April 17th, 9:00 AM. Chris's bedroom, the air thick with the scent of stale energy drinks and the hum of tireless creativity, was the stage for a new challenge.
"Difficulty settings!" Chris declared, pacing back and forth. "We need to let players choose their pain level. Easy, Medium, Hard. Let's make this game accessible…and brutal."
Max, already tapping away at his keyboard, was outlining the approach. "We can adjust several variables to control the difficulty: enemy health, enemy speed, projectile speed, spawn rates, player health, player damage…"
Tyrone, sketching furiously (a new, even more terrifying boss concept, perhaps?), chimed in. "And maybe fewer power-ups on Hard mode? Make them really earn it."
They spent the morning brainstorming the specific differences between each difficulty level. They decided on a set of parameters for each mode:
Easy: Enemies have less health, move slower, and fire less frequently. The player has more health and deals more damage. Power-ups are more common.
Medium: The "default" experience. A balanced challenge.
Hard: Enemies have more health, move faster, and fire more frequently. The player has less health and deals less damage. Power-ups are less common.
Max implemented the difficulty settings. He created a new scene – a simple menu with three buttons: "Easy," "Medium," and "Hard." He used global variables to store the chosen difficulty and adjusted the relevant game parameters accordingly.
Chris connected the difficulty selection to the main menu, making it the first choice the player encountered.
Tyrone designed the visual style of the difficulty selection screen, using color-coding (green for Easy, yellow for Medium, red for Hard) to clearly communicate the options.
The first playthrough on Hard mode…was a massacre. The screen filled with enemies and projectiles, and the player's spaceship exploded almost instantly.
"Okay, maybe too hard," Chris said, grimacing.
They spent hours tweaking and balancing the difficulty settings. They adjusted the parameters, played through each mode multiple times, and gathered feedback from each other.
There were moments of frustration ("This is impossible!"), moments of triumph ("Yes! I finally beat that wave on Hard mode!"), and moments of heated debate ("Should the Seeker missiles be faster on Hard mode, or just more frequent?").
By 9:00 PM, they had three distinct difficulty levels that felt balanced and fair (or, in the case of Hard mode, fairly unfair).
"Finally," Chris said, exhausted but satisfied. "A game for everyone…or at least, everyone who likes getting blown up in space." He is mastering on balancing game.
Max was pleased with the implementation. "It's flexible, too. We can easily add more difficulty settings later, or tweak the existing ones." He felt good.
Tyrone, ever the artist, was already planning a more elaborate difficulty selection screen. "Needs more…flames! For Hard mode, obviously." He is getting better at designing.
One day, one crucial milestone. They'd added difficulty settings, making The Nebula Gauntlet accessible to a wider range of players, from casual space explorers to hardcore shoot 'em up veterans. They were ready for the final mini-project.