Hi Tom.
well the question of difficulty is an interesting one. i've noticed that
where in a lot of the classic games, extra difficulty came from more
enemies, differences in enemy behaviour , or slightly different challenges,
in audio games it's usually just a matter of faster ractions. This of course
goes straight back to the ractive vs judgement based gameplay distinction,
since while playing a game like shades where you must learn the mechanics
and judge appropriate is harder, it is A, more satisfying, and also B, more
open to alteration in difficulty by giving leeway to a persons judgements.
Take mario brothers as an example. On the first level there are only two
comparatively small pits that mario can fall into, meaning it doesn't matter
where a player walks or how much she/he bounces around when clonking the
enemies on the head. On 1-3 however, almost the entire floor is an abyss,
meaning that getting marrio to perform a quick stop after a jump is far more
crytical to a players survival.
as I've said before, its this! sort of difficulty we need more of in audio
games, rather than just the effectively boppit style hear it, hit it sort of
gameplay that a lot of games have relied upon.
don't get me wrong, games like troopanum or super egghunt are still worth
playing, but I'd just love as a general rule audio games to get away from
that sort of mechanic, even in simpler, arcade style games, (gma lander
managed this nicely).
While I have noticed a distinct improvement in this over the past few years,
it's still very much an area audio games need to improve on. Yes, it sdoes
mean more difficult games, because at rock bottom it is harder to learn and
judge something than just to react, but at the same time it also means games
that offer far more rewards and interesting challenges to the players.
While I totally agree that different people have different likes and
dislikes, at the same time I would! like to see things change in the
judgement vs reaction scales. it was the judgement and mechanics angles that
made all those old atari games so dam difficult in the first place after
all, which also contributed to how addictive they were.
Beware the Grue!
Dark.
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