“The relative difficulty is the difficulty of a challenge relative to the player’s power to meet that challenge.” — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“The perceived difficulty of a challenge—the difficulty that the player actually senses, and the type we are most concerned with—consists of the relative difficulty minus the player’s experience at meeting such challenges. Remembering that relative difficulty is absolute difficulty minus… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“You should also make fresh supplies available to him immediately after he surmounts a challenge that costs him a lot of resources, as Chapter… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“Players don’t mind getting money for free, but when they have to spend it, they want to know why. Explain your drains.” — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“Drains A drain is a mechanic that determines the consumption of resources—that is, a rule specifying how resources permanently drop out of the game… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“Sources If a resource or entity can come into the game world having not been there before, the mechanic by which it arrives is… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“A game concept is a description of a game detailed enough to begin discussing it as a potential commercial product—a piece of software that… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“If the available power grows at exactly the same rate as the absolute difficulty goes up, the relative difficulty will be a flat line,… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“To keep the absolute difficulty level constant, whenever you increase the time pressure on a player, you should also reduce the amount of intrinsic… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“Unless your game is a just-for-fun simulation such as Super Mario Kart or Beetle Adventure Racing!, vehicle simulation is the most technologically oriented of… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“People love to design and create things, whether clothing, creatures, buildings, cities, or planets. They also love to customize a basic template of some… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“Never forget that your ultimate goal is to create entertainment for the player—” — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“Plan to throw away all sound, art, and code created for a prototype. That way your artists, audio people, and programmers can work quickly… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
“In the most general sense, a balanced game is fair to the player (or players), is neither too easy nor too hard, and makes… — Ernest Adams Copy Share Image
