Be Lenient with Players if They Make a Mistake
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Making mistakes is human, and this principle applies equally to playing games. Failure is an essential component of progression, and players must inevitably experience it if they are to remain challenged. The frequency with which players make mistakes is heavily influenced by several factors, including:
The difficulty level of the game.
The amount of prior gaming experience acquired through playing other games.
The chosen playstyle, such as methodical gameplay, aggressive strategies, perfectionist approaches, or speedrunning.
External influences, including the player’s physical and mental capabilities, age, fatigue, and environmental conditions such as ambient noise, screen glare, and temperature.
While developers can control the difficulty and the methods used to teach gameplay mechanics, they have no influence over how players choose to play or over external conditions. This necessitates a conscious design choice between providing a casual or a hardcore gaming experience.
Casual vs. Hardcore Experience
A casual experience typically includes the following characteristics:
The primary goal of the player is to feel relaxed.
Players of all skill levels are able to enjoy the game.
A limited number of gameplay mechanics are required to make progress.
Players learn quickly and spend significantly more time enjoying familiar mechanics than learning new ones.
Controls are simple and intuitive.
Gameplay sessions are brief, often lasting only a few minutes rather than hours.
Players are generally indifferent to completing the entire game, including the main storyline and collecting optional rewards such as badges, medals, or experience points.
Players are not frequently required to reload the game after failure, as the game is designed to be easily accessible.
There is little interest in improving gameplay skills.
Engagement with online forums and gaming communities is minimal.
Players rarely watch others play in order to enhance their own performance.
Competition with other players and leaderboard rankings are not a priority.
In contrast, a hardcore experience embodies the opposite traits of the casual experience.
What players ultimately experience is determined both by the design of your game and their own intentions. A game designed for casual play—with a limited number of mechanics, short-term objectives, early rewards, and minimal delays—may still deliver a hardcore experience if players choose to play in an unintended manner. Conversely, a game designed for a hardcore audience—with complex mechanics, long-term goals, and significant time investment—may be played casually by individuals uninterested in objectives, rankings, or optimal performance.
Target Audience
If your game is aimed at children, elderly individuals, or people with impairments, it is advisable to provide a predominantly casual experience. For all other audiences, both casual and hardcore experiences are viable depending on player preference.
Genre
Certain genres naturally align with either casual or hardcore gameplay. When players select a game based on its genre, they come with specific expectations regarding gameplay style.
Examples of genres typically offering a casual experience:
Adventure games.
Arcade games.
Board games.
Card games.
Puzzle games.
Examples of genres typically associated with a hardcore experience:
First-person shooters.
Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs).
Multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs).
Simulation games.
Tactical shooters.
Real-time strategy games.
Minimum Time Investment
Players seeking a casual experience generally expect:
A quick learning curve, which implies:
A limited number of mechanics and options required to progress, such as a straightforward HUD and controls, and a moderate amount of rewards that do not overwhelm.
Mechanics that are familiar, easy, and quick to master.
A focus on short-term objectives that can be completed in just a few minutes.
Minimal need to reload or restart the game upon failure.
Players pursuing a hardcore experience typically expect:
A steep learning curve, which implies:
A substantial number of mechanics and options, possibly presented via a simple or complex HUD depending on the number of variables tracked, along with advanced controls and a large set of valuable yet potentially overwhelming rewards.
Mechanics that are uncommon or unique, and thus require a significant investment of time to master.
A focus on both short-term and long-term objectives, which may take hours, days, or more to complete.
Frequent reloading of the game following failure, as repeated attempts are expected and accepted.
Intended Gameplay
In general, when offering a casual gameplay experience, the game should be more forgiving of player mistakes. Conversely, in a hardcore gameplay experience, player mistakes may have serious consequences. Examples of such consequences, whether minor or significant, are provided below.
Be Cautious When Punishing Players
Punishing players typically arises from scenarios in which they fail to accomplish one or more objectives, with the punishment generally taking the form of losing a reward. The greater the value of the lost reward, the more painful the experience becomes for the player and the more significant its impact on gameplay. As a result, player behavior and chosen playstyles often reflect the level of risk they perceive. While players may be inclined to take higher risks when only a minor reward is at stake, they tend to adopt a more cautious approach when the potential loss is substantial—though this is not universally applicable.
Players generally dislike being punished, and as a game designer, you must determine whether to implement punishments and, if so, decide on the severity of the consequences. Below are examples of what players may lose upon making a mistake:
Characters and Roles
Example: Tactical Shooter
Less severe punishment: Players can continue using the same character even after being killed.
More severe punishment: Players are permanently unable to use the same character once they have been killed.
Currency
Money
Example: Platform Game
Less severe punishment: To save the game state, players must visit a bank and pay a symbolic amount of money.
More severe punishment: To save the game state, players must visit a bank and pay a substantial amount of money.
Resources
Example: Strategy Game
Less severe punishment: If the enemy destroys the player’s granary containing food supplies, the supplies remain on the ground and can still be recovered.
More severe punishment: If the enemy destroys the granary, the food supplies are lost permanently.
Experience Points
It is generally ill-advised to deduct experience points players have already earned earlier in the game, as this may lead to considerable frustration.
Example: Tactical Shooter
Less severe punishment: Players earn experience points at the end of a mission, with minor penalties (point deductions) for damage taken.
More severe punishment: Players earn experience points at the end of a mission, but face substantial penalties for taking damage.
Gear
Example: Role-Playing Game
Less severe punishment: After being arrested by a police officer, players are fined a small amount of money but retain all their weapons and ammunition.
More severe punishment: After being arrested by a police officer, players are fined and lose all their weapons and ammunition.
Levels and Locations
Example: Role-Playing Game
Less severe punishment: Players may attempt to pick a lock again even after breaking a hairpin.
More severe punishment: Players are no longer able to attempt picking the lock after breaking a hairpin.
Progress
One of the most severe forms of punishment is the loss of significant progress. This may encompass one or more of the following examples since the last time the game state was saved:
Rewards:
Unlocked abilities, perks, powers, skills, upgrades, gear (including weapons or tools), game modes, levels, units, and vehicles.
Collected consumables such as food, drinks, and drugs
Earned currency (e.g., gold, money, and resources).
Obtained keys and access cards.
Received medals, badges, and trophies.
Collected tradeable items.
Access to side missions.
Additional time granted to delay game over.
Experience points.
Skill points.
Levels.
Ranks.
Story Progression:
Completed primary objectives.
Completed secondary objectives.
Time:
Minutes or even hours spent playing the game.
Several scenarios may lead to the loss of progress, such as:
The player or the game failed to save the game state.
The player did not pause the game.
External factors occurred, such as power outages or a lost internet connection.
If a player did not save the game state and later lost progress, the cause could be one of the following:
The game saved the state automatically, but too far from the moment of failure, even though manual saving was possible.
Possible solution: Implement autosaves triggered by player location or timed autosaves at regular intervals.
In Stronghold Crusader 2, players can adjust the autosave interval by selecting from predefined values.
Credit: Firefly Studios. Screenshot captured by the author.
The game saved automatically at distant intervals, and manual saving was not available.
Possible solution #1: Introduce more frequent and well-timed autosaves.
Possible solution #2: Enable manual saving by the player.
The game did not permit manual saving by design.
Possible solution: Allow players to continue playing without reloading a saved state, for instance, by enabling character revival or time reversal.
In Celeste, players benefit from seamless gameplay with minimal waiting time after failure, without the need to reload the saved game state.
Credit: Extremely OK Games. Footage captured by the author.
If a player failed to pause the game and consequently lost progress, the issue may lie in the game’s inability to pause:
Possible solution: Enable pausing so players may take a break, during which in-game time does not progress.
Units
Example: Strategy Game
Less severe loss: Players are allowed to call in two tank aces as off-map reinforcements again, even after losing them in battle.
More severe loss: Players may call in two tank aces as off-map reinforcements only once. If they are lost in battle, it becomes impossible to summon them again.
Vehicles
Example: Racing Game
Less severe loss: If players are arrested by police during a race, they retain ownership of the vehicle but must pay a fine.
More severe loss: If players are arrested by police during a race, their vehicle is permanently confiscated.
Provide Players with Another Chance
The following are examples of scenarios in which players are given another opportunity after making a mistake:
Enemy Awareness
In an action game that incorporates stealth mechanics, players may be detected by the enemy. If spotted, the enemy becomes suspicious and will attempt to confirm the player character’s presence. This gives players an opportunity to correct their mistake, for example, by silencing the enemy before he is able to alert others.
If the enemy attempts to call for reinforcements—such as through the use of a radio tower—players may have a chance to prevent this by destroying the communication device in time.
However, if the enemy successfully confirms the player’s presence and alerts nearby units, the situation escalates, and survival becomes significantly more challenging.
Initially, the player remains undetected (green status). When the enemy grows suspicious, this shifts to yellow status. Once the enemy gains confirmation of the player’s presence, the status turns red.
To maintain stealth as a viable tactic, the game should allow players a chance to escape detection and reattempt sneaky strategies. Ensure that enemies eventually cease their search efforts, giving players the opportunity to return to a state where they are no longer being tracked.
Expanding on the previous system, the alert level can decrease from red to yellow, and eventually to green, if the enemy fails to relocate the player after a certain duration.
In Sniper Elite 4, three states define enemy awareness of the player’s presence: no detection (green), suspicion (yellow), and full alert (red). If enemies become suspicious, players may remain undetected until suspicion fades. If spotted, however, the enemy becomes fully alerted, and making them stop their search in this case takes considerably longer than in the first.
Credit: Rebellion Developments. Footage captured by the author.
For added realism, the game may allow enemies to retain a memory of having spotted the player and become more cautious after losing visual contact, even if they do not remain in a fully alerted state.
Compared to the earlier model, in this system, the enemy remains cautious (yellow) after losing contact with the player, without ever returning fully to a peaceful (green) state, as they now anticipate the possibility of further alarms being triggered.
A similar mechanic may be implemented in games featuring law enforcement systems, where law enforcers attempt to pursue, fine, arrest, or eliminate players who have committed unlawful acts.
Combat
When a player loses a battle and their character dies, it is possible to provide them with another chance to re-enter the combat without having to reload the saved game. This can be accomplished by means such as:
Reviving the character.
Rewinding time.
Entering a “last stand” mode.
If players injure or eliminate neutral or friendly units—whether deliberately or by accident—they should also be given another opportunity to continue playing without severe consequences. For example:
If players injure or kill a neutral or friendly unit such as a civilian, the game may issue a warning that such behavior is unacceptable and that repeating it will result in game over.
Survivability
Unless your aim is to strictly simulate real-life conditions, such as physiological needs or injuries, players should be granted the opportunity to continue playing even under circumstances that would otherwise result in death in reality. For instance:
If the player character is a human and is hit by one or more projectiles from handguns, they should still be able to continue playing. The game should only end once the player has taken critical or fatal damage.
In Sniper Elite 4, players can absorb a certain amount of damage before the game is over.
Credit: Rebellion Developments. Footage captured by the author.
Players may be given multiple lives, with one life lost per failure. The game concludes only when all lives are depleted.
Players may have unlimited attempts, without restrictions such as finite lives or limited health.
In Celeste, players may fail countless times, yet the game never ends completely, allowing for constant retries.
Credit: Extremely OK Games. Footage captured by the author.
Players should be able to maintain good condition throughout gameplay. However, if they fail to do so, they should be given sufficient time and means to restore their initial state, such as full health or satiation. For example:
If the player character requires food to survive, the game should provide an indication that the character is starving and should consume food before it is too late.
Position on a Leaderboard
If players fail to maintain a strong position on a leaderboard and are overtaken by other competitors, the game should offer a fair opportunity for them to regain a better ranking.