   Difficulty levels
  It has always been on my mind that what the best way to make different difficulty levels is.Having different difficulty levels is somehow crucial in many complex games,but how can the developers make it reasonable and logical?There are different methods for executing difficulty systems,which method do you find the most enjoyable and why?Here are the methods that come into my mind:1.Changing the number of enemies.2.Increasing/decreasing the main character`s HP.3.Increasing/decreasing the speed and/or power of enemies.4.Increasing/decreasing the XP that is gained by accomplishing tasks.5.Changing the type and/or the amount of ammunition and weapons.....Of course,the methods that are mentioned may not be suitable for all games,but they`re just examples.And it comes to the second part of my question,is it really necessary to have   difficulty levels in a game? or the AI must automatically adjust the difficulty by monitoring the player`s performance?(by the phrase " difficulty level" i mean the ones that can be chosen by the player manually.)   
  Personally i enjoy having difficulty levels since it allows me to make the game far more challenging, i don't want to succeed the first time, If you adjust it automatically you won't be able to please everyone since you'll pretty much be forced to tune things towards small margin victories for the player.   ;  I prefer number 6 myself.   ;  ok...I'll bite.What's number six?   ;  From my experience, really really few people play at "easy". People like casual/inexperienced gamers who won't play the game because "it looks too hard" won't even try it even it the easy mode play by itself. The look and feel of the game is more important.Still, it's important to have a difference between the people who wants just to play though the game, and people who want to see succeed over every little part of it.The combination of the 5 points you mentioned are what is implemented in 90%+ of games. It don't take too much time for the developers to tweak correct values, but I find it kinda cheap.On the other hand, an automatic adjustment of theses values based on the player performance can be very nice, and have been used in some commercial games successfully. Problem is, it need very good algorithms to determine player performance, and when it's badly implemented it quickly get worse than no settings at all. Another big problem is the fact that the game will behave differently for every players, so you can't compare your scores and things like that with your friends who played separately.What I prefer, is having a single difficulty level, and the same type of monsters always the same. You just put a easily passable level for people who just want to play through the game, and you put secret or hard to reach rooms and extra optional goals everywhere, which would unlock achievements or gives extra items and bonuses for the hardcore gamers who try to find them all.   ;Quote:Original post by GninjaGnomeok...I'll bite.What's number six?It's whatever you want from among the many other possibilities the OP didn't list in his five.Like for instance "make the player think.";  1) changing the number of enemies or type of enemies is usually a good choice. The player sees the increased difficulty, and goes with it. It is also easy to implement well.2) depending on the game, this often feels like a copout. You didn't really make the game more or less difficult. You just limited the player's hp. The bad players feel bad on easy mode cause they needed the HP buffer. The good player's aren't challenged on hard mode because they didn't need those HP anyway.3) This also usually works well. But be aware, it can again feel like a copout when the ammo-to-kill ratios and deadlyness of the enemies vary widely between difficulty levels. It all depends on the feel you are trying to give the game.In something like Left-4-Dead, the feel of being swarmed is important, so playing with the enemy hp and damage is the only way to go. This keeps the pressure on the player because the enemies keep their speed consistent, and swarm on all difficulty levels.In something like starcraft, the hp, cost, and damage of each unit is important to maintain. The better choice here is to change the skew of what attacks the enemy uses.  If the enemy has some special spell (like templar's psi-storm) then it should use it more often on the harder levels. The special researches should be explored more, and faster.  Much like chess, the RTS genera lends itself to having a level playing field and an AI that can scale in how well it makes choices on that playing field.4) Again, this might work, but be aware of the fact that players will quickly notice progression changes in their character. As well as the fact that this is very hard to implement well, since progression changes in the character make it harder to balance the level setups. You have to take into account a lot more information with this approach over the other listed ones.5) This usually works well. On the face it seems similar to #2, but players tend to take ammo/health pickup limits a lot better. HP is technically just another resource to manage, but most players have an easier time understanding how to managing ammo. This mostly comes from the fact that they are in control of exactly when ammo is used, but not in control of when they might get randomly damaged.6) Change time limits.  Even when the time limit gives huge grace, players feel rushed just seeing the timers. Seeing smaller timers on harder levels exponentially increases the difficulty of the level, even though the timer still leaves plenty of room for them to take their time.7) Change puzzle setups. Require more pieces. Give setups that require more moves using the same pieces. Remove pieces that make the puzzle easy (ie require it to be solved using only left-turn pieces instead of having straight or right turn ones). Makes pieces move faster, or use #6 again here.8) Add more objectives. Add more map. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything other than Perfect Dark on the N64 for this. But on several maps it increased the map size based on difficulty, and added new objectives in those map zones. This basically amounted to #1 but with more unknowns due to the unlocked rooms.  Though many games just add objectives, or give "bonus objectives" that don't have to be completed to win.;Quote:Original post by Tom SloperLike for instance "make the player think."Good point. I played a n64 title called "Golden Eye" (James Bond) many years ago. It rewarded players with more in-depth missions on harder settings. For instance: Where on easy you could just run through a level shooting badguys, on hard you might have to solve a few puzzles and stay undetected.I really liked that.Though if your making a story driven game, make sure there is an easy,"plays itself" mode. Many people enjoy the stories over the gameplay and get frustrated if they get bogged down with hard levels.   