In designing many various kinds of video games the place a participant’s talent is a think about progressing via the sport, one is ready to put challenges forward of a participant of various difficulties. For instance, in a sport with a number of ranges, degree 1 ought to normally be extremely straightforward, however by degree 50, say, it ought to be a lot more durable.
Having made a couple of video games, I’ve discovered that I normally severely underestimate how arduous the sport may be, seeing gamers get caught on what ought to be the “straightforward” elements, with a few of these gamers in query being individuals who play video video games fairly often.
My downside is that, as an indie developer making video games by myself
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I rack up so many hours of expertise enjoying the sport as I progressively create and tweak it
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I by no means get to expertise sure elements of studying the sport (similar to determining how sport mechanics work, fixing the sport’s puzzles, discovering secrets and techniques within the sport)
These then trigger me to make the educational curve of the sport means too arduous.
So, how can I keep away from underestimating how arduous my sport is?
One resolution is after all to ask others to beta take a look at the sport and get suggestions from them. That after all works, however as a solo indie developer:
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It may be tough to search out quite a lot of individuals who can beta take a look at the sport free of charge – I normally simply ask my pals for instance. The issue is, after a number of iterations of them testing the sport, me tweaking the sport to suit their recommendation, and sending it again, I might fear that they themselves would additionally achieve this expertise of the sport, and underestimate the issue.
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I can maybe attempt develop my pool of testers, however this might contain each investing a bit of cash into the sport (one thing I may not be capable to afford for the time being) or releasing the sport early entry to the general public at a stage in improvement the place I might not be snug in doing so.
What will surely be useful is recommendation on how I can develop a “rule of thumb” of types the place I can precisely inform if “this feels straightforward to me, however I’ve hours of expertise enjoying this sport throughout improvement. Give this to somebody who first booted up the sport ten minutes in the past they usually’d battle”. Does anybody have expertise with such a factor?
