How to Incentivize Difficulty Settings

One challenge in designing a single-player game is that players have varying skill levels. Challenging gameplay is good, but the traditional method of choosing a difficulty level is not very rewarding for players. If they increase the level, they take on additional risk for no in-game reward, and if they decrease it, they insult their own skill. When it comes to difficulty, it is best to integrate it into gameplay itself, and the best incentive is content.

Meta-progression bonuses are a genre-defining staple of roguelite video games. In The Last Spell, you are crushed again and again by hordes of undead monstrosities, but each time you gather "Tainted Essence." You can spend essence on upgrades such as higher chances of rare weapon drops, more starting resources, or better base stats for your heroes. The more you play and die, the more upgrades you stack for your next game, making it easier. Eventually, it is easy enough that you win. Each upgrade feels like new, exciting content to play with, which not only hides the increasing handicap but also encourages playing again despite having just been curb-stomped.

Where meta-progression lowers difficulty, Spelunky 2 shows us how to raise it. There are many hidden levels in the game that can only be accessed by giving up valuable tools or taking on risk. For example, in the Temple of Anubis, you can find the Scepter of Anubis, a weapon that fires homing attacks that can make the endgame significantly easier. However, the Scepter doubles as a key that unlocks the door to the optional City of Gold, so you must give it up if you want to see that area. By peppering risk-reward decisions like this throughout the game that tease new content to explore, the game gets players to increase their own difficulty level in a way that blends seamlessly with gameplay.

Winning is not always aligned with fun. Players often make tedious choices, like grinding in RPGs, just to make winning easier. Choosing the right difficulty levels asks players to act against their in-game incentives. If you want players to set the difficulty, reward them with something they care about more than winning: something like finding more game to explore.