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View Profile SoulRed12
I write music, mostly downtempo and soundtrack. Someday I hope to write music for film and video games.

Age 33, Male

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UNLV

Nevada, USA

Joined on 7/7/08

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LOL @ L2P

Posted by SoulRed12 - October 13th, 2009


So I've been reviewing some stuff, mostly other sites but here as well, and this seems to be a favorite response whenever I write that a game is too difficult: "L2P." Which of course, means "learn to play." I'd like to respond to these users here, even though they'll probably never read this.

When a tester/player tells you the game is too hard, it's too hard. That doesn't mean the designer should immediately tone down the difficulty/make controls easier, etc., unless of course EVERYONE is saying the game is too hard (which, in the games I've reviewed, many others were). In that case, one should take a hint, realize that they may have screwed up the difficulty, and redesign.

A good game designer, of course, would have let some people (friends, classmates, coworkers, etc.) play their game before submitting it to the world, but hey, not all of our real world acquaintances are interested in playing video games. I get that. But we should all at least find some online contacts to get to know and ask to play a beta of the game to determine the appropriateness of the difficulty.

The truth is, you as a game designer CANNOT objectively tell whether your game is too difficult. Why is that? Because for the past days, weeks, months, etc. you've spent hours upon hours testing the motion and the levels. You can guess, but you really can't be sure because that's all it is--a guess, not a genuine gameplay experience. It's also why as I mentioned, testers are so gosh darn important because they're "fresh faces".

Those of us out here, however, just looking for a game to play, don't wish to spend hours just learning how not to die on the first few levels. Instead we'll simply move on to the next game in which we don't have to spend hours just to "L2P". In my own opinion, and I'm sure the opinion of many others out there, the greatest games are those like chess: Easy to learn (i.e. complete the first few challenges), and difficult to master (i.e. become good enough to finish the harder levels).

This is why a designer simply telling people they're wrong or just unskilled because THE DESIGNER can get through the game without dying, quite frankly, is foolish. The designer understands the mechanics and tricks of the game; real players have to learn it first, then practice it, then master it. A designer therefore already understands how to play the game perfectly by the time it's released because he's done so many times. However, if the game is just too darn hard, the time it takes for a player to get going can grow exponentially.

There is always the possibility of a reviewer just plain fail at some game, that's true. But again, when pretty much everyone says the game's controls suck, the hint should be taken instead of just telling everyone that it's because everyone's not good enough. When I see L2P in cases like that, I can really only respond by saying L2D: Learn to Design.


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