Although I was absent from the week 4 of class, I encountered the concepts of “Difficulty Curve” and “Narrative Arcs” in a more direct way during the follow-up project.

In game design, the difficulty curve is often used to control the intensity of the challenges faced by players at different stages, while the plot curve is responsible for regulating the narrative rhythm and emotional ups and downs.

As I reflected on these two concepts, I realized that they are difficult to apply directly to my projects. My game doesn’t have a skill challenge at its core, and there is no clear “getting harder” goal. The player’s actions are always kept at a very basic level, and the system does not test the player’s mastery by increasing complexity. Therefore, increasing difficulty in the traditional sense is not the focus of my design. Similarly, my project doesn’t have a clear linear narrative climax. The information is more gradually exposed through fragmented behavioral feedback and systematic responses, rather than creating dramatic twists through plot advancement.

Of course, in addition to this, I also reviewed some games known for their difficulty design, such as Bloodborne and Hollow Knight, which both shape the player experience with carefully controlled difficulty curves.

Bloodborne’s difficulty curve doesn’t go up linearly. Instead, it puts extremely high pressure on players early in the game: enemies are aggressive, punishment is clear, and fault tolerance is low. Players tend to fail frequently at first, but as they gradually master enemy behavior, map structure, and their own pacing, what may seem brutal becomes a predictable, manageable challenge.

In this design, the difficulty does not drop significantly, but the player’s ability and confidence rise, creating a kind of “relationship change” curve – the world does not become simpler, it is the player who becomes more skilled.

In contrast, Hollow Knight’s difficulty curve relies more on exploration structures. The game does not strictly control the order in which players enter the area, and there are obvious differences in the strength and punishment of enemies in different areas. Players may experience sudden difficulty boosts at certain stages or relieve stress by acquiring new abilities or shortcuts.

This design gives the difficulty curve a fluctuating state rather than a continuous rise. The sense of challenge comes from the risk of unknown areas and long-distance exploration, rather than the intensity increase on a single value.

Through the comparison of these cases, I have a clearer understanding of the role of the difficulty curve as a design tool and how it serves different experience goals in different types of games.