Game:

Resident Evil 4 (2005)

Category:

Discussion

Duration: 6:26

2,645 views

59

Difficulty Scaling, Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment, and Dynamic Game Difficulty Balancing are all different names for the same thing. A mechanic by which a game becomes more or less challenging in accordance with the player's skill. This way each player gets an experience customized to suit their level of ability. Lots of games use it: God Hand, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil 4, and a ton more. Yet few of them use it to the exclusion of regular modes of difficulty adjustment, and there's a reason for that.

This video briefly explains why the difficulty of a video matters before moving on to how difficulty scaling can provide a better experience for players. It also talks about the downsides of dynamic difficulty as compared to normal difficulty settings. Finishes with a discussion on player-oriented, or player-centric, dynamic difficulty adjustment, which is when DDA choices are embedded into the gameplay, using Flow as an example.

My channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/FerrousPilot
satanisonthis: https://www.youtube.com/user/satanisonthis
Full Transcript: http://playertomaker.blogspot.ca/2014/07/difficulty-scaling-in-games-armchair.html

Key Points:

The idea of difficulty scaling makes sense. People with a broad range of skill levels can be given an entertaining degree of challenge, and the difficulty can be tailored to each individual.

It also makes the game a little simpler because (if it is the only method of difficulty adjustment), it requires no player intervention. This sounds great for new players who may be unsure of which difficulty to choose.

Yet it has some glaring flaws. The program must gather information on the player's performance before adjusting the difficulty, so it is of no use at the beginning of the game. Thus, it's not helpful to new players at all. It may even make the game more daunting if the starting difficulty level is too high. If it's too low, skilled players could get bored before the adjustment kicks in.

Difficulty scaling doesn't consider individual preferences. Two players of the same skill may have different preferences when it comes to difficulty. E.g. A person playing for the story alone may want an easy game, even if they can handle a harder one.

Spikes in difficulty could be used to accentuate certain parts of the experience. For example, a hard fight against a powerful boss. Dynamic difficulty adjustment might reduce the intensity of some encounters.

Player-centric dynamic difficulty adjustment is when difficulty adjustment takes the form of a gameplay element. It seems pretty cool, but no game besides Flow uses it as a major factor. Don't confuse this with player-imposed limitations like character level 1 runs in RPGs.

Passive difficulty scaling alone is a no-go. Player-oriented difficulty scaling alone is up in the air. Classic difficulty settings with good tuning and calibration are still pretty great all by themselves, but throwing in some scaling can be fun. God Hand was nice, after all.

Sources:
"Pamgaea" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
"Mining By Moonlight" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
God Hand footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI-zQTQCfXo
Left 4 Dead footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nmUoQ8TtTU
Fallout 3 footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAN0ByjSsV4
Dear Esther footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cENP06ZXfk8
Dwarf Fortress dwarf: http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dwarfsx0.jpg
Portal Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TluRVBhmf8w
Doom difficulty settings: http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/4/44697/1276479-difficulty_doom.png
Ironman: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:Iron_Man_Render.png
StarCraft II Loss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Umx1tyjaqSQ
StarCraft II pro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzZW4Iiw59Y
Mountain Dew logo: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/.a/6a00d8341bf7f753ef0133ec9e7169970b-pi
First Day on the Internet Kid: http://www.hashgag.com/img/templates/313.jpg
Psycho Mantis: http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/File:Mantis_face.jpg
Fahrenheit Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So4TTOiHR8Y
Dragon Age Ogre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkfbOcSFzVE
Dark Souls Death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3LSJlEue3U
Roller Coaster Tycoon Loop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QeGsd6WSFE
Skyrim Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xwboyafbwc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7WohnlLEQo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt7IeycKJKQ
Flow Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4MewXtKO80
Bioshock 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPbYya0nNSg
Batman Costumes: http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/314/files/2014/02/batman-arkham-origins-unlockable-costumes.jpg
Bad Dudes: https://uncomma.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/badenoughdude.jpg
QWOP: http://foddy.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/QWOPSS.jpg

Other Statistics