A Quick Note on Difficulty

[Truant Pixel, LLC]

Hey all,

wanted to provide some context for the difficulty options available in the game - I realized pretty early on that difficulty is going to be a highly subjective thing. Our last VR game, Runner, was released with no difficulty settings, and that proved to be a big mistake (we rectified that later). So it's something I tried to approach more carefully with this game.

One thing we set early on: there is no penalty for playing at a lower difficulty. As someone who has a separate full time job, I understand the value of a game that respects your time and understands that sometimes you can't sit there and chip away at something for hours to make progress.

If you choose to play at a higher difficulty level, you are rewarded with additional bonus modulus points at the end of each stage.

>The 'Standard' difficulty level was set based on feedback from having some friends in the industry (not QA testers!) and other confidants play the game and give feedback.
It's probably a difficulty that fans of scaler shooters like AfterBurner and Galaxy Force will be more comfortable with.

>the lower difficulty (I think we called it 'easy') is probably more appropriate for fans of slower paced shooters like Star Fox. since we aren't slowing the pace of play, at the very least it's slightly more forgiving while still giving you a challenge.

>The easiest mode ("casual", I think) is designed more for people who just want to have fun without the constant fear of dying.

The harder modes are intended for players who are more accustomed to higher intensity shooters like bullet-hells. Personally, I am not 'good' at those games, but I'm already shocked to see some streamers absolutely dominating this difficulty.

Anyway, just some context in case there was any questions about that.

[Norokzindul]

What does changing the difficulty do exactly? Incoming/outgoing damage, spawn rate, enemy firing speed?

How do the randomized runs described as brutal/impossible enemies interact with with the upper difficulties (hard/extreme) that you can change in the settings?

Rogueflight+ hit harder and had a lot more bullets coming at me so I just assumed it overwrote my selected difficulty.

[Truant Pixel, LLC]

Originally posted by Norokzindul:

What does changing the difficulty do exactly? Incoming/outgoing damage, spawn rate, enemy firing speed?

How do the randomized runs described as brutal/impossible enemies interact with with the upper difficulties (hard/extreme) that you can change in the settings?

Rogueflight+ hit harder and had a lot more bullets coming at me so I just assumed it overwrote my selected difficulty.

Right! There are two variables at play at any time:

Difficulty selection affect how much damage enemies and obstacles do.

Separately, new game plus and rogue light modes affect how fast enemies spawn as well as how fast they fire.

So even if you select an easier mode, the rogue flight and the new game plus modes will be slightly more difficult, in different ways.