Random vs Planned repeated endless

CodeCell

Hi everyone,

Without revealing too much of my latest upcoming game, I notice a lot of people make endless type games random, or non repeated.
I am interested in how this works out for you with gameplay or feedback from players.
Games like the impossible game have repeatable levels, or like Mr Flap is the exact same each time (or very close), as a pose to random or different level or round like jet pack joyride.

Personally I like having what Mr Flap does and keep it very close each time, but I don't have any experience with what players gives as feedback as to what they actually like to play . Is random more expected or do people get frustrated repeating the same level each time?

Anyone can share any light on this?

Hopscotch

@CodeCell, luckily you included the "endless" in your title, otherwise this could become a 20 page dissertation about the pros and cons of each.

But, as you ask about "endless" type games, here goes:

First, nothing beats a hand crafted "planned" level by a designer who fully understands the intricacies of his game mechanics. The advantage of "random" is obviously that your game can be truly endless.

To make a "random" game really fun, and especially fair, is very hard and requires a lot of experimentation and tuning. Especially ramping up the difficulty in a smooth way can be tricky.
People like a hard challenge, but they do not like getting beaten by the RNG-Monster. Jet Pack Joyride is random, however it gives a lot of visual queues and predictive elements or warnings to give the player a fair chance. This is important.

On the other hand, "planned" games can be made much harder from the start, people get satisfaction from memorizing every hurdle and ultimately progressing through muscle memory.

My feeling is that games that are "planned" generally have more player retention, there are many completionists who will "try" to beat the game.

Games that are obviously "random" are at the mercy of the gamers patience. Once they are bored with the mechanics they will move on.

Either way, things to include in any endless game:

• milestones, clear indication of progress, mini pats-on-the-back
• follow high risk/stress phases with a calm and easy phases, the slowly ramp up the difficulty again
• remove ALL possibility of unfair or impossible hurdles. People will keep playing for hours if they feel they are just not good enough yet, but they will immediately toss your game it is taking the micky out of them.

JodyMitoma

@CodeCell, Personally, I'd prefer to play a game that had hardcoded levels integrated into it, so that you can continue to try and beat the level, until you do, then move on to the next level and struggle with it too.

I don't like randomness and endlessness, because that kind of makes the game, well, pretty useless in my eyes. They could be fun for a little while, but won't keep a players attention as long as a level that was actually designed specifically, piece by piece. I'm actually in the midst of making a platformer game, which has extremely long levels horizontally, and well, none of it is at random. I am designing all 27 levels on my own, and it will prove to take a very, very long time. But I feel it will be way more worthy of having levels get created at random. That's my take!

In the end, the final decision is your own! To each their own.