Difficulty
Learning paths through this topic
How do I rank players by kills and deaths when some played only a few matches?
A newcomer with a couple of lucky kills and no deaths shoots to the top of any ratio list. This entry shows how to pull small samples toward the crowd so rankings and difficulty matching are not fooled by luck.
Are my fights thrilling or are players either crushing them or dying?
The win rate of a fight tells you very little: 70 percent can be a nail-biter or a coin flip between boredom and frustration. Looking at how much health the winners have left shows what the fight really feels like.
Help players who keep dying without making the game feel rigged
Quietly making a game easier after several deaths can save a frustrated player, but done carelessly it feels like cheating or flips back and forth. This entry gives a slow, bounded way to help, and the limits that keep it honest.
Is this level hard for everyone, or only for people new to the game?
A low completion rate means different things if experienced players breeze through it or fail just the same. Splitting players into three groups by skill shows which it is, and so whether to teach more or to ease off.
Do players get hit again the instant their brief protection after a hit runs out?
Short invulnerability after a hit is meant to give a chance to escape. When the next blow lands right as it ends, the chance was never real. This entry shows how to find which attacks do that.
How many hits can a player really take when attacks hit for different amounts?
Dividing health by the average hit gives a wrong answer as soon as a fight mixes light and heavy blows. This entry shows how to work out the real expected number of hits, so your health and damage numbers match the feeling you want.
How long after leaving a ledge should a late jump press still work?
A short grace after the edge saves honest mistakes, but too long a grace makes falling feel optional. This entry shows how to read the timing of late presses from your players and where their mistakes end and deliberate air presses begin.
How much tougher does armor really make the player?
Adding armor points to health points overstates the protection and hides that small hits and big hits are treated differently. This entry shows how to walk the hits one by one, to see how many the player takes before dying.
How much of the time players spend dying is spent replaying parts they already beat?
A hard ending is bearable, but replaying the same easy start every time is what wears players out. This entry shows how to estimate the share of time that goes into ground the player has already conquered, from the attempts alone.
When is the best moment to restart for a bonus in an idle game?
Restarting too early gives a tiny bonus and restarting too late wastes slow hours. This entry shows how to find the moment that earns the most per hour, why a fixed cost of starting over moves it, and how to compare it with when players actually do it.
Which of several resources really holds the player back from the next upgrade?
When an upgrade needs three different things, the slowest one decides the wait, and the other two just pile up. This entry shows how to find the real blocker, how long the others sit unused and why the answer is not a sum.
Which idle-game upgrades does nobody want, once you ignore those nobody could afford?
A late upgrade bought by few may simply be out of reach, while an early one bought by few is truly unwanted. This entry shows the group to divide by so that both cases are told apart and neither is judged on tiny numbers.