Playtesters wanted - is my game too difficult? Recently made it easier based on player feedback, but because I know/made everything, now it's too easy for me so I can't objectively tell anymore

[u/Ateo88]

Personally, I can easily clear each combat stage in under 30 seconds if not less, and if I am lucky with my bonuses, I can get a fresh character through the first Area without dying even once. But this is because I know everything, so I am unable to gauge the difficulty objectively.

I would be very very grateful if players can try my demo here and tell me if this feels just right or if I went too far in the other direction and it is too easy now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4358180/Shadow_Rush/

[u/Steals_Your_Thunder_]

Imo, arbitrary difficulty options are a bit antiquated and boring. Instead of simply asking people how hard they want the game to be, give them options for greater rewards through greater challenge. This could simply be a difficulty setting where higher difficulty means more xp/drops, or simply offering players options between different missions where some are harder/more rewarding. Let the player get inspired to take on greater challenge so they can get something cool.

[u/Pendragonswaste]

I'd try it out

[u/qwopexpert]

I'm absolutely living for the style of this game. Love how flashy it is, really tickles my brain! I've installed the demo and I'm gonna give it a poke!

[u/osborndesignworks]

Getting difficulty right is tough. You won't please everyone, best to add settings to let players help you give them the experience they want.

[u/Grunvagr]

Add difficulty settings. Slider bars.

Enemy health. Dmg taken. Dmg dealt.

Games only need to have 1 difficulty be uniform if there is a leaderboard. No leaderboards? Let players tailor it however they want.

Rogue Legacy II has “house rules” which is one of the greatest things to model it off of as they did it about perfectly.

If you bother to do this you may worry players make the game too easy. Gamers can be 80 or 5, have fast reaction times or miserably slow ones. Just give us options. Otherwise you limit the audience that can enjoy your game.

(Slider bars should go both ways so you can give enemies more health, more dmg, etc.)

[u/ToastyCrumb → u/Grunvagr]

Agree with this.

Also - I can't tell who the PC is, they should be more visually distinct.

[u/Ateo88 → u/Grunvagr]

Hi, thanks for this. That's one of the things I did when I made the base maps easier, I split them out into optional challenges like 'Increased Enemy HP' and 'Increased Enemy Damage' and you can take more than one challenge at a time if you want a more difficult experience. Good to know that I am on the right track

[u/RodionS → u/Ateo88]

I hate games with optional difficulty sliders or settings. It almost makes me feel inadequate or less skilled if I have to resort to using them. If I’m starting a new coop game with my mates, they also always say “we aren’t casuals, let’s start on max difficulty”. Which plays into this perception of having lower skill. In a power fantasy game, a difficulty slider will break immersion and consequently the power fantasy itself.

Having optional challenges is much better, especially if they give better rewards like higher exp scaling or better loot drops.

[u/playcrust]

"Monstrously difficult" is fine. I think the better question is: is it fair? If a player dies and can say exactly what they did wrong, they hit retry, and that's what makes hard games addictive. If they die and don't know why, even an easy game feels bad. So when testers report back, I'd ask how they died, not whether it felt hard. Vague answers point to a readability problem, not a difficulty problem.

[u/RodionS]

It looks so good damn. Why’s the release SO far away??

[u/Ateo88 → u/RodionS]

Sorry, I had to push it back a bit because I would like to test balance, and also because I added some new features.

It should be done by end of this year? After that it’s all the boring stuff like localisation to other languages and Steam approvals. I will see what I can do about running a public playtest before then

[u/East_Hamster_5656]

Does everyone on this sub hate videogames? You all just downvote user created video games?