How games cheat to help players
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How games cheat to help players
1–10 of 46 posts
Re: How games cheat to help players
#2A lot of which is probably what makes us old-timers complain about how easy games are these days. I don't think i ever finished battletoads!
On the flip side, someone once commented that games should have a "toddler mode" where anything the player does just adds up more points and won't kill you. Obviously wouldn't work for every game, but I thought it was a brilliant idea.
Re: How games cheat to help players
#3In a related vein, Canabalt looks like the simplest game ever but it has similar fudges to play better. http://blog.semisecretsoftware.com/tuning-canabalt
Re: How games cheat to help players
#4Continuing my theme of posting relevant google tech talks, here is Soren Johnson, the lead designer and AI programmer on Sid Meier's Civilisation, discussing this very subject with specific reference to the evolution of civ's AI over the years. Extremely enlightening, whether you are a gamer or not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJcuQQ1eWWI
"Artificial intelligence is crucial to any strategy game, providing a compelling opponent for solo play. While many of the challenges of AI development are technical, significant design challenges exist as well. Can the AI behave like a human? Should it? Should the game design be adjusted to accommodate the limitations of the AI? How do we make the AI fun? Should the AI cheat? If so, how much? Do we even want the AI to win? This session suggests some possible answers to these questions using the "Civilization" series as a case study. Ultimately, developers must choose between a "good" AI and a "fun" one, with an understanding of the trade-offs inherent when deciding between the two."
Re: How games cheat to help players
#5A lot of which is probably what makes us old-timers complain about how easy games are these days. I don't think i ever finished battletoads! On the flip side, someone once commented that games should have a "toddler mode" where anything the player does just adds up more points and won't kill you. Obviously wouldn't work for every game, but I thought it was a brilliant idea.
I like the way Jeff Vogel put it: "Make Your Game Easy. Then Make It Easier." http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2009/11/make-your-game-easy-t...
Re: How games cheat to help players
#6Entirely unrelated, but is there a way to find out why this is incompatible with my device? Samsung Galaxy S...its not that old!
Re: How games cheat to help players
#7Another 'cheating' method used in games is to keep the player in a state of flow. For example, in a fighting game combos could become increasingly easier so that the player stays in the zone.
Re: How games cheat to help players
#8> The goal of good handling code isn’t to maintain a “correct” simulation, it’s to provide a fun game. It sucks to miss a jump by three centimeters.
That statement really resonated with me. I'm currently playing Battlefield 3 on the Xbox and the number of times I've died because I went to duck into a doorway to avoid enemy fire, only to get halted because the door frame has a 3cm ledge that my battle hardened soldier has difficulty stepping over.
It's amazing how a seemingly trivial issue can really drive up the frustration with a game and take away from it's enjoyment.
Re: How games cheat to help players
#9A lot of which is probably what makes us old-timers complain about how easy games are these days. I don't think i ever finished battletoads! On the flip side, someone once commented that games should have a "toddler mode" where anything the player does just adds up more points and won't kill you. Obviously wouldn't work for every game, but I thought it was a brilliant idea.
Meh, I'm an old-timer and you know what? I don't long for the days where a minor fuckup had you redo a large slab of exactly the same damn thing over and over. There are so many games out there to enjoy these days that there's no point in wasting time to defeat an artifically difficult situation. "Yeah! I defeated Marioclone 239b level 23! I am the man!" just doesn't cut it anymore - bragging rights about mere timesinks are a thing of the past.
Sure, some difficulty is nice, but be careful of the rose-coloured glasses of nostalgia.
Re: How games cheat to help players
#10I run a simulation football game called http://deeproute.com
So far the biggest mistake I believe I've made is not cheating to help players win. I made a brutally difficult simulation game.
We have tons of players quit simply because the game is too hard. Because you are 1 person versus 31 other people, there is only 1 winner, and 31 losers.
People don't like this.
Compare this to our competitors, and they make losses not exist, and otherwise "cheat" the experience so everyone is above average.
The worst player in the games, looks like he is the best.
There has to be a happy medium somewhere, and I am the ruthless simulation side of it for now. (Trying to figure out how to change...)