How to offer assists without breaking your intent

1 The bottom line

Offer granular, optional assists that you explain before players turn them on, so more people can finish your game without confusing which version you meant. Challenge is subjective, so one fixed setting fails many players.

2 Key takeaways

• Offer assists because challenge sits in a different place for every player. One fixed difficulty is wrong for many of them.
  • A 12 second 100m dash is tough but plausible for one person, near impossible for a young child and laughable for Usain Bolt Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:17.
  • Tunic's options let Mark Brown's wife tone down its Souls-like bosses so she could enjoy its secrets and riddles, while Silksong and Hollow Knight have no such option Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:37.
• Make assists granular, so each one removes one barrier. Players keep the challenge they want and drop the part that blocks them.
  • Dishonored lets you change enemy damage, attack frequency, potion strength and guard bravery Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:00.
  • Forza Horizon 4 offers assisted brakes and steering, automatic gears and a racing line, separate from how good the rivals are Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:55.
• Tell players what the game is about and who the mode is for before they enable it. Clear framing protects your intent without removing the choice.
  • Celeste recommends playing without Assist Mode the first time, then says the mode is for players who find the game inaccessible Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:23.
  • Heat Signature politely asks players not to turn off permadeath because it is there for a reason Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit23:43.
• Keep assists optional and never strip content from the players who use them. Locked content turns help into a punishment.
  • Cuphead's Simple Mode removes boss phases, does not count wins, and locks the ending behind normal mode Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:49.
  • Mario Wonder's badge adds blocks only while worn, so taking it off returns the normal game Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit13:16.
• Ship your intended experience first, then add assists as you learn from players. Delay gives you time to make the intent clear.
  • Frictional added SOMA's Safe Mode two years after launch, once the wuss mode mod showed players wanted the story without the stress Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:40.
  • BUTCHER released its easy mode as free DLC, which creates a disconnect from the main game Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:07.

Options, accessibility settings, and easy modes don't have to pose a threat to your intended experience.

Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit

2.1 Decide what to protect and who you shut out

Know which demands define your game, so assists loosen the rest.

• Name the restrictions that create your intended experience, and do not let a difficulty switch change them. Those rules are what make the game what it is.
  • Letting Resident Evil 4 players move while aiming or save anywhere would change the game, because those limits were chosen on purpose. A Dark Souls easy level raises the same worry Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:02.
  • A hint toggle cannot turn a hand-holding game into a discovery game, because the set pieces and level layouts assume the guidance Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:08.
  • Sekiro removes levelling and inviting a friend to help with bosses, so it is less accessible than Dark Souls and Bloodborne Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit15:37.
• Check which players your design shuts out completely. A design with no relief valve can lock out whole groups.
  • Spelunky and Enter the Gungeon give low-skilled players no way to reduce difficulty, so a low-skilled player may never finish Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:32.
  • Souls games turn hopelessness into triumph, but players who cannot win only get the hopelessness. Brown does not think the risk of capable players skipping the arc justifies a game this inaccessible Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:24.
• Keep challenge as a hurdle to overcome, so assists do not lower it for everyone. The pull toward mastery is what makes the game fun.
  • Miyamoto argues that simply lowering the hurdle does not make a challenge fun, since the joy is in mastering a skill Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit19:23.
  • In movement, aim for easy to use but hard to master, so a wide audience gets in and experts keep depth Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit11:53.

2.2 Split assists by the barrier they remove

Independent options beat presets, because each player is stuck on a different thing.

• Give each system its own difficulty control, not one preset. A single setting makes players trade away challenge they want to keep.
  • Assassin's Creed: Valhalla sets exploration, fighting and sneaking separately Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:27.
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider splits combat, exploration and puzzles, so you can ease fights while Lara still gives no puzzle answers Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:46.
  • Hades has God Mode, which makes you stronger each time you die. Crash Bandicoot 4 and Sackboy let you turn off lives, and Control patched in an Assist mode covering damage output to reload time Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:27.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy offers a custom mode with a large array of options next to curated settings, which can be a little overwhelming Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:03.
• Treat control complexity as a separate problem from difficulty. Difficulty settings allow more mistakes but do not cut the buttons or systems to learn.
  • Detroit: Become Human ties simplified controls to an easier game. A motor disability has nothing to do with decision making, so input help and difficulty should be separate Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:21.
  • Forza Horizon 5 lets players set how much the car steers and brakes for them, how aggressive rivals are, and even slow the game down Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:03.
• Aim each option at one specific demand. Small, targeted options lower the barrier without rewriting the game.
  • Devil May Cry has automatic combos. Jedi Fallen Order widens parry windows on easy. Some Arkham games let you turn off counter indicators so you read animations Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:05.
  • Cadence of Hyrule's fixed beat mode lets you move without following the rhythm, and Yoshi's Crafted World's Mellow mode gives very young players infinite flight Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit14:58.
  • Let players slow the game to loosen timing, as Celeste does Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:04. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart puts slow-mo on a button, so players are not in molasses all game Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:19.
  • Fallout's VATS turns a frantic shooter into a measured turn-based game, so a normal system doubles as an accessibility option Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:21.
  • SOMA lets you turn off enemies entirely, and Furi lets you become invincible in boss fights Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:23.

2.3 Build help into the design, and let players choose how much

The best assists live in your controls, characters, world and hint systems, not only a menu.

• Let players self-select help through the design itself. No menu labelled easy mode is needed.
  • Give some characters more forgiving physics, like Peach's floaty jump or Nabbit, who takes no damage from enemies Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit13:32.
  • In Snake Pass, gripping tighter and the hummingbird Doodle lifting your tail are helping hands you do not need to get around Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:50.
  • In co-op, make combat about dodging, not skill shots. It Takes Two uses very lenient auto aim so mixed skill partners can play together Mark Brown and Oliver Granlund, Hazelight9:43.
  • Mario Galaxy's co-star mode lets a second player collect and shoot star bits without taking over Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit16:24.
  • Racing games often show the optimum line on easy and remove it at higher difficulties, so HUD information can scale with the mode Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit13:52.
• Make hints opt-in or adjustable. Hint-lovers and puzzle-lovers are both served.
  • Jedi: Fallen Order makes puzzle hints a button press, A Plague Tale: Requiem lets you turn down character hints, and Assassin's Creed has an exploration mode with fewer waypoints Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:38.
  • Sell hints in the world. Phantom Hourglass statues reveal every chest on a floor for a few rupees, and players who prefer to work it out keep their rupees Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:57.
  • Do not let in-world hints solve the puzzle. Skyward Sword's Ancient Cistern tablet spells out the answer, which removes the moment of feeling clever Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:58.
  • Obra Dinn blurs crew faces until you have enough information, and has no roadblocks, so you can finish with unfinished answers Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:32.
• Design navigation so players can switch markers off. Then they choose between getting lost and making fast progress.
  • Aim for a game that is playable without map markers, but lets players turn them on when really lost Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:08.
  • Deus Ex: Mankind Divided still has GPS markers, but its addresses and clues make it hold up with them off Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:43.
  • Many games now highlight all interactive objects to end pixel hunting, and Machinarium gives the answer if you finish a mini game Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:59.

2.4 Keep assists optional, complete and slightly costly

An assist should help without trapping players or tempting experts.

• Let players finish the whole game with assists on. Nothing should be kept away from them.
  • Celeste's Assist Mode offers very granular options. You can slow the game by 10 percent, get infinite air dashes, make Madeline invincible or skip chapters Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:14.
• Make help temporary and give a lesser reward, so players have a reason to climb back up. This nudges without forbidding.
  • Galaxy 2's Cosmic Spirit gives a bronze star instead of a power star Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit20:02.
  • Show mastery on the file select screen. In some games, using an assist stops the stars shining Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit21:08.
  • Spelunky's shortcuts skip the first four mine rooms, but those runs do not appear on the leaderboard and miss the items needed for the true ending Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit7:54.
• Make balance-changing tweaks toggles, not forced on everyone. Forced changes annoy the players who want the challenge.
  • The Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes made a team-wide EXP Share permanent, which wrecked the balance. Resident Evil 2 to 4 put health regeneration and aim snapping in an assisted mode Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:43.
  • Devil May Cry 5 and Astral Chain offer practice areas, assisted combos and easy settings. Microsoft, Ubisoft and EA publish their accessibility options online so players can decide what to buy Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit18:01.

2.5 Explain, name and place each option

Language, placement and timing tell players how much weight a mode carries.

• Say what the game is about and why the feature exists. Players who do not need it can ignore it.
  • Celeste's movement has coyote time, and it explains what the game is about and why its assist features exist Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:58:35.
  • Without clear communication, options confuse players about the proper way to play and can steer them away from the best experience Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit1:49.
  • Describe modes honestly. Astral Chain's Unchained mode does hard combos for you but gives no letter ranking, and recent games say things like feel like a badass instead of patronising easy players Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit14:09.
• Name the mode in neutral language. You never know why someone wants an easier setting.
  • Celeste's team dropped cheat mode as judgemental and chose Assist Mode. It reads as help for people who need it, and Super Mario Odyssey used the same name to let a four year old finish Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:29.
  • Heat Signature's permadeath label does not recommend turning it off unless it is spoiling the game. Tom Francis did not want players to feel asked to design how the game works Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit6:25.
• Place intent-changing options away from the normal path. Putting them beside it gives them equal weight.
  • Cuphead's Simple Mode pops up before every fight beside normal mode and barely explains itself Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:38.
  • Do not show mode choices that rewrite the game on first launch. Fire Emblem Awakening lets you turn off permadeath before you start, which muddies what the game is Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:15.
  • Darkest Dungeon hides optional corpses and never-failing retreats in a Config mode, with a pop up saying the defaults are the intended settings Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:52.
• Signal clearly that the option is not the intended way to play. Players then never mistake it for the real game.
  • A cheat code like Duke Nukem 3D's left no doubt that this was cheating Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit2:25.
  • Fire Emblem Awakening lets fallen allies sit out instead of dying forever. Other games lock achievements or put true endings behind harder modes Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit4:43.
  • Darkest Dungeon, Heat Signature, SOMA, BUTCHER and Celeste each mixed wording, placement and timing differently Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit12:29.

2.6 Time the help, then revise after launch

Offer rescue when players are close to quitting, and keep learning how they really play.

• Offer help when players are near giving up. Too early insults them and too late loses them.
  • Nintendo spent a long time deciding how many deaths trigger the Super Guide. Satoru Iwata said it is fine when players are on the verge of tears, but not while they are still brimming with determination Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit20:47.
  • The Super Guide lets Luigi finish the level, and then you skip or retry using what you saw. Super Mario 3D Land gives an invincible tanooki suit and a skip after 10 deaths Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit14:34.
• Unlock spoiler-like options late, so new players keep the intended experience. Veterans still get the tool.
  • Chrono Cross unlocks its fast-forward only after you beat the game Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit20:20.
• Add options after listening, without abandoning your vision. Ask how to help the players, not whether the game is better without the feature.
  • Red Hook kept the intended Darkest Dungeon version first through Early Access, then made the corpse system optional once the community grew diverse Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:43.
  • Tom Francis first resisted removing permadeath. Asking whether he could help the players who hate it led to an optional version Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit5:56.
  • Celeste's designer Matt Thorson says Assist Mode breaks the game from his view as designer, but he shipped it to empower the player Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit9:13.
  • Brown trusts that well-informed players decide how they want to play Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit13:02.
• Support the workaround players will use anyway. A bold design choice fails if players can route around it.
  • Isaac's wiki lookup and Balatro's hand calculation let players play against the designer's intent, so intentions sometimes have to change Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit12:58.
  • McMillen is considering optional item descriptions in Isaac, since backing the workaround beats a worse experience Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:22.
  • If you do not want to endorse it, let mods or a cheat code carry it. Isaac's External Item Descriptions mod has almost 2 million subscribers Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit24:00.

2.7 Where designers disagree

Some games treat difficulty as the point, and some tactics only fit certain products.

• Should a game built on hopelessness have an easy mode at all? Dark Souls leaves the question open as a deliberate challenge design Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:38.
  • Demon's Souls on PS5 has no formal options but allows summoning and stat grinding, and Bluepoint said being a remake stopped them adding an easy mode Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit10:24.
• Should an easy mode be visible or hidden? For Dark Souls, Brown suggests a cheat code or a buried setting so players do not spoil a first or only playthrough Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit8:03.
  • Celeste instead puts its mode up front with a clear explanation, as covered above.
• Does a hard game need an assist mode, or does an easy game need harder content? Hard games can add an assist mode, and easy games can add optional harder content or post-game material Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit15:01.
  • A Pathologic 2 dev said leaving out players who cannot improve twitch skills or sense of time was not right on a fundamental level. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair added checkpoints to its hardest level Mark Brown, Game Maker's Toolkit3:41.