Level Up.pdf

362 LEVEL 13 Now You’re Playing with Power
The game designer should be the gentle hand on the rear of the player,
pushing them ever upwards 2 .
There are many systems that the designer can
use to enable the player during the game, and
we ’ ve already talked about some of them in
other chapters: checkpoints, hoists and teeters,
aim assist, ramping difficulty. But there are
others that are worth discussing: dynamic
difficulty balancing, difficulty level adjustment,
rubberbanding, game length, and autosave.
Dynamic diffi culty balancing (or DDB) is a
way to adjust the challenge and rewards for the
player based on performance. For example, if
the player dies too often fighting an enemy,
then the enemy ’ s health is reduced slightly or
the enemy doesn ’ t attack as often. If the player
is low on health and opens a treasure chest, a
health - up will pop out — but if the player isn ’ t low on health when they open
the chest, the player will be rewarded with treasure instead. The goal of
DDB is to give the player what they need when they need it in order to
propel the player along to success.
Difficulty level adjustment gives a player the option to shift the game
down to a lower difficulty setting if too many parameters, such as multiple
player deaths, are detected. The player can be given the option to decline
or it may be that the adjustment happens automatically. Personally, I don ’ t
recommend the latter as many players find it insulting.
Rubberbanding is used primarily in racing games, but it can be used
anytime the player needs to follow or catch any other character or vehicle. If
2 Not as concise, but much more pronounceable.