It's me again. Thinking I might continue advancing my autistic

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>>383549235
>Sonic 3, there's many goals to choose from.
>survival: not dying, always important
>progression: beating a level, the game
>exploration: discovering a level, its secrets
>>powerups
>>giant rings
>>exclusive paths, shortcuts
>>main routes, connections
>time attacks: fastest time
>ring attacks: max rings
>score attacks: highest score
>>any combination of any of these three

I think that about covers it. I mean what else can you even do in Sonic 3, really?

Obvious sources of difficulty, relevant to any goal set:
>clock: time over
>traps: spikes etc
>hazards: drowning, falling etc
>enemies
>bosses and sub-bosses

Every one of those things is a unique manifestation of difficulty. A proper and thorough analysis involves examining all of them one by one. Fuck that for now.

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Objective difficulty offsets:
>rings
>lives
>continues
>i-frames
>powerups
>checkpoints
>transformations
>common abilities
>signature abilities
>cooperative play
>save system
>debug mode
>glitches

These also need closer analysis.

This is what game designers should be paid to do instead of connecting prefabs together in unity or being very active on twitter

>>383549235
your my favorite type of autistic
god speed

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>>383552765
Thanks man.
>>383552885
You too.

Dual sources and offsets:
>objects: springs, elevators, etc
>gimmicks: CNZ barrels, etc
>physics: what they permit, prohibit
>landscape: loops, slopes, etc

So, in any given situation, any combination of these sources and offsets might be present. All of them modify difficulty implicitly so some incalculable degree, independently; any of these mechanics occupying a shared space also operate collectively, producing a joint effect on difficulty.

So you can look at a level map and examine the mechanic's placement relative to eachother within an appropriately narrow scope, and that's how you could begin to judge those situation's difficulty.

What does someone think: is distance (from level start to end points) itself a form of difficulty? That's the primary obstacle in Sonic games; the question, "What should Sonic do with his body (what inputs should the player press) as he moves from A to B, in order to do so optimally?

If there was no distance between points, literally there would be nothing to do and no game to play. So distance is not trivial, it's vital. But the problem with it as difficulty is distance, itself, never seems or feels difficult.

It doesn't pose an immediate threat. It's not a particularly challenging or threatening manifestation of difficulty (if it is at all), like the obvious enemies, traps, etc. But difficulty is more than just the player's perception of it.

It's not just some phenomenon that only exists first-hand. That's what it is on one level, but in a broader sense It's an abstract system operating at all times and sometimes in ways undetectable to the player. I.e., distance.

I don't know what to think.

Sometimes there's nothing going on and distance is empty space. But generally, the space between A and B is filled with stuff: like the various mechanics outlined above. So it's not fair when considering this question to think of distance as a void. It's distance plus all the stuff along the way.

Distance and space are qualities of the level, in which everything else therein takes place. Is it fair to separate the specific distance from A to B from the level? It's a slice of level, but it's still part of the level.

Are levels difficulty? Not sure but if so then it seems likely that distance, as a quality of the level, must be difficult by extension.

If difficulty as distance exists between A and B then it also exists between any grouping of offsets and sources, in relation to Sonic's position, along the way.

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>when your autism ascends to the plane of existence where normalfags don't even recognize you anymore and just leave you alone out of fear

Based on your definitions I would say that distance itself is not inherently source of difficulty. However, in most cases Length and Difficulty have a positive relationship because there are generally more difficulty sources filling that space than things that offset difficulty.

I would suggest quantifying it not by distance but by time taken to cross that distance. That way, length is a source of difficulty via its relationship to the timer.

Full disclosure: I am only passingly familiar with Sonic 3.

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>>383561291
Thank you.