Hardcore is more than just difficulty.
Tags: gamedev, gamedesign
Published: 2023-10-23 23:09:22

Many gamers are familiar with the concept of "hardcore" but they don't always understand how it is embodied in game design and what tools are used to achieve this effect. Let's talk about how a game designer can design a hardcore gaming experience and what patterns and techniques can be used. In other words, let's explore the "design pattern for a hardcore gaming experience."

A **design pattern** is a general, reusable solution to a commonly encountered problem in a given design context.

So, we will talk about how a game designer can design a hardcore experience and what tools can be used to achieve this. In other words: “What is the hardcore gaming experience design pattern?”

We will focus solely on the game design aspects, excluding visual style, story, music and other game components from consideration.

The article is structured as follows:

1. Criteria for the pattern in designing a hardcore experience
2. Components of a hardcore experience
3. Ways to apply the pattern
4. Summing up

## 1. Pattern Criteria:

\- **Universality** \- this pattern should be applicable to any type of game, regardless of genre, style or other.- **Autonomy** \- this pattern should not depend on unknown or dynamic variables such as player skill.- **Applicability** \- this pattern must have practical feasibility within game development.

## 2 Components of the Hardcore Experience

**Entry threshold**

* **RulesVolume** — the number of game rules necessary for the player to master in order to understand what is happening.
* **TimeRate** \- the time interval between the player’s decisions or, in other words, the speed of the game process.
* **DecisionCost** \- the ratio of the cost of an mistake *(loss of progress)* for a player’s action to the player’s progress in case of a correct decision.

**Random**

* **Random** is the factor of randomness and unpredictability of events in the game.

Any of the components of this formula may be missing for you, depending on the type of game.

**What is the hardcore experience like?**

**Hardcore** is a special ratio of these elements in the game to achieve a gaming experience that forces the player to devote a lot of time to the rules, be maximally focused on the gameplay, make timely decisions, and also punishes him for mistakes made and has high unpredictability.

## 3. Techniques for Creating a Hardcore Experience

>**Disclaimer**  
>  
>The author does not state the final word. truth in the last instance, but conveys his vision when designing the game design of hardcore games, which, in his personal opinion, must be observed in order to achieve a fair, but exciting hardcore player experience.

He also understands that even games with a broken or dishonest balance will have their “fan” of gacha videos. However, it is strongly recommended that game design be considered with the average gaming audience in mind, rather than the “gifted” ones.

The feeling of hardcore is created by the balance of the factors listed above. The following methods for increasing the hardcore nature of a game can be described in general terms:

* Raise entry threshold (EVE Online)
* Increase the cognitive load on the player (Dota)
* Make the player pay for mistakes (Rogue)
* Make the game unpredictable (Darkest Dungeon)

**3.1 Raise the entry threshold**

When creating games with a high level of difficulty, a lot of in-game rules and mechanics come to the fore. However, it is not always obvious that an important part of this experience is training players within the game. To lower the barrier to entry and not alienate potential players, you need to skillfully integrate educational elements for newbies.

**Work through your** [**FTUE**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-time_user_experience)

In order for the player to spend enough time preparing for the main game experience, it is important to provide a gradual and systematic introduction, rather than throwing him into an ocean of information from the very beginning.

For example, in the game Path of Exile, a beginner is likely to make mistakes when choosing his first build due to the huge number of classes and options. To avoid this problem, the player will need to spend a lot of time studying the materials before starting the game to avoid obvious mistakes.

**Let feel the game**

Reasonable game design implies that the player is provided with content either gradually or with the opportunity to explore various options in test scenarios. This helps the player better understand the kind of experience they can expect and the development choices available.

In this sense, the game Overwatch serves as a good example. Here, players can easily get acquainted with different heroes in test conditions, without the risk of losing their main game progress. This allows players to better understand their preferences and choose the optimal development path.

An analogy can be drawn with the education of schoolchildren. The ideal approach is for the student to be introduced to basic knowledge first and then presented with challenging tasks. Throwing him immediately into deep mathematical research, without preparation, most often only discourages interest in the educational process.

**3.2 Increase cognitive load**

Some might say that all you need is to create a bullet hell on the screen and there you have the cognitive load on the player with a frantic pace. But it's not that simple.

**Important and not-so-important decisions.**

Make the player need to solve more tasks in a unit of time and force them to make decisions faster. Most importantly, alternate these tasks in terms of danger or difficulty of execution. This way, they will feel that their brain is working for a purpose, making truly important decisions that are necessary to achieve their gaming goals.

**Don't forget about taking breaks.**

The brain, like any other organ, needs breaks. If you increase the pace and intensity of the gameplay, making the player multitask and make important decisions in a short time, provide them with opportunities to relax and engage in less intense strategic tasks.

This approach is often evident in real-time strategy *(RTS)* games, where the gameplay rhythm is characterized by alternating phases. For example, a phase of intense battles is followed by a phase of preparing new troops or developing new tactics, where the demands on the player decrease in terms of both volume and speed of decision-making.

**3.3 Pay for your mistakes.**

Introducing a high cost per mistake seems like a simple and logical solution for a game designer. Losing progress due to failure motivates the player to “suffer” and encourages him to regain the lost achievement. Conversely, reducing the cost of an mistake to a minimum makes the methods described above less effective *(thanks to the cyberpunk developers for their undoubtedly important leveling system)*.

However, as with everything, there are certain pitfalls in this case. Too high a cost of mistake can lead to abuse of the save and load mechanism, which violates the integrity of the game. On the other hand, if save points are missing *(unless justified by gameplay)*, the game may be perceived as unfair. Both situations can disrupt the player's flow. What to do in this case?

**Choose one option.**

It is important to emphasize that the unreasonable disproportionate relationship between the cost of mistake and progress should not be accompanied by unnecessary cognitive load. Too much stress, caused by a simultaneous increase in both the cost of a mistake and the intensity of gameplay, can create a negative experience, punishing the player twice for one action.

This means that you should not simultaneously increase both of these indicators without a reasonable proportion. It is important to strike a balance, and if one stat is high, another should be handled carefully to maintain player comfort.

**The player's pain is your job**

It is necessary to maintain control over the player's experience by directing it, rather than allowing it to become chaos. When a game designer keeps things under control, the gaming experience remains sharp, but at the same time becomes consistent. Even in the most intense moments, the player prefers to feel stimuli in a dosed and predictable manner, just as a person wants to feel even pain, receiving it in doses and predictability.

When a player enters an ultra-hardcore adventure, they expect not only to have their emotional expectations confirmed, but also to discover unique and surprising aspects of the new gaming experience.

**Risk & Reward**

As stated earlier, the concept of "DecisionCost" is the ratio between the penalty for an mistake and the reward for a correct decision. Increasing the penalty can create the gaming experience you want, but that's only half the equation. To keep the game fair, the rewards for correct decisions need to be increased, especially in cases where the stakes are high. Fair distribution implies that the higher the risk, the higher the reward.

However, in the context of a hardcore experience, it is recommended to maintain a slight bias towards risk. That is, in a standard game where the high risk is equal to twice the norm, based on the norm, the high reward is 1.75x. In case of hardcore experience, you can lower the reward a little so that the risk level is 2.25x and the reward is 1.5x.

Of course, balancing will be adjusted many times during the polishing phase of the game, but the general principle is that if the cost of a mistake increases, the reward for making the right decision must also increase.

**3.4 Random is fun!**

Oh, this fuc... hm, Korean random! Let's force the player to hit less often and the enemy to crit more often, and it's in the bag! This is exactly how I think idiots design games. Well, or more correctly, lazy game design looks like this. Turn the player's chance roulette to the minimum and increase the enemy's chance of positive effects to the maximum. But how to make a good random?

**Unpredictable conditions, not results!**

The best random is the one that creates unpredictable conditions, not results! Is the player used to hitting a goblin with a bow in a cave, diving into a narrow neck? Great, add a chance to spawn a goblin with lasers from its eyes. Manage the player's expectations and habits, not the result or outcome. Random should force the player into unusual situations, and not determine whether the right decision will work or not. Yes, this is also one of the game design tools, but, for God's sake, do not abuse it. You will only create the most unfair gaming experience possible, where there is no point in planning your decisions if the outcome is still uncertain.

## 4. Summing up

It's important to strive to create an enriching gaming experience for the player, rather than making games with impossible difficulty levels. The essence of hardcore is not solely about extreme health or damage values, but rather a focus on the cognitive load and concentration of the player during the game. This implies the need for quick and accurate decision making, as well as the creation of a sense of real punishment for mistakes, seasoned with a dose of randomness.

* A game with an extensive set of rules that requires player knowledge can increase the barrier to entry. However, if other aspects of the game are severely limited, then the hardcore experience may not reach the expected level.
* In a game where the player is given many decision options per unit of time or turn, such as in real-time strategy (RTS) games, high cognitive load is guaranteed. However, if the time for making decisions is unnecessarily stretched, this load will simply be evenly distributed over time and will not bring the expected concentration.
* In the case of games with a high pace of play, such as shooters, but a low cost of mistake, the experience can be fast-paced, but not quite hardcore, such as Counter-Strike (CS).
* If the cost of mistake is too high, but the game is too simple and has little variation in solutions, then the result will be too simplistic and not interesting enough, as, for example, in games like Russian roulette.
* When events are almost completely random, but don't present any danger or challenge to the player, it also doesn't help create the hardcore experience you want.