How many times will a player die in a level with and without checkpoints?

Where to put checkpoints is guessed far too often. Each section has its own chance of getting through, and the expected number of deaths follows from a short calculation that shows how much a single checkpoint saves and why long unbroken stretches hurt so much more than the sum of their parts.

Why this works

To get past a stretch the player must win every part of it in a single run, so the chance of failing grows quickly with length, and each failure throws away all progress since the last save. A checkpoint breaks one long gamble into shorter, fairer ones.

When not to use it

Skip it when the tension of a long run is the point, as in games built on high stakes where losing everything is meant to sting. A tidy death count then misses the design. Also skip it when pass chances are only guesses.

In the full entry

• What to build, step by step
• Starting values and the reason for each
• 3 common mistakes and the fix
• 22 lines of example code with 4 checks that pass
• How your AI shows you that it works

Say this to your AI

Use the Spielerando entry "How many times will a player die in a level with and without checkpoints?" (read_entry expected-deaths-with-and-without-checkpoints) in my game. Build it step by step, and show me how you checked that it works.

Or skip this and connect the MCP: your AI then finds all of this by itself.Connect the MCP