Thesis by Klötz, Sebastian Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences.

The main topic

The text delves into the different methods that game developers use to adjust difficulty and the purpose of said challenge with the research question of: “What possible categorizations can be established regarding parameters that impact the difficulty of action video games?”. The question will be answered through review of previous books, essays and articles concerning various aspects of mostly action video games.

The primary sources that the study chose to use are: “Fear of Failing? The Many Meanings of Difficulty in Video Games” by Jesper Juul, “Scaling the Level of Difficulty in Single Player Video Games” by Maria-Virginia Aponte, and “On Difficulty in Video Games: Mechanics, Interpretation, Affect” by Patrick Jagoda.

Results

The text goes through each main source text in order and gathers their main points for how difficulty is created and why.

Aponte’s text, Scaling the Level of Difficulty

Aponte concluded that the ways difficulty can be controlled can be split into two primary categories which are player capability such as the ability to control a character or understand the game itself, as well as their physical capabilities such as reaction-time. Secondly, the demands of the challenges themselves, usually starting with relatively easy yet different challenges and eventually escalating and combining different types of challenges to make the experience more difficult.

Juul’s text, Fear of Failing

Juul covers punishment as a factor in difficulty and enjoyment of a game. Punishment can involve methods such as Game Termination Punishment, in which the player loses all progress such as in old arcade games, or the presently preferred Setback Punishment in which the player is instead set back some instead of losing everything they have achieved. Enjoying a punishing experience seems inherently contradictory, but a more punishing challenge will in turn make the experience of victory more thrilling compared to a game where victory is attained through no challenge at all. A game being punishing can add a lot of depth to an experience as it will require the player to rethink their strategies and engage with the game on a deeper level.

Jagoda’s text, Mechanics, Interpretation, Affect

Most important for this article is how difficulty can be categorized into three types: Mechanical Difficulty, Interpretive Difficulty, and Affective Difficulty. Mechanical difficulty is about intentional challenges, such a larger number of enemies, smarter AI, some degree of randomness, purposely difficult level design or being allowed to make less mistakes before being punished and the severity of said punishments.

Interpretive Difficulty is described as four types of difficulty regarding interpreting arts:

• Contingent difficulty, interpretation based on knowledge
• Modal difficulty, interpretations can be made without complete understanding.
• Tactical difficulty, interpretations involve intentional blocks to make them more challenging to comprehend.
• Ontological difficulties, taking a familiar concept and changing it to become less familiar.

These can apply to games in examples such as Contingent Difficulty in the form of established player knowledge making progressing easier on repeat runs. Modal Difficulty in the form of tricky or abstract level design. Tactical Difficulty in the form of leaving out some information so the player must work things out for themselves. And Ontological Difficulty in the form of the game having unique systems or gameplay which revert expectations of the player.

Affective Difficulty is described as irresolvable. It is a very subjective factor and described as difficulty that is the result of something such as the emotions or experiences of the player making it more difficult to continue. Affective Difficulty cannot be consistently controlled because it is incredibly difficult to gauge the intended reaction from the players.

The Categories

With the findings from the sources, the text then proceeds to present four categories to which difficulty can be divided. The categories are Input-Based Difficulty, Punishment-Based Difficulty Randomness-Based Difficulty, and Mask-Based Difficulty.

Input-Based Difficulty is related to the player’s direct input, be it the controls themselves or how precise the player must be when playing, it also includes factors like reaction speed and hand-eye coordination.

Punishment-Based Difficulty is tied to how much the player loses when failing their input-based challenges.

Randomness-Based Difficulty is about how much random chance can affect the difficulty of input-based challenges, such as what attacks enemies might decide to do.

Mask-Based Difficulty is the need of specific information in order to progress, such as for puzzles or learning tricky telegraphs for enemy attacks.

Conclusion

The categories established in the thesis hope to help create more concrete parameters that developers and designers can or should consider when making video games.

Link to original full text

https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1955554&dswid=-5749