Levels of Dificulty? - GameCreators Forum

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007

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Posted: 3rd Feb 2012 02:53

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I am playing with Model Pack 54, with the achievements system.

I was thinking how can i make a game to have 3 levels of difficullty (easy, medium and hard).

I would like in my game that the player beats it in those 3 levels of difficulties. First he must finish the game in easy mode, so after this it will be avaiable for the player the same levels (with some extra levels at the end) but with more achievements to unlock, and with more stronger enemies.

I thought that i would need 3 maps (fpm) for each level i want for this game, so each map is one level of difficulty (easy, medium and hard).

But the question is how can i blend it togheter?

Anyone has some idea?

Goldenye 007 N64

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Troutflies

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Posted: 3rd Feb 2012 21:49

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007,

I am not sure that you could get a final build from that format only because of the cap limit.

I think the only way you could do it wold be to build nine levels using the same three maps three times. At the end of the third you would have a win zone or your last objective and that would bring you to map 1 level 2 and so on.

As a work around could be lets say you have a 3 level building each floor could be a map and every third could be a level
you would just have to reinhabit each difficulty map with stronger bad guys and different objectives.
so it would look like this

Map #1 level #1 floor 1
Map #2 level #1 floor 2
Map #3 Level #1 floor 3
Map #1 hard Level #2 floor 4
Map #2 hard level #2 floor 5
Map #3 hard level #2 floor 6
Map #1 really hard level #3 floor 7
Map #2 really hard level #3 floor 8
Map #3 really hard level #3 floor 9

Additionally for the fpsc build set up you could use each group of difficulty level as one level in fpsc. so as far as fpsc in concerned it would go something like maps 1-3(floors1-3)level 1=level 1 in fpsc, maps 1-3(floors 4-6)level 2=level 2 in fpsc and maps 1-3(floors 7-9) level 3=level 3 in fpsc.

I am still not sure if fpsc would accept that and not go over the cap. It would depend on how big your levels were and what the content it contains.

I am sure there are many who maybe able to help you a little more.

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007

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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 15:19 Edited at: 4th Feb 2012 15:22

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Thanks my dear friend for the repply,

I thought this.

Lets suppose i have 10 levels in my game, so i would for each level make 3 maps (easy, medium and hard).

And i would make the player play them progressive, so he would have to beat the easy levels first, then beat the medium and for last the hard levels.

Level 1 - Easy
Level 2 - Easy
Level 3 - Easy
Level 4 - Easy
Level 5 - Easy
Level 6 - Easy
.
.
.
.
Level 10 - Easy
Level 1 - Medium
Level 2 - Medium
.
.
.

and so on...

And whenever he finishes the last level for each mode (Level 10 Easy, Level 10 Medium and Level 10 Hard), would play a cutscene, simulating 3 endings).

But my only concern is in fact how much levels FPSC can handle?

I heard that it handles 50 levels, but is this true?

Has anyone tried to build 50 levels?

Best Regards,

007

Goldenye 007 N64

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maho76

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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 15:36 Edited at: 4th Feb 2012 15:39

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i think you dont need to setup 3 different levels for one, you can do this with dimvar-variables, but it would be a whole bunch of work because you have to edit nearly every script thinkable and alter additionals if you want to spawn different things for each difficulty.

dimvar=diff, setvar=diff 0-action for normal, setvar=diff 1 for easy, setvar=diff 2 for hard.

then you can use 3 different conditions in all the state=0-lines of the scripts using :state=0,varequal=diff 0/1/2:...

but as said, a whole bunch of work. you should do the standard first and when everything works, add this as a feature if you want to, using a prelevel at the beginning to setvar the difficulty and then move on to the original levels.

gz

maho

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007

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Posted: 4th Feb 2012 23:37

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Maho,

My friend,

You are always helping me,

Thanks.

So i understood now, i can do it with variables, so in example, as i am using trigger zones to spawn enemies, i will place 3 characters to be spawn by this trigger zone.

This trigger zone will check the diff var. If diff var is 0, it will spawn only one enemy, if diff is 1, it will spawn 2 enemies and if diff is 2 will spawn all the 3 enemies.

So i don`t care if this will give a lot of work, and don`t care if i will have to edit all the scripts.

I

FPSC and Game Design.

I want to create a Goldeneye Fan Game in FPSC based on the latest versions of nintendo wii, ps3 and xbox 360.

I really love Game Design, from since i was a kid playing my Super Nintendo i always dreamed to create games, is a dream that came true with FPSC.

So i don`t care if i will take 2 years to create my game, or even 3 years. What cares is that i am happy, doing what i love, and the best thing in Game Design is not you see your game making success, no.

The best thing is the hard work, is the nights that you spend thinking on how to make that

work, on how to solve that script that is not working.

Remember, the best on a journey is not reach to your destiny, but the beauties of the journey itself.

Best Regards,

007

Goldenye 007 N64

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Thraxas

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Posted: 5th Feb 2012 10:58

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Yes use variables.

I had a small tutorial level at the start of one game, where you picked your difficulty... This set the variables, and then depending on the variable different enemies spawned...

http://thraxocorp.webs.com/ Visit my totally awesome website: Thraxocorp. It's my own company and I'm totes the CEO.

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Marc Steene

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Posted: 5th Feb 2012 12:24 Edited at: 5th Feb 2012 12:25

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Ignore the stuff people said earlier about spawning more enemies at a harder difficulty. It's just a load of boring, unnecessary work. Basically what you need to do is at the either the menu or the start of the game, allow the user to choose their difficulty (either through HUD selection or choosing a particular path) and set a variable depending on which difficulty was chosen. Then, when every level after that begins, create a script which reads the difficulty variable and change other variables depending on that.

Some examples you might be interested in are Enemy Accuracy, Enemy damage multiplier, Player Maximum Health, and Health Regeneration rate (if you have regenerating health). All these commands are available in the latest version of FPSC, the exact commands can be found in the scripting manual.

Specs: Alienware M17x R3. i7-2630QM. 8GB RAM. Nvidia 560m. Momentus XT Hybrid Drive.

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Thraxas

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Posted: 5th Feb 2012 13:10

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Quote: "It's just a load of boring, unnecessary work."

I personally think doing it the way you describe would be the boring, unnecessary way. But if we all thought the same way, the world would be a very boring place

http://thraxocorp.webs.com/ Visit my totally awesome website: Thraxocorp. It's my own company and I'm totes the CEO.

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Marc Steene

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Posted: 5th Feb 2012 13:27

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Quote: "But if we all thought the same way, the world would be a very boring place"

True

I just think my method would be better as it ensures performance is standard across all difficulties and does not decrease as difficulty increases. I believe games like Call of Duty use the method of lowering the player's health and increasing enemy accuracy, as well as making enemies more aggressive.

Specs: Alienware M17x R3. i7-2630QM. 8GB RAM. Nvidia 560m. Momentus XT Hybrid Drive.

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007

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Posted: 5th Feb 2012 15:04

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Thanks Thraxas and Marc Steene,

Both informations were of great value for me, but i will do like Marc Steene said.

I know is more boring, is more had work, but will work better to my 007 fan game.

I will use through HUDS, but will not be like Call of Duty, i will try to emulate the Game 007 Goldeneye Reloaded (ps3 and xbox).

The game will run arround achievements (mission objectives).

I created a modified version of Model Pack 54 achievment system.

So i want that the player play my game 3 times, from the begin to the end.

The first time they will play in easy mode. The maps will be the same from other difficulty modes, but the number of objectives by mission will increase according the level of dificulty, and there will be more enemies (some enemies will be spawned only in a specific difficulty mode), and so on.

Is a good idea also in example, in hard mode there will be no body armor for the player, the ammo will be less, and so on.

I will do a workarround then i come back here.

Thanks for this lovely community.

I hope FPSC has potential to become one of the best game engines on the market.

Cheers,

007

Goldenye 007 N64

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Troutflies

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Posted: 6th Feb 2012 21:06

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Marc,

I know it seemed to me like it was the long way around, I was just trying to answer a question the best I could and give back a little of what the forums have given me.

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Marc Steene

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Posted: 7th Feb 2012 08:40

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Quote: "I know it seemed to me like it was the long way around, I was just trying to answer a question the best I could and give back a little of what the forums have given me."

Don't worry, it was a solution to his problem (and the only one given at that time), I just gave him a shorter and easier method of accomplishing difficulty

Specs: Alienware M17x R3. i7-2630QM. 8GB RAM. Nvidia 560m. Momentus XT Hybrid Drive.

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007

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Posted: 21st Feb 2012 01:32 Edited at: 21st Feb 2012 01:35

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If anyone find this info usefull,

After a lot of hard work i could create a good and working difficulty system in FPSC using the Achievement System from MP 54.

I created a pre level where the player will select the difficulty, i placed three shot targets, and through scripting, i made each target when destroyed will set the variable difficulty to a value (0 for easy, 1 for medium and 2 for hard).

So after the player select the dificulty, he will proceed to the next level.

So in the main script of each achievement (mission objective), i placed a condition to check the value of the difficulty selected.

I mean, like in Goldeneye 007 (if anyone here played), on each difficulty level there will be more achievements (mission objectives) to accomplish.

In example:

Mission Objective 1 is avaiable for all difficulty levels, so it won`t check the difficulty level

Mission Objective 2 is avaiable for all difficulty levels, so it won`t check the difficulty level

Mission Objective 3 is avaiable for all medium and hard difficulty levels, so it will check the difficulty level before proceed on the script:

:state=41,activated=1,varequal=difficulty 1:setvar=Ac3 1
:state=41,activated=1,varequal=difficulty 2:setvar=Ac3 1

And so on.

And for the player complete the level on each difficulty mode, is just check the GameScore value. Supposing that each achievement gives 20 points of gamescore, so if we have 5 achievements, so it gives a total of 100 gamescore points.

However, all the 5 achievements will be only avaiable on hard mode (complete).

Supposing that achievements 1,2 and 3 will be avaiable for easy mode, so in the win zone i must put a condition to check how much gamescore points plr collected, and what is the difficulty level selected. So for easy mode difficulty is 0 and the total gamescore he will accumulate is 60 (3 achievements). And for medium, the achievements avaiable will be 1,2,3 and 4, and for hard, the achievements will be all (1,2,3,4,5).

So max gamescore for easy will be 60, for medium 80 and for hard 100.

So on the main script of the winzone, just add those conditions:

:varequal= difficulty 0,varequal=Gamescore 60:
:varequal= difficulty 1,varequal=Gamescore 80:
:varequal= difficulty 2,varequal=Gamescore 100:

So this way we have a working difficulty system.

I think this will be very cool, because you can, for example, make some levels avaiable only on hardest modes of difficulty, so this way the player will enjoy playing your game for more time.

Regards,

007

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Pvt_Classified

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Posted: 21st Feb 2012 15:21

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Interesting scripting ideas 007, I might use them myself if you're okay with that. I like the achievements idea. By the way, how do you get the game to skip levels? I've been working on an open world rpg project where I'd like the player to be able to explore the world but since I can't fit it all in one level, I'll have to make it have more than one level. I'd like to set it up to have trigger zones that will take players to another area but still be able to return to the other ones. It would produce an effect like Wolfenstein's "Midtown."

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007

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Posted: 21st Feb 2012 16:13

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@Pvt_Classified:

Happy you find usefull this iformation.

The idea of achievements is from Model Pack 54, it`s worth buying, believe me, you won`t regret from buying it.

And about skipping levels, i did not work on it yet, just i am formulating the ideas. But there is already a tool exactly for what you want:

http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=187353&b=21

Cheers,

007

Goldenye 007 N64

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