Stuff Under the Header

1/18/2010

Difficulty Settings

Edit: 0.0.8.4 fixes a problem with the elevator on the train. I forgot timelines changed a bit for GM8. >_< It'll say 8.3 on the title screen, it lies. :3

I have adjusted all of the difficulty modes. Enemy stats have not changed at all, what has been changed are enemy and trap spawns. I will go into a bit of detail for each setting.

Beginner (Easy)
A lot of enemy spawns have been removed as well as a lot of traps. This can finally be called the easy mode aside from just enemy stats and reaction times.

Veteran (Normal)
Not much has been changed for this, you might see a few minor changes if you play through again on this setting. A few enemy spawns have been removed from this and are now Hard mode exclusive.

Hardcore (Hard)
Again, not too much was changed, but more changed for this than Normal. Roughly 3 or 4 enemy spawns were removed from this setting, but a few were added in various places. A few traps have been added to this setting, but not many. The boost in enemy reaction times is part of what makes hard the way it is.

These 3 settings are the main difficulty settings, you won't see too much of a difference in the game on Hard and even less of a change for Normal. Easy has been drastically changed though. The idea of being able to switch settings on the fly is if you are having too much trouble getting by an area, you can lower the difficulty, get through it and set it back to where you had it if you want. Or go higher if you feel the setting you are on is not enough. Easy mode is definitely much more friendly to you now. If you were having trouble with it before, try again with this next update and I assure you, you will see a major difference. Each of the settings are more unique now, especially Easy mode, making a lot of stuff fairly friendly.

For those of you asking for a harder setting, Hard mode's new traps add a slight bit of difficulty, but not much. I must say though, keep in mind, this is just the first half of the game, it's going to be much worse during the second half, HOWEVER...

Distorted (Extreme)
For those of you that have asked, a new difficulty has been added, named the 'Distorted' mode. The game gives you a warning before playing on this setting. You cannot switch out of this mode once you choose it. Throughout the game, I constantly take stuff out because I feel things may be too rough, even for the hard setting. This one however I will be keeping them in. Enemy base stats have not changed much, they are approximately 1% higher than they are on Hard (Bosses have an extra 5% HP), with an exception for power, which is roughly 12.5% higher than Hard. This is not what makes this setting hard, even if Hard mode had these base stats, you wouldn't feel much of a difference on it. What IS changed are enemy response times. Everything moves faster, shoots more, and has far less recovery time. New enemy spawns exclusive to this setting were added in fairly inconvenient places. Traps are more frequently seen. You will have to see it to see what I mean. Some of the environments have been slightly modified as well.

A video showing the first map of the Old Castle on Distorted.

Distorted is only for the extreme players. O_O Hard can be changed out of if necessary, this cannot. This new setting is really it's own thing. I thought about making it an unlockable, but meh. Even in the final version, this setting will be open straight from the beginning, though it is intended for you to have played the game once.

tl:dr version:
Easy mode has been made easier, Normal and Hard are fairly the same, and there's a new difficulty that will destroy you.

Game Changes
- Fixed collision for Jerry when he is running and shooting.

2 comments:

Jaffe said...

I love the new difficulty setting... well actually i hate it. distorted torso was god damed evil. i recently got to meta knight and noticed that the same glitch that used to happen if u dashed under him while he was slamming down works again in distorted difficulty. if you dont know what im talking about he just sorta froze forever in one spot staring away from me until I lept over him.

ZephyrBurst said...

Blarg, I'll get that fixed. I remember that, thanks.