> We could have started the game on an harder difficulty by default, but we did not want to force a non veteran player to check 'mega-beginner-dumbed mode' on s

> We could have started the game on an harder difficulty by default, but we did not want to force a non veteran player to check 'mega-beginner-dumbed mode' on startup. You could make two buttons to start the game, the difficult one first. And call them maybe "Hard" and "Easy", with explanation that Hard is for people who regularly play games of this type, and Easy is for casual players; to make it obvious that a non-casual player is supposed to go with the Hard option even if they play the game for the first time. And maybe instead of dumbing down some parts of the game, you could remove or replace them. Like, if the end boss is supposed to be a horrible monster, then instead of turning him into a funny punching bag in the Easy mode, you could just replace him with some regular enemy (or a group of them). I think it should also be obvious when you see someone playing the game, which mode they use. Don't write "Easy mode" on the screen literally, but maybe use an alternative texture for something; or perhaps there is something that makes the mode obvious, for example in Easy mode you get more life. Then everyone who played the game will see which version was used by the reviewer, if there is a video or screenshot. > it's impossible for a gamedevelopper to estimate difficulty on your own game when you work on it for over 2 years. Heh, I know that. I knew an open-source game which at one moment had a tutorial so difficult outsiders couldn't make it. It's because when you played the game hundred times, you already know the optimal moves (at least, what is an optimal move in the tutorial), so it is hard to imagine someone who doesn't. And another problem is that if you find a tester, a few months later, the tester has the same problem. So perhaps every new version should be tested by someone who never saw the game before.