players will have a hard time dealing with crowds of armored enemies without having any effective crowd control. Leveling up in the game allows players to focus on three different skill paths: swordplay, magic, and alchemy. Each path offers skills that radically enhance the player's options during battle. For instance people who choose swordplay can unlock counterattacks and group hitting attacks. While magic users will find that their spells do more damage and can target multiple people.

Adding to the difficulty is the design decision to restrict both blocking and spell casting by the same attribute: Vigor. At the start of the game you only have two points of it and you will be fighting at least four enemies at the same time in most fights, you can see where this will cause trouble.

Naturally this makes the game easier as it goes on but this is not good design. Forcing the player into situations that are difficult because the game hasn't given the player the tools to win is bad design. Playing The Witcher 2, gamers will get a good grasp of the mechanics and game-play early on and then will have to deal with this handicap while trying to level up ASAP.

In Demon's Souls the game is only as hard as the player makes it, for instance after beating Demon's Souls over a year ago I started replaying it again and found that I forget all the timings involved in combat. Because of that I was dying left and right until I started remembering again. If I come back to The Witcher 2 it means that I have to spend the first several hours dealing with an in game constraint that I'm not looking forward to.

My last example is another game that does it right which I don't think you would see coming. Mario in all of his plat forming incarnations is a great example of this design, with the 3d games better examples. The beauty of Mario's design is that his entire move-set is available from the start, with exception to the power ups such as spring Mario or cloud Mario. All the game's challenges are designed around the available moves Mario has. There are no Mario games where after a certain amount of progression a new move is unlocked.

Starting out new players may have trouble with challenges because they haven't gotten accustomed to Mario's different abilities. Because the difficulty of the game is based on the player's skill level there isn't anything the player can do in the game to get pass a tough section other then improving at the game. Compared to a RPG where the player can spend time grinding out levels. As the player continues to play, they will become better at controlling Mario and previous difficult challenges should become easier for them.

Now another genre that may seem like it is built on reverse difficulty would be the rogue-like genre, however I would argue that isn't. The main reason is that the game isn't hard at the start because the player isn't skilled at the game, but because they haven't been shown all the game's unique rules and enemies to fight yet.

By setting up a game to have reverse difficulty, the biggest advantage to the designer is that it allows them the luxury of challenging players and not worrying about someone not understanding the game mechanics as anyone who can get past the initial hump will be skilled at the game. However it can be very hard to both balance and design the game this way. Distinguishing between what is difficult due to player skill level and what is difficult by design is key and a trademark of a good designer.

Josh.