Indie Game Clinic

Challenge & Difficulty [Early Access] (Patreon)

Published:

2026-07-09 23:32:07

Edited:

2026-07-09 23:34:44

Imported:

2026-07

Tags:

game design game dev indie game dev indie games

Content

(EDIT: I've seen your names got a little chopped on the scroll at the end - I'll fix this before the video goes onto YT publicly next Tuesday or Wednesday)

Hey folks. I'm sorry this one took a little longer than usual. I spent a lot of time going back and forward on whether to make it shorter and more focussed, or break it into a series. In the end it just felt better to let it meander around a few concepts, and cover some different areas and thought exercises which I thought people would find interesting.

Files

Challenge & Difficulty in Videogame Design [Patron Version]

Indie Game Clinic Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/indiegameclinic Wishlist Golem Gourmet: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4209800/Golem_Gourmet/ ILLUSTRATED CHARACTERS by Maddy Vian. Check Maddy out here: https://www.instagram.com/maddyology/?hl=en LOW POLY DOC RIG/DANCE by Krabs. 00:00 intro to the intro 01:18 toys, challenges and stories 04:42 defining challenge vs difficulty 06:32 my game balancing processes 10:28 premature balancing 14:29 unintended challenges 17:25 identify your design levers 19:44 "3 flavours of goblins" example 22:22 intro to cognitive loading 24:04 genre-specific "fun" (/challenges) 27:48 metroidvania vs incremental examples 32:58 skill expression ranges 34:56 degrees of success 36:45 continuous and aspirational difficulty 38:16 challenge flexibility in Celeste 39:37 implicit / emergent challenges 43:27 defining "casual" and "hardcore" 45:45 it's your ****ing game SOURCES: Heartbeast blog on the production point https://heartgamedev.substack.com/p/production-point Thomas Stewart on the production point https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI9d1sSXePQ&t=1s C. Gile article on Continuous and Aspiration Difficulty https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/different-kinds-of-difficulty-continuous-and-aspirational I. Bogost on Play Anything https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83FbAKf7wUQ GDL Podcast on Koster's "Theory of Fun": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28DZLHEH8AI GDL Podcast on Yu's "Spelunky": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8K0bPGM2yk&list=PL3n3ExgUASw7Nqz5EiYScGtp61jUuak_J&index=1 IGC on defining and characterising "Fun": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ENqlUST9U&t=876s granny plays guitar hero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUIB0HR3hBg "Feelings" by Morris Albert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr_yaZQmRzA a bunch of crap from the Canva stock library "Difficult Difficult Lemon Difficult" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mAFiPVs3tM I took quite a bit of game footage from here and forgot to record who from. If you see your footage please leave a comment and I'll add a link here. Thanks and sorry. I am very tired and my s**t is all f***ed up. MUSIC: Sonum - "Brute Force" / Baba is You OST - "Cursor is Select" / Florence OST - "Routine" / Celeste OST - "Frozen Worlds" / Baba is You OST - "Lava is Hot" / Noita OST - "Three Eggs" ENFL - "The Flux Beneath it All" / Rymdkapsel OST / Wii Fit OST / GAMES SHOWN OR MENTIONED: Kate Bush's Amazing Cup n' Ball 2 / Tony Hawks Pro Skater / Baba is You / Goblin Hurter 3 / Blasphemous 2 / Nodebuster / Darkest Dungeon / Dream Daddy / Celeste / Golem Gourmet / Daikatana / a jigsaw puzzle / Dark Souls / Candy Crush / Spelunky / Getting Over it With Bennet Foddy / Tiny Glade / Cuphead / Cookie Clicker / Stardew Valley / Hades / Vampire Survivors