What is the best way to create a game that is challenging but not frustrating?

Don't underestimate the value of frustration. I remember someone saying "When I hear shouts of anger, I know my spouse is having a good time." Games are not supposed to be -easy-; indeed, they are supposed to pose a challenge. (Not that I have anything against cosy games, and quite like that dynamic as well.) Ideally, games pose challenges; and ideally, overcoming those challenges requires effort. I'm not big on games that require l33t skillz; I don't want to design games only for the hard core. But its perfectly okay if your game occasionally has hard things to beat, and maybe your players have to look at a video to do so -- so long as they aren't blocked from progress. Working to overcome a challenge, and succeeding, is a fiero moment.

Depending on the game genre, different challenges can be issued, when you are making a platformer, you could add more complex platforms, or even, requiring faster reaction time or a certain rhythm. Regardless genre, the key to making sure that a game is challenging but not frustrating, is rewarding the player correctly. Most of the times the reason games are frustrating like Getting Over It, is that the punishments are more severe than the rewards, you will see many people in such games, ragequitting or even taking a break, in my opinion, this should be avoided for most games by balancing reward and punishment. However if you want to make a game like Getting Over It, the player should know exactly what they sign up for, that's why it's fun!

I would say that this is a hard task to do since difficulty is subjective to player experience. One might argue that it should comply with the average player's skill level while others think that it must fit players who play the game in hard mode. One suggestion I would take is that we start from the hardest difficulty and then reduce it after each test and iteration until it reaches an acceptable threshold of the majority of players for the game

Know your target group! What one person finds challenging, another one might find boring. What is exiting for one player is already well explored for another.

One of the techniques I used a lot in Ultima: Runes of Virtue, an action-puzzle-rpg for the Gameboy, was to be mindful of the "solution space" of the puzzles I put in. And keep it within a modest range. One level had four levers that would raise some portcullises while lowering others. Four levers with two positions each represents a total of just 16 different states the map can be in. The design goal is that for each puzzle, players that think it through will solve the level quickly. While players that just don't see it will do some trial and error, and still get through in a reasonable amount of tries. Some Match 3 games actually just count failures, and make the level easier after a certain number of failed attempts!

1. Scaffolding challenges to keep players in the flow (Skills vs difficulty) . Build on top of previous learnings, addressing any player learning gaps with tailored challenges to support player skills mastery. 2. Engagement = meaningful project. Compulsion loops and dopamine comes from anticipation of an upcoming activity "the project". start from short projects (I will kill that monster) and sew your loops towards larger projects (I care about my score in the leaderboard) 3. Intrinsic motivation leads to mastery. The challenge is the reward. It leads the player in a virtuous loop. They perform the activity for the sake of it. not for points, scores or badges.

Frustration occurs when a player CANNOT reasonably achieve whatever their goals may be at any point in the game. Give players tools to get past the points in the game where they are unable to achieve whatever they are going after. Adjustable difficulty. Hints and assistance. Pre designed 'lucky breaks'. Wherever it takes to keep them interested, and progressing

The most engaging challenges often come with internal rewards. A challenge can be crafted to a mastery effort. This concept is best exemplified by some action-packed hits from recent years, like DOOM Eternal. In DOOM Eternal, for example, after obtaining a particular weapon and spending some time with it, players are presented with a challenge that involves performing a difficult task, such as achieving 10 mid-air headshots. They are optional and seamlessly integrated into the core player experience. They don't pull the player out of the level or force them into a new biome using a loading screen. This approach maintains the flow of the game and enhances the player's sense of accomplishment and mastery within the existing game environment.

One other thing to discuss here is that Challenge should be thought of as a rollercoaster where highs and lows need to be experienced over the course of a ride to enjoy it. To help make the lows more enjoyable, but still relaxing for that skill, you can rise up to a height on one of your other challenge vectors or your storyline(if you have a narrative for example). This way you can engage the player in different ways and at different times, without causing them to burn out with to much challenge along a specific skill vector.

I think it is important to realize that players have a much higher tolerance normally for challenge that seems fair. As soon as a player feels they did the right things but the game gave them a negative result, it can create a special kind of frustration that can easily lose someone from the experience.

I find that frustration is caused by many different factors, but it is also that edge that keeps people playing long term if they can see that progression was made. To that end I always strive to break a mechanic down until it is easy to learn and hard to master. This creates a lack of frustration when a player is learning the mechanic, but increases the frustration level as they begin to master it. Easy to learn, hard to master. Think of pinball as an easy demonstration of this. Anyone can bang on the flippers and keep the ball going. But a great player learns to aim shots, avoid certain modes, and how to stack multipliers to get a huge point return.

In my experience, players want a balance in difficulty and achievement. You have to make the game hard enough so that there's enough adrenaline rush but no too much difficult that player just leaves the game. Players like to take on challenges so there should be agency for the player as well. Also if he plays out the difficulty and move forward in game, the engagement automatically increases. To make the player learn his difficulty curve, you need to give some skill parameter that keeps increasing.

I think that frustration should be encouraged to a reasonable extent, but not too much so that players give up entirely on trying. A good example for this is "Ori and the Blind Forest" - level where the player have to escape a flooding trees called Ginso. The escape sequence can be quite challenging and frustrating checkpoint the whole running sequence and if you die you start from the beginning. However, the instant revive and the music reduces the stress of the player for each death counts. It allows for a more pleasant experience while still keep it quite challenging and some what frustrating.

As a Souls game player, frustration is an old friend of mine. However, these games aren’t designed to make players feel frustrated. They provide players with the necessary gameplay tools and information to guide them through upcoming challenges and help achieve their objectives, but success is determined by skill. So, low-IQ apes need to grind their skills instead of complaining. Get better noobs!!

Oferecer feedback claro e imediato sobre as ações dos jogadores e as consequências de suas escolhas é fundamental para ajudá-los a compreender o que está ocorrendo no jogo e a identificar áreas para melhorias. Evite impor punições severas por erros dos jogadores; em vez disso, aplique consequências proporcionais aos erros e conceda aos jogadores a chance de corrigi-los.

Realize testes com diversos jogadores e envolva uma variedade de gamers, desde novatos até especialistas, para obter uma perspectiva abrangente sobre como diferentes públicos respondem ao jogo. Isso pode ajudar a identificar áreas de dificuldade ou frustração para diferentes níveis de habilidade.

Engagement comes when players feel a part of the world I always say immersion creates engagement Elden ring - losing runes gives you a feeling of hard earned money lost hence you retrieve it & are engaged Prince of Persia - Story keeps you on feel keeps going on Far cry 3 - You feel like its your own personal story you connect with the main character and its not the character who wants revenge its you .Vaas is a great villian Clash Royale - Clans and new cards the progression with network effect(search it gem of a concept) keeps you engaged CS go : You design your own experience all games are different from others Detroit become human : Choice belongs to you & story reactive to that Witcher 3 - think abt it

Immersion is the purest form of escapism within gaming communities but not the be-all and end-all of engagement. If your project has a specific genre/theme then take steps to make that as immersive as possible, choose appropriate art styles, soundscapes, and storylines backed by in-depth lore that helps players become invested in the game. TTRPGs are the gold standard of this; often fully customisable, narratively driven and immersive, and with an inherent sense of achievement that keeps players coming back.

You can try and enhance engagement in many ways. If it is a sci fi detective type game, then you can give an eerie ambience, maybe after each puzzle is solved, there is a short cutscene or some reaction that would tell you're going on the right track. If it's an adventure game maybe you can give rewards. Maybe you can unlock another series of side quests if you do a particular challenge. You can link up multiple puzzles and each of which would help in finding the final solution. Hence defining a purpose to complete the game would increase the player engagement.

Provide players with clear objectives and feedback to assist them to advance and understand what they must do to succeed. Make use of dynamic difficulty adjustment algorithms to tailor the game's difficulty to players' skill levels and performance, ensuring that challenges are entertaining but not overwhelming. Incorporate risk-reward mechanics that encourage strategic decision-making while not unnecessarily punishing failure, allowing players to take measured risks in exchange for higher rewards. Offer players with alternative paths and solutions to solve hurdles, allowing them to approach obstacles in different ways according to their play style and preferences.

I recommend employing multiple testing methods when addressing this matter. One effective approach is to establish a testing ground for in-game events using precise but random encounters in Machinations or a similar simulation tool. By simulating scenarios repeatedly, you can create difficulty curves based on the outcomes. Afterward, involving real playtests becomes crucial. Collecting tangible data from these playtests allows you to compare your initial assessments with real-world results. Now you can generate hypotheses based on your testing methods and create challenges that are simple yet engaging. This iterative process helps refine and optimize the difficulty of the game!

Test as 1. Gamers 2. Not gamers 3. Hypercasual gamers Releasing a beta of product on different platforms if possible makes you understand what different player persona wants Testing and reiterating the game if comes with power to be able to write a solution/ideas by players to the dev team is worth in gold as can be seen as a case with witcher 3 . The testers were allowed to suggest new missions also add props and models on the empty landscape as a youtube video suggested the dev log process of the game the whole team owned the game like their own

When developing a game testing is one of the most important things you need for a projects success. When learning game dev and creating indie projects solo or in a small team it can be difficult to know if the game you’re working on is fun. Hosting small game testing arrangements with strangers is a great way to test the games mechanic’s, visuals and so much more. If you don’t let people test your game how do you know what should be improved.

It is also important to mention that testing should be included as early as possible in the development phase. This prevents time and other resources from being spent on something that will be reconsidered later. For example, surveys or a paper prototype can take place before the actual implementation and point the way in the right direction. In a later step, an MVP could be implemented directly with your game's development environment to test the basic functionality of the game, feature or whatever. This is also a great way to test exactly what you want to test, e.g. just the user interface.

Embrace negative feedback as an opportunity to create a better experience the second time around. In 'Blossom Tales: The Sleeping King,' we added brutal Simon Says-style singing stone puzzles that many players found difficult due to their length. In the sequel, 'The Minotaur Prince,' we received positive feedback for making them less frustrating and even optional since you can choose a different puzzle to solve!

You don't learn without a bit of jabs to your body and work! For as long as I remember, my closest partner in the industry has made my life a misery time and time again by playing our fangame and winning with various design flaws and exploits. However, this is a great sign to locate and find issues and fundamental burdens in your projects, no matter if it's a silly Super Smash Bros. fangame or a full fledged development project.

I would recommend implementing a system that changes difficulty live - For instance, when a player keeps on failing a level in a falling blocks game (like Tetris), the system is designed to spawn easier block types. Perfecting the system definitions can only be done with enough data, though.

Be willing to take what people give you, and grant it the proper mileage you would if you were critiquing someone else's product. Be a sponge for what you see, and constantly have a mindset that lets you learn about what you're looking at. Grant those that are playing your game ample wiggle room to critique what you have done, and take it to heart. They are your demographic, they are the ones that have not laid hands on a product yet, and as such their idea of what works, what doesn't and what needs to change is paramount.

Learning is a never-ending curve. One cannot know everything. Never stop learning and exploring new methods. No one is born with knowledge. We all learn

I think the key here is to ensure a smooth difficulty curve. Skills players learn in the beginning of the game should gradually add complexity and nuance over the course of the game. These added layers should get some explanation as you add them. They preferably build on each other in an intuitive way. This allows you to ramp up difficulty quickly over time. You should also test like crazy with blind players to see if there's a bit of assumed intuitive next steps that need to actually be spelled out somewhere.

It's always worth considering why it is you're trying to avoid the frustration in the first place, and how those player feelings fit into your game pillars and core loops. By embracing the frustration, but giving players methods to alleviate it, you can create a really rewarding emotional experience. Just look at 'Getting Over It', which is entirely built around incredible difficulty and the cadence of slow success and immediate, epic failure.

Learn how the specific target audience of your game thinks. Like how long the game session should be? A quick one after your player puts his or her kids to sleep or rides the subway to work? Or a long one for a hardcore gamer with some time on his or her hands? And it’s just a one of million questions you should find out the answer to. If you look at it from a narrative design perspective though then it’s all matters. Not just gameplay or the story, but the feeling the player gets listening to the soundtrack (for example, the sound of running water can affect your player's bladder and disrupt the flow or, god forbid, the whole game session) or inconsistencies in setting that can catch one’s eye. Know your player – build a better game!

Also factor in gradual ramping, optional challenges for high-flyers and forgiveness for those still warming up. Dynamic scaling based on performance prevents frustration while rewarding mastery. Playtesting will reveal what cranks the tension dial. So be brave experimenting and don't be afraid to iterate obstacles until they push just right.

Spending time understanding your audience is key. Leverage the design thinking process to deep dive into the psychological impact of the game mechanics and focus on behavioral science principles instead of the ‘look and feel’ of the game. Use technology to dynamically monitor and adapt to the specific player’s patterns.