From: marms@python.cs.unm.edu (Mike Arms)
Subject: Re: Lynx vs. Game Gear?
Reply-To: sandia!marms@unmvax.unm.edu (Mike Arms)
Organization: Sandia National Laboratories
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 22:50:02 GMT

sandia!marms@unmvax.unm.edu (Mike Arms) writes:
| [...]  Or that the existing games
|were better done.  Haven't you wished for options to control difficulty
|on games like STUN Runner or Rampart?
| [...]

meyer@dbsun.uucp (Don Meyer) writes:
>Yes!!!!  I have!!!  You have hit upon one of the most anoying failings
>of _many_ Lynx games (other games for other systems have this problem
>too of course).  I have several games (Stun Runner being a prime example)
>that languish unplayed due to their difficulty (or my ineptitude :-).
>Those that appear to require that you memorize the course to do well
>present a big problem since, unlike a 9-year old, I don't have two hours
>after school to dedicate to the game (wife, 3-kids, 437 hobby interests etc.).
>
>The reason this is really annoying is that to put difficulty levels into
>a game is trivial relative to the huge task of writing the game.  One screen
>and a bit of though as to the impact to playability -- poof, a game that
>challanges the hardcore arcade player AND that can be enjoyed by those of
>us who get 1/2 hour every now and then to borrow our Lynxes back from the
>kids. ;-)

Thanks, Don.  Well put from the old fart's perspective.  :-)


belld@uxh.cso.uiuc.edu (David Bell) writes:
*Strangely enough, I prefer the way the Lynx games are done.  On many Genesis
*games, you can just set all the parameters to be as easy as possible, and then
*finish the game, sometimes the first time you play it.  For most Lynx games,
*and the arcade ports in particular, you have to keep trying to get better,
*giving a much bigger sense of victory when you finally finish them.  Stun
*Runner, in particular, would be boring if you could increase the time limits.
*Just set them on max and let the game play itself.  Instead, you keep doing
*levels, often missing by 0.1 seconds or so, until you finish it.  With the
*warps, you never really get pushed back all that far when you die.  I've had
*the game for almost a year, and I still find it entertaining (can often get
*to last challange level, but haven't completed it yet).  I've never won Golden
*Axe for the Genesis on the normal setting, and I probably never will.  I've
*already seen everything that happens in the game.  I personally think it takes
*more game design work to make a game that is just barely beatable than it does
*to just parameterize everything.

Dave, did you read my post?  One of the prime problems that I was
criticising was the lack of user config in Lynx games so that my 6 year
old son could ENJOY them!  Yes, I am sure that when he gets to be 9 or
10, the challenge will be right for him.  But today, he simply cannot
play them.  What could solve this problem for him and lots of other
young kids (or even some of us old farts that don't have the skill to
meet a certain challenge level nor the time/energy to invest to acquire
said skill)?  The answer is to allow the user to choose a different
difficulty level, or even better, to allow the user to change the
config for the game.

I wouldn't suggest turning off the time limit in STUN Runner for
myself.  But if my son wanted to try to reach higher levels (i.e. not
get totally frustrated with always failing at the 2nd or 3rd level), I
would like to be able to do that for him.  Note: he still would get
eliminated when he lost his last shield, so it still is no cake-walk
for him.  So let me also be able to increase his number of shields.
Why is this a problem for You!  Did you have a problem with [SNES]
Street Fighter 2 having multiple difficulty levels?  The first level is
very easy for most players and is a good way to train and learn the
moves.  The highest level is damn hard for a lot of players, harder
even that the SF2 arcade version (on standard difficulty setting).
Didn't you get Value out of the multiple difficulty levels?  In fact,
didn't it extend your playability of the game as you progressed up the
levels?

Well I've got news for you, the same goes for my kid.  He enjoys
playing video games.  But if the game is too hard for him very early in
the game, he gets frustrated and loses enjoyment.  I picked on STUN
Runner as it is a classic example of a Lynx game with no difficulty
select.  Oh yeah, he could start on level 6 or level 11 and never
complete either of those levels either.  Big deal.  I'm talking about a
difficulty level that makes the game accessible to kids his age.  

The issue is not whether having user config cheapens your sense of
victory.  The answer here is like so many shooters for the SNES or
Genesis: make the default difficulty level somewhere in the middle.
That way, if someone switches down to Easy, it is his/her own knowing
choice.  You want to provide more incentive for completion at higher
difficulty levels (I can hear James Hague groaning about even the need
for completing game)?  Then do what SF2 did and provide better rewards
at higher levels (in SF2 it was just more for the end sequences).  No,
the issue is whether or not game designers want to make a game that is
accessible to people of a wider range of skill levels.  It is my
contention that doing so, a good game is made better and will achieve
better market penetration.  The cost in terms of code is small as most
of these things (time limits, hit points, speed, damage giving, damage
taking, etc.) must already be in the code or data somewhere.  That is,
it makes good design sense to parameterise this stuff anyway.

-- 
Mike Arms
Editor of Encounter magazine
uucp:      ...{ucbvax | gatech}!unmvax!sandia!marms
InterNet:  unmvax.unm.edu!sandia!marms   or   sandia!marms@unmvax.unm.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.video