How to make death and retries painless

1 The bottom line

Make a failed attempt cheap to restart and cheap to learn from, and put any real risk in a choice the player makes. Quick retries keep players experimenting, while long replays and harsh penalties make them quit or reload.

2 Key takeaways

• Make the retry fast. Players learn by repeating, so waiting and replaying waste the lesson.
  • Neon White levels last 20 to 30 seconds, so another go always feels cheap Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:06.
  • The Ginso Tree escape in Ori and the Blind Forest restarts with no loading screens or cutscenes Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:13.
• Keep the distance back to a minimum. Redoing finished content is simply frustrating.
  • Tropical Freeze stages can run around 10 minutes, so they get two or three checkpoints where Mario stages often have one Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:16.
  • Twilight Princess restarts you at the last door, not the dungeon entrance Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:12.
• Let a failed attempt leave something behind. A run that ends with nothing to show feels wasted.
  • In Rogue Legacy the money from a dead run buys an upgrade for the next one Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:53.
  • In Kero Blaster you keep all upgrades and cash after running out of lives Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:24.
• Keep death penalties light enough to walk away from. Heavy penalties drag players back to one spot or stop them exploring.
  • Silksong lets you bank rosary beads and holds back the mana penalty, so leaving the cocoon behind is acceptable Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:01.
  • Zelda 2 sends you to the first screen after too many deaths, so players stop wanting to explore Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:49.
• Make risk a choice the player takes. The player decides how much safety they want and what they can afford.
  • Shovel Knight checkpoints can be broken for loot, but then you won't respawn there Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:09.
  • Jusant gives you three pitons to place as checkpoints Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:08.

It's fun to die because then you feel like I'm challenged and you get that stress, but it's not fun to redo it.

Mark Brown and Oliver Granlund, It Takes Two (Hazelight), Game Maker's Toolkit

2.1 Decide what lives and Game Over are for

Keep a lives system only if it does a job, and set the cost of a Game Over on purpose.

• Add lives only for a clear reason. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:12
  • Lives are often copied in out of habit or a misguided attempt to feel retro.
  • How lives are balanced, supported by other systems and presented matters as much as having them.
  • Shovel Knight removes lives, cheap hits and respawning enemies, and keeps the nostalgic feel Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:06.
  • Without lives, difficulty comes from level design. Super Mario Odyssey is the first major Mario game without them Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:34.
• Balance the count, or tie it to each level. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:33
  • Too many extra lives make the system meaningless. Too few make the difficulty curve shoot up.
  • Reset the count at each stage so no one starts with an overblown advantage or a crushing disadvantage Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:07.
  • In Furi, every boss fight starts with exactly three lives Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:07.
• Reward clean play instead of punishing running out. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:34
  • Dying costs nothing, so new players never worry about a game over. Skilled players opt in to the extra peril.
  • Count retries toward the grade, as Sonic Forces does, so high ranks need a single life Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:04.
  • Crash Bandicoot 4's Modern mode still tracks lives, and each level has a gem for finishing with fewer than three retries.
  • Bullet hell shooters offer infinite continues, yet a whole community plays for the one credit clear Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:51.
• If you keep lives, make each one valuable. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:25
  • When one extra life saves half an hour of repeating, it is worth hunting for coins, bonus mini-games and secrets.
  • In Mega Man, finishing a level often means perfecting the early parts to have enough health, lives and ammo for the robot master Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:31.

2.2 Place checkpoints by what a failure costs

Set the gap between saves by how long and complex the section is, and widen it only on purpose.

• Shrink the gap between permanent saves. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:40
  • A lives system is defined by permanent saves, temporary checkpoints and a retry count.
  • Do not send players far back after a Game Over, especially new players Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:03.
  • Donkey Kong went from saving at the very beginning, to save points in the world, to the start of every level.
  • Sonic Mania only has permanent checkpoints at the start of each zone, and USgamer called its lives system obnoxious and infuriating Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:03.
• Add checkpoints as levels get longer and more complex. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:16
  • Levels that weave several mechanics together need more recovery points so failure does not cost too much progress.
  • The tradeoff in Tropical Freeze is fewer levels overall.
• Restart players at the last door, not the entrance. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:12
  • Twilight Princess does this, which removes the need for the warp pots that helped in The Wind Waker.
  • Combined with easy bosses, it makes the game very forgiving.
• Thin the checkpoints later in the game, deliberately. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit17:14
  • From is generous with bonfires early and makes players wait longer as they go deeper.
  • New Londo Ruins has no bonfire, and Sen's Fortress has one at the very top, which makes the ordeal more perilous and tense.
  • With no checkpoints in the Ginso Tree escape, a success is about a minute of unbroken real gameplay Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:30.

2.3 Make the retry itself fast

Between a failure and the next attempt there should be no waiting and no replaying of beaten content.

• Shorten the trip back to the hard part. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:41
  • A long, repetitive journey to a boss turns practice into a chore.
  • Put shortcuts or warps where players die. Zelda dungeons use a ladder in Majora's Mask and a pushed block in Ocarina of Time Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:59.
  • Silksong's long walk to the Last Judge is one of the things Brown calls BS.
  • The Game Boy Zelda games use a warp tile in the mini-boss room Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:59.
• Never make players wait for a cycle to reset. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:38
  • Moving blocks in Mind Over Magnet made players wait for the cycle to realign, which discourages experimenting with solutions.
  • In stealth, sitting in a cupboard for over a minute while the system resets is boring, so reloading looks more attractive Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:47.
• Make the restart instant, and keep the set piece intact. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:13
  • A failure that interrupts the scene breaks the cinematic moment, so a fast retry keeps the player inside it.
  • Let the music run on. In the Ginso Tree escape it doesn't reset, so failed attempts flow together Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:19.
• Keep attempts short, and skip what repeats. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:04
  • Players keep coming back if runs are short, they feel themselves improving, and the next session differs.
  • Let players skip repeated story. After feedback, IO Interactive lets you skip the linear story section of Apex Predator after your first playthrough Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:57.
  • Neon White levels take 20 or 30 seconds, so another attempt always feels cheap Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:06.
  • Click Clock Wood took twice as long to build as other levels, yet redoing everything after a fall wears players down Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:42.
  • If content must repeat, change it. Sonic offers alternate routes, and roguelikes randomise their levels Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:42.

2.4 Keep the penalty light and the progress safe

A death should leave the player with something to use, not something to mourn.

• Let players keep what they earned. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:53
  • If all progress is wiped, a bad run leaves only improved skill and no rush of numbers ticking up.
  • Offer a shop after a Game Over so players can spend cash on extra lives and health Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:24.
  • Rogue Legacy players die knowing the money they found will buy an upgrade for the next attempt.
  • In Kero Blaster you wake up in hospital with a drug store selling upgrades Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:24.
• Make the loss reclaimable and easy to walk away from. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:01
  • Silksong lets you bank rosary beads. It also doesn't halve your mana until you recover the cocoon, as Hollow Knight did.
  • In Shovel Knight you lose money and must return to reclaim it, which adds tension without making you replay whole levels Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:48.
  • Zelda 1 lets a player who dies say 'screw that area' and look elsewhere Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit25:15.
  • Zelda 2 adds invisible pits, lava knockbacks and dead ends, and sends you to the first screen after too many deaths Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:49.
• Carry knowledge and items into the next attempt. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:36
  • In The Forgotten City the clock rewinds after a failure, but the player keeps new items and information, so failure becomes progress.
  • With a safety net like this, players feel free to try many approaches Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:02.
  • The stolen resin survives the restart, so it can be given to the doctor.
  • Outer Wilds' designers wanted a loop short enough that death isn't frustrating, but not a constant time limit. Its loop runs 22 minutes Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:48.
• Show that the next try is better. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:40
  • Seeing that a bit more practice would do it is what keeps people trying.
  • Neon White's medals move from bronze to silver to gold, and each retry brings less hesitation and more accuracy.

2.5 Let players choose the risk

A risk the player picks keeps retries painless, because they set how much safety they want.

• Make the player decide where to save. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:08
  • Give a limited number of placeable checkpoints. Jusant's pitons catch a fall at the most recent one, and you carry only three.
  • In Ori and the Blind Forest you spend currency to make your own checkpoints Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:26.
• Attach a cost or a reward to using a checkpoint. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:26
  • Shovel Knight checkpoints can be destroyed for gems, but you go back further if you die Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:09.
  • In Panzer Paladin, activating a checkpoint costs a weapon.
• Scale the loss with what the player carries. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:01
  • A big stash should feel dangerous to carry. In Dark Souls, dying drops all your souls at your death spot, and they are gone if you die on the way back Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:07:48.
  • In Death Stranding, each extra package raises the payout and the chance of tumbling and destroying cargo.
  • Elden Ring's later levels need many more runes, so exploring while loaded grows more tense.
• Check that the stakes are real before you rely on them. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:47
  • Ravio's rentals vanish when you die, which should make you think hard about spending rupees. It only works if the economy is tight.
  • In A Link Between Worlds rupees are everywhere, so you can rent everything anyway.
  • Watch Dogs: Legion has permanent death, but it is so easy that characters are rarely taken out of rotation Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:33.

2.6 Keep players playing through mistakes

Players will reload away any setback they can, so build the game so that playing on is the better choice.

• Give mistakes a wide failure spectrum. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:16
  • The more steps between perfect success and total failure, the more a mishap just nudges the player down instead of ruining the run.
  • Do not end the attempt the moment the player is spotted. That is inherently frustrating unless levels are tiny or full of checkpoints Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit0:43.
  • In Metal Gear Solid V a spotted guard investigates first, then you get slow-mo reflex mode, then he calls backup, and you can still escape, fight or call a helicopter.
  • Turning the whole area hostile with no way to hide beats a game over, but the player is suddenly in a different game, as in Uncharted 2 Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:04.
• Keep setbacks small, and never make the rest of the game harder. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:28
  • Small, unpredictable losses that are easy to turn around don't tempt players to reload Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:06.
  • Cosmetic rewards for perfect play, like ranks, are fine because they are only aspirational.
  • Far Cry 2 has jamming guns, Malaria attacks and cars breaking down mid-getaway, softened by a big health bar, many syringes and the buddy system Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:06.
  • In XCOM, lost soldiers force you to field feeble rookies, so players save scum to keep favorites alive.
• Make failure as interesting as success. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:56
  • When imperfect play leads to meaningful outcomes, players let events play out.
  • Autosave at the worst moment so players continue from the drama Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit23:23.
  • In Shadow of Mordor, an Orc captain who kills you remembers you and references that history later.
  • The Long Dark autosaves when wolves attack or you hurt yourself Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit23:23.
• Limit easy reloading in the rules, not the manual. Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:45
  • Use encounter checkpoints or capped rewinds instead of unlimited quick save Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:51.
  • Offer a suspend save that is deleted when loaded, so it can't undo a silly mistake Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:55.
  • Daggerfall's manual begged players not to reload, which enforces nothing.
  • Racing games let you rewind but cap the number per race, so you can fix a few errors but not craft a perfect lap Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:51.
  • Darkest Dungeon always saves over your file, because Red Hook wanted permanent consequences Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:27.

2.7 Where designers disagree

Some tools add tension and some add speed, so match each one to what your game wants players to do.

• Corpse runs raise stakes but pull players back.
  • In Dark Souls, every step of the corpse run feels dangerous Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:07:48.
  • The same system contradicts a design that wants stuck players to explore elsewhere. Silksong softens it, but the tension remains Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit35:02.
  • In Hollow Knight, the shade tempts you back to where you died again and again, which discourages trying other routes Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit25:15.
• A fast return trades away tension.
  • The Wind Waker's warp outside the boss room makes returning effortless and reduces tension, especially with easy bosses Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:59.
  • Mastery has the same effect. When Hitman players can predict a level like a choreographed dance, they stop adapting, and saves make mistakes cost little Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:48.
• The fear of losing progress is a tool, not a flaw.
  • It pushes players toward careful, intentional play, and finding the next permanent save feels more satisfying Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:45.
  • Against that, wide gaps between permanent saves can drive players away, especially new ones Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:03.
• Co-op needs its own answer.
  • Hazelight's Gears of War style revive failed because players couldn't tell if a partner was dying or just separated. A shared health bar failed because a weak player sank both players Mark Brown and Oliver Granlund, Hazelight23:23.
  • They settled on a respawn timer that runs while both players live, which effectively gives each player two lives Mark Brown and Oliver Granlund, Hazelight23:23.