# Don't make your game too hard
<sup>2021-02-26</sup>

As a game developer it can be hard to gauge how your audience receives your
game. One particular mistake I (and others) have made in the recent
[Godot Wild Jam][gwj30] is making a game _too_ hard.

While playtesting my own game - [You are Alone][yaa] - I was winning quite often
and was worried other people would find it too easy. However, what I forgot to
account for is that **I know the mechanics through and through**: I know how
the enemy "thinks", how to solve the puzzles and how the map generator works.
Other people do not know this and thus will need a lot more time to figure it
all out.

This also is clearly reflected in the ratings: While all of the comments are
very positive, the game got quite a few 1- and 2-star ratings. As these raters
did not leave a comment, I assume they got fed up with the difficulty. The
commenters also hinted at the very high difficulty (with one admitting it
straight up).

<div style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; display: block; width: 50%; text-align: center">
<img src="yaa-ratings.png" alt="Ratings - 5 stars: 30%; 4 stars: 33.3%, 3 stars: 18.3%, 2 stars: 8.3%, 1 star: 10%">
<p><sup><em>Note that no criteria in particular has a bad score.</em></sup></p>
</div>

So if you plan to release a game, make sure to let _other_ people playtest it!
The feedback you will get is very valuable.


[gwj30]: https://itch.io/jam/godot-wild-jam-30
[yaa]: https://demindiro.itch.io/you-are-alone
[ratings]: yaa-ratings.png