So, it is a well known fact that if you play on easy difficulty in Keen Galaxy you won't see everything; some enemies are absent and in Keen 5 you can't get the best ending because you can't break the Korath fuse.
Some have called this unfair, that you shouldn't have to struggle on higher difficulties to see\get everything. I think that is as it should be, you should *earn* your extra content.
As a designer of galaxy mods I have some pipeline patches that make Keen appear in different places and even rearrange the level depending on difficulty. The upshot being that easy difficulty will skip a lot of game content. I am of course concerned that this may offend some people.
So what do you think, is it a good, bad or meh thing that playing on lower difficulties skips some content?
Difficulty and deprivation
Difficulty and deprivation
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
Personally, I think that it's at the very least excusable (if maybe not entirely preferable) if the player is made aware of the lost content in advance, if the content is sufficiently tangible ("good endings" are exempt).
A particularly sour experience I had with this recently was with the game Jamestown, a shmup which offers at the outset of each level a selection of five difficulties, starting at "Normal" and going up, of which the first three are unlocked at the outset. Not thinking much of my skills, I chose to embark on Normal rather than any higher difficulty. After completing 4 of the game's 6 stages on Normal, I was informed (much to my chagrin) that the next stage could not be accessed until I had completed the first 4 on the second difficulty level. After playing through each level again on this difficulty level, it was learned that the sixth and final stage required the completion of prior levels on the next difficulty again. Understandably, I was a little bit irritated at this point. If I had known at the start that these levels would be locked until I played through on the higher difficulties, I would have simply started with those difficulties.
To an extent, though, I suppose that's not quite the same. It boils down to this: "Locked" content as an incentive to play on higher difficulties is fine. "Locked" content as a cheap method of artificially extending the play time of your game is not.
A particularly sour experience I had with this recently was with the game Jamestown, a shmup which offers at the outset of each level a selection of five difficulties, starting at "Normal" and going up, of which the first three are unlocked at the outset. Not thinking much of my skills, I chose to embark on Normal rather than any higher difficulty. After completing 4 of the game's 6 stages on Normal, I was informed (much to my chagrin) that the next stage could not be accessed until I had completed the first 4 on the second difficulty level. After playing through each level again on this difficulty level, it was learned that the sixth and final stage required the completion of prior levels on the next difficulty again. Understandably, I was a little bit irritated at this point. If I had known at the start that these levels would be locked until I played through on the higher difficulties, I would have simply started with those difficulties.
To an extent, though, I suppose that's not quite the same. It boils down to this: "Locked" content as an incentive to play on higher difficulties is fine. "Locked" content as a cheap method of artificially extending the play time of your game is not.
Shonikado wrote:Looking back on what we've done and wanting to change it is the first step in becoming a weakling that cannot do anything.
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guynietoren
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I have that one but didn't play it through all the way. But don't you get power ups and/or upgrades throughout the game? So going back to hard levels later would be easier than if you started that way.TerminILL wrote:A particularly sour experience I had with this recently was with the game Jamestown.
I'd say it's only unfair if you're not given any warning ahead of time yes. For all I know I could have beat many games and not seen the whole thing when I thought I did. But going back to them later is another story, would I just be upset at the game and not even try it again?
Although I'm past the point in my life where I own more games than I have time to play. Family time takes priority over me time.
If I recall, yes, you did unlock new ships along the way. While this is a nice touch, my point still stands. If I had been incapable of beating the higher difficulty levels at first, I might have sufficed to play on Normal initially, but since I was not aware beforehand I started at Normal, not knowing I was disadvantaging myself in the long run.
Back to the original topic, a few more cents from me. It's probably worth finding the line where content becomes significant. If I miss out on a "room" or a puzzle, I'm fine with that. Missing out on an entire enemy type is dubious - if adding that enemy would add significant difficulty, then perhaps difficulty level segregation is appropriate. It's a careful balancing act, in some cases, between maintaining the advertised difficulty and allowing the player to see your hard work; as nice as the idea of rewarding those who play on higher difficulties is, I'd be sorely disappointed if players were missing out on a significant part of the experience I'd created simply because they weren't willing to play on a higher difficulty; even moreso if they were unaware they were missing out.
Back to the original topic, a few more cents from me. It's probably worth finding the line where content becomes significant. If I miss out on a "room" or a puzzle, I'm fine with that. Missing out on an entire enemy type is dubious - if adding that enemy would add significant difficulty, then perhaps difficulty level segregation is appropriate. It's a careful balancing act, in some cases, between maintaining the advertised difficulty and allowing the player to see your hard work; as nice as the idea of rewarding those who play on higher difficulties is, I'd be sorely disappointed if players were missing out on a significant part of the experience I'd created simply because they weren't willing to play on a higher difficulty; even moreso if they were unaware they were missing out.
Shonikado wrote:Looking back on what we've done and wanting to change it is the first step in becoming a weakling that cannot do anything.
It IS unfair because not everybody can play equally good, but that doesn't mean those who want to play on easy should miss the fun.
But if you or anyone else is making such a thing, a big and well seen warning should appear right before the beginning of the game for those who choose to play on easy. That way it will be fair for everyone and people will be aware of that they might miss something.
But if you or anyone else is making such a thing, a big and well seen warning should appear right before the beginning of the game for those who choose to play on easy. That way it will be fair for everyone and people will be aware of that they might miss something.
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chrissifniotis
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I put down yes, but my belief is very similar to the rest it seems; as long as there is prior warning it's perfectly fine, since the player is aware that it's up to them to unlock the content. wiivn does highlight a point as well, not all Keens are equal. I had no idea there was a secret level on Keen 5 until I saw one of the speedruns a month or so ago because I don't play Keen enough to beat easy.
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Dr. Kylstein
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Real men always play on the hardest difficulty. (says the guy who played Valentine's Keen on easy mode the whole way through.)
I think it is fair, because playing in the easiest difficulty helps you get used to the game, but playing on harser difficulties brings on a challenge, and makes things more fun. I almost always play these games more than oncs, so I sometimes start out on easier difficulties to get used to the game, then move to the harder difficulties to add on the challenge and see what I missed.
That's why I always play DooM on Ultra Violence. There's a ton of monsters that don't show up where they're supposed to on easier modes. Not as much fun really, when you play The Crusher and expect to find a Spider Mastermind waiting to toast you, only to find a Hell Knight or two on the platform instead.
I think it is fair, because playing in the easiest difficulty helps you get used to the game, but playing on harser difficulties brings on a challenge, and makes things more fun. I almost always play these games more than oncs, so I sometimes start out on easier difficulties to get used to the game, then move to the harder difficulties to add on the challenge and see what I missed.
That's why I always play DooM on Ultra Violence. There's a ton of monsters that don't show up where they're supposed to on easier modes. Not as much fun really, when you play The Crusher and expect to find a Spider Mastermind waiting to toast you, only to find a Hell Knight or two on the platform instead.
I think it is unfair. Because... some people are not as good in keen as others. I certainly had difficulties on hard when I was quite young.
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StupidBunny
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It doesn't take all that much dev time to make an easier version. I implement difficulty levels in all my Doom maps (well, I've started to anyway) and I threw out an easier version of Clouds Unseen so that more people could play it. I think it's fine to have content which is only present on harder difficulties (especially if that content is nasty enemies, which are hard to work into easier versions anyway) but it's also not fair to design games without a way for people who aren't super skilled to be able to appreciate them.
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Keening_Product
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TerminILL: On that note, after you completed the demo level in Raptor (Bravo Sector, IIRC), you were placed back at the first level but with way, way more ships. I'm not sure if that was an automatic difficulty increase or not, but it was a great way of doing what Jamestown seems to be trying to do.
Having said that, Raptor had little plot so going back to the start didn't cause any time warps in said plot.
Having said that, Raptor had little plot so going back to the start didn't cause any time warps in said plot.
Keening_Product was defeated before the game.
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