Video Game Difficulty Different campaigns

[Zagubadu? 0]

Okay so I didn't really think this went under the Game forums section because its more like an idea then just talking about a game. Move if I am wrong.So here is my idea. So you beat your most favorite video game right? What are you going to do now beat it again on a higher difficulty? Boring. I mean really just making the game harder is not enough for me and I bet others too. Okay so I would think it'd be cool if someone made a video game that after you beat it you unlock another difficulty and guess what? When you change into that difficulty BAM! Its a whole new campaign. That way not only is it harder but its all new keeping you too play. Also you can just play the other campaign on a higher difficulty. I think this would be awesome but sadly enough I don't think any money hungry game maker companies would ever do it. Because why make more then one campaign in a video game when you could just make those campaigns as DLC and sell the for even more money after the games made? Anyone else think this would make for a badass idea?

[Zagubadu? 0]

Well its definitely not a space issue. That would just be a weak excuse they have the space. L4D2 has 5 campaigns I believe so it is possible. I like progress in video games. I like to see it. So this way I can see my progress as I beat through the difficulties of this pretend game I am talking about. And as a bonus I can after I beat it set the difficulty higher and its all new content! I think it would be the best thing ever. I just believe that no game producer would ever do it because of money. That's why I don't think its possible. But a man can dream.

[fermin25 3]

You are totally rigth and this is an idea is not a chat about the videogames. So if you play a videogame take for example the Grand theft auto and you pass and complete all the assigments, that are difficult of course maybe you will lose the interest in the video game after pass all its assigments. But for that the videogames companies limit the capability of the games because if you make a complete game with all its campaigns in one Copy CD/DVD you only will sell once however if you make a campaig in different copies you will sell a lot more and your game will be what popularlly is named a Saga and the game company will make a lot of more profits and will create and audience of addicts to the game and of course make a lot of money.But you have to make in count the capability of the distribution device. I have understood that all the videogames full the CD/DVD capability and if you want to create a lot of campaigns maybe the space of the disk won?t be enough to support all the capability that the videogame will require to load all the campaigns. This is trouble and it?s big.So your theory or idea is good and it?s the ideal to all of us that love the video games but the videogames companies and corporations unfortunately don?t think like us.So What can we do? Maybe nothing at least we start our own video game company.Tell me about my business idea. :)Regards.

[FouGilang 0]

So you mean every each difficulty have their own settings and campaigns? That's good idea, new story with new difficulty level Hmm, i think there's one like this, let of remember for a while... Tenchu? That ninja game series sure do this. I remember playing it first using the ninja girl named ayame (or something like that) in easy difficulty. Then after you finished her, you'll unlock the next difficulty with a new character and storyline, finish it again to unlock the next character. though i can't really remember which one i played that time, and i don't know the other games that offer this. Well, i don't know why they can't make more campaigns like you mentioned, with the fact that most recent games cost more than 5gigs each But anyway, isn't the campaigns in games like call of duty, grand theft auto, and the others (maybe all) have this increasing difficulty the more level you played?Though yeah, it's still counted by 1 campaign. And doesn't make people interested to replay with higher difficulty level.The only "higher difficulty level" that can interest me is the "Dante Must Die" in the devil may cry. Though it is only "re-playing" the game without any new campaign and such, but it's really worth the effort, make the other hard level like the easy mode

[anwiii 17]

sorry to break it to you, but they already have those types of games. instead of one big campaign, they break the game up in to smaller, but more compaigns.it would take a alot of money to build(let's say....) a zelda game where after you beat ocorina of time, it automatically unlocks majoras mask, and after majoras mask, maybe one more campaign. not only would it cost a lot of money, the originators are taking a big risk because what if someone goes through the first campaign and doesn't like it? they wouldn't bother playing the rest and the negative publicity would ruin any potential future profits. in fact, the company could even LOSE money to construct games like thisanyway, it IS about money. the players would like this only because it could potentially save them money in the long run. and i don't think any gamer would pay $150 for a video game that did this and take a chance that he wouldn't like it. he would wait til a buddy bought it to try it out first or rent it. so although it would be VERY COOL to play if the game was good, i doubt we will ever see something like this in what you are talking about specifically if i understand you right.

[H.O.D 0]

Well I always wondered why someone would like to play the same game over and over with different difficulty levels. The game is thrilling only when it is played for the first time. That is when the twists and surprises really connect to us. So the next time we play the same game again with a different difficulty setting, we won't enjoy it that much because we already know what's going to happen. The same kind of thing happens when we watch a movie for the second time - we know what's going to happen so we are not surprised, but we are at least excited to see the same thing again. In a videogame, while it may seem fun to see the same thing again, it won't be very much fun to play the same thing again, as it involves a lot of effort, and the majority of the gamers are lazy

 

So your idea of new content each time is very good, but as you yourself said, most companies would definitely not risk trying this. The gaming industry is already reeling with the effects of the recession and piracy. So they wouldn't want to take any risks at this point of time. They would rather tread the same old route and play it safe.

 

Let's hope that someday the game producers take heed of suggestions like this one and introduce some very good changes in the games we play

[anwiii 17]

i love playing games over again personally. the way i do it though is that if the game is solvable, and i solve it, the next time, i will try to beat my time. see how fast i can solve it. also, video games are like movies. the more you watch or play, the more things you see that you missed the first time around. anyway, that's my take on it....

 

Well I always wondered why someone would like to play the same game over and over with different difficulty levels. The game is thrilling only when it is played for the first time. That is when the twists and surprises really connect to us. So the next time we play the same game again with a different difficulty setting, we won't enjoy it that much because we already know what's going to happen. The same kind of thing happens when we watch a movie for the second time - we know what's going to happen so we are not surprised, but we are at least excited to see the same thing again. In a videogame, while it may seem fun to see the same thing again, it won't be very much fun to play the same thing again, as it involves a lot of effort, and the majority of the gamers are lazy

 

So your idea of new content each time is very good, but as you yourself said, most companies would definitely not risk trying this. The gaming industry is already reeling with the effects of the recession and piracy. So they wouldn't want to take any risks at this point of time. They would rather tread the same old route and play it safe.

 

Let's hope that someday the game producers take heed of suggestions like this one and introduce some very good changes in the games we play

[H.O.D 0]

i love playing games over again personally. the way i do it though is that if the game is solvable, and i solve it, the next time, i will try to beat my time. see how fast i can solve it. also, video games are like movies. the more you watch or play, the more things you see that you missed the first time around. anyway, that's my take on it....

in games like pacman, tetris, etc the replayability is indeed high because in those type of games the excitement never ends, and of course, as you mentioned, you get to see whether you can beat your own/others' high scores. And as for the campaign-based games, you said you like to see things which you missed the first time. Well if you missed them the first time, then they weren't that important, were they? Hmm as I write that I think they're in there because of the very fact that some gamers will come looking for them. So is that single reason enough to play the game over and over again? I dont think many people would do that. For example, in the game Prince of Persia:Warrior Within, there are collectable art chests and life upgrades. Most players go after the life upgrades because collecting all of them offers a different ending. But very few players try to collect all art chests because they offer nothing but some (stunning) art works, which are just collector's items. So most players wont play the game just for things like these. There has to be something new and appealing to the gamers, only then will they like to come back again and again

[Spudd 0]

Uhhh, if you could do that, isn't it just like having one single plotline that gets progressively harder? Why don't they just drop difficulties altogether and make the game extra long if they're going to do that? But then there are those of us who feel that the game as a whole is too easy/hard. Now we have to add adjustable difficulty levels, and we're back where we started. Interesting idea, but I think it's flawed.

[Shahrukh 0]

I don't think that the option of changing difficulty is to increase replayability (wrong spelling?). Its there to make a game more challenging than normal or easier if you can't seem to be able to play it at default difficulty and/or are new to gaming or that genre of gaming, etc. etc.

[mahesh2k 0]

Games are made with difficulty to kill boredom that comes default level. If you able to kill enemies quickly or feeling no competition at all then you're mind gets bored with it. Just check that playing mario for hours can get you into boredom. That is because of the predictable levels and moves in the game. You know where to jump and how to avoid hurdles. So once you learned how to get over it then you'll be able to complete that easily and that's where boredom hits.Again some games take you on difficulty progressively while some mission based FPS games are difficult for every level. That is because most of games has level standalone and not related to each other. So building such type of games is one choice which money hungry game makers companies hardly do. Why don't you try that ? Avoid increasing the length of the game if you're adding too much of complexity and difficulty.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

Games are made with difficulty to kill boredom that comes default level. If you able to kill enemies quickly or feeling no competition at all then you're mind gets bored with it. Just check that playing mario for hours can get you into boredom. That is because of the predictable levels and moves in the game. You know where to jump and how to avoid hurdles. So once you learned how to get over it then you'll be able to complete that easily and that's where boredom hits.
Again some games take you on difficulty progressively while some mission based FPS games are difficult for every level. That is because most of games has level standalone and not related to each other. So building such type of games is one choice which money hungry game makers companies hardly do. Why don't you try that ? Avoid increasing the length of the game if you're adding too much of complexity and difficulty.

I agree with this. I think having different campaigns for different difficulty levels would destroy the fun of the game.

Let's say you're someone who plays every FPS that comes out. Now a new one does with different campaigns for easy/hard/brutal. Well if you're a hardcore gamer you would be starting on hard. If you love FPS (such as in our example) you may be more comfortable with brutal.

As you're playing you're doing fine. But this means that in order to enjoy the entire game you have to use a much easier mode. It then turns the game into more of a repetitive movie than a fun game. Without the challenge there is no point to playing.

So although the idea is good in theory, it just wouldn't pan out properly.



One thing I do like, however, is that some games have different campaigns between single player and multiplayer. I think that's a pretty nice change because you don't play the same levels all day everyday, and we all need to play with other people at some point.

[Shahrukh 0]

As far as my observation goes, video games tend to adjust difficulty levels with the progress of the campaign; although, this is not done in all games.For example, in Devil May Cry, the starting levels are easier than the later levels. The player is supposed to be less experienced then and has less weapons.Where as, in Mass Effect, the difficult does not increase much by itself, but there is an option to increase it at one's own will (at least there is one in Mass Effect 2, can't remember about the first part of the series).

[rpgsearcherz 5]

As far as my observation goes, video games tend to adjust difficulty levels with the progress of the campaign; although, this is not done in all games.For example, in Devil May Cry, the starting levels are easier than the later levels. The player is supposed to be less experienced then and has less weapons.
Where as, in Mass Effect, the difficult does not increase much by itself, but there is an option to increase it at one's own will (at least there is one in Mass Effect 2, can't remember about the first part of the series).

Good observation but I think the OP means something more along the lines of like Unreal Tournament.

In that game there are bots you play against in single-player. Although every level you play gets harder than the last during the campaign, you can also increase the difficulty by choosing whether the bots are novice, easy, medium, hard, brutal. So the latter is what they are talking about -- where you're not only following the same difficulty path as everyone else would, but also a completely separate one that each player chooses on their own. As such, you could play only easy and complete the game, or as hardest and complete the game, and nothing would change in terms of the story or anything.

[Shahrukh 0]

Good observation(...)

Thank you.

(...)but I think the OP means something more along the lines of like Unreal Tournament.
In that game there are bots you play against in single-player. Although every level you play gets harder than the last during the campaign, you can also increase the difficulty by choosing whether the bots are novice, easy, medium, hard, brutal. So the latter is what they are talking about -- where you're not only following the same difficulty path as everyone else would, but also a completely separate one that each player chooses on their own. As such, you could play only easy and complete the game, or as hardest and complete the game, and nothing would change in terms of the story or anything.

But then having a story for each difficulty level is not practical for every game.
People will miss out on some campaigns (as people have mentioned before).
Those who can't play the harder levels will miss the story in them.
Those who play well will be bored by the easier campaigns and might miss the story in them.
So, even if a company made a game like that, each user will still get to play one campaign.

If we say that the player of an easier campaign will learn from it and be able to play the harder campaigns, then why not just add those harder levels at the end of the easier campaign and give the user the option to keep the difficulty at his choice? Like the Devil May Cry example (it has the option of selecting difficulty level too).