How do you balance the challenge and fun of AI opponents in games?

AI difficulty goes hand in hand with level difficulty. Most modern successful games will give you the option to freely change the level of difficulty on the fly, Games like Diablo IV have multiple levels of difficulty to choose from or a more simple approach with story-focused or action-focused found in Final Fantasy 16. Give your audience the option to choose difficulties and it will provide gamers more support with your game.

Play your game until you’re sick of it, then play it some more. Learn to play like a new and naive player. Find play testers that are not on your team and record them playing. Do not give them any guidance. Become obsessed with player experience and learn to accept the hard truth when your game sucks and you need to make changes.

For some games, there is an option for selecting difficulty. These are calibrated based on testing different mechanics and player capabilities to find what an average player can handle and adjust the other difficulties accordingly. In summary, to know your target audience, you need to do some testing to understand who you are targeting and what their mechanical gaming capabilities are to create an optimal user experience for them!

I think balancing the challenge and fun of game opponents is about making sure they push players without being frustrating. Opponents should be tough enough to keep players on edge but not so hard that they feel unbeatable. Offering different difficulty levels lets players find what fits their skill, while ensuring the challenge grows as they get better. At the same time, opponents need to keep things fun. They should mix up strategies to stay unpredictable but have enough flaws for players to figure out. The key is finding that balance where players feel challenged but still enjoy the experience of figuring out how to win.

Es vital conocer el rol de la AI en el juego, si es un rol muy activo en el que interactúas constantemente con ella en el juego, por ejemplo, un juego de disparos contra una AI que representa un humano, el jugador necesita sentir que la AI también es humana, de lo contrario será sacado de la inmersión (si le disparas a la AI y esta reacciona de manera torpe, te vas a sentir que no estas en un reto, o todo lo contrario, si apenas al asomarte te derriban de manera inmediata, sabes que estas contra una máquina automatizada). Al final, la dificultad de la AI debe evolucionar naturalmente con la del jugador para siempre maximizar la inmersión de éste.

One way this might show up is in choosing to use AI opponents in a card game to ensure a fast matchmaking experience. If your goal is to ensure players can always find an opponent within a few seconds, AI opponents can provide that experience. You might sacrifice some of the experience of true player versus player gameplay, but you gain consistent matchmaking times and less likelihood of players being frustrated by not finding opponents.

The natural aspect of playing against a human can serve as a valuable benchmark when defining the goals and characteristics of AI opponents. By emulating certain aspects of human behavior, AI opponents can enhance the player experience by providing engaging and dynamic interactions. This can include simulating strategic decision-making, adapting to player actions, and exhibiting varied emotional responses.

My preferred method is that of MMORPG dungeons, similar to what you could find running Mythic+ dungeons in World of Warcraft or Mutators in New World. There is a clear and measurable difference as the dungeons increase in level, different "affixes," and it is the player’s choice in terms of how much challenge, risk, and reward they are up for. One of my favorite moments in gaming was tanking a Mythic +23. I made the mistake of missing a single mob, which we had to charge for after the boss. With less than a second left, the cheers on Discord and the feeling of reward were unparalleled, I will never forget it. While this may seem niche and possibly even simplistic, I believe it could be successfully applied to more genres.

AI should balance between level of challenge and the skill of the gamer. We call this a flow state. Some methods: 1) Dynamic difficulty - adjust difficulty levels as the player progresses to adapt to their performance. 2) Recorded playback of human opponents - in some games (typically ones where users actions are independent of each other, or asynchronous), when a player is online their moves can be recorded and played back later as an AI for a different player. 3) Cheating - the AI can also be made to 'cheat' to offer a sufficient level of challenge, e.g. receives more resources, has access to more information than the player etc. 4) Machine Learning - AI is trained based on the user's behaviour and adapts accordingly, providing realism.

Fine-tuning AI parameters, including speed, health, and accuracy, is key to balancing challenge and fun. It's particularly crucial in difficult games to align AI with the player's learning curve, ensuring a sense of continuous improvement. Dynamic difficulty adjustment is vital in this process, keeping the AI challenging yet fair, and adapting to each player's evolving skill level.

Designing a fun yet challenging experience is not any easy job, I would recommend following these steps: * Dynamic Difficulty: Analyze win/loss ratios, points, trophies, and upgrades to tailor AI difficulty to player skill and progress. A skilled player with a powerful character deserves a tougher opponent * Event-Based Tweaks: Consider the difficulty level and prize at stake. A hardcore event with a prestigious reward might warrant highly skilled AI, while a casual mode with a smaller reward can have less complex opponents. * Test, Refine, Repeat: Always test AI adjustments. Poorly balanced AI can frustrate and drive players away. Testing ensures a thrilling and engaging experience for all skill levels.

Even with consistent and repeated testing, lots of bugs can often come out. The key of this repeated testing is to uncover as many as possible to bring the game closer and closer to mechanical perfection.

The key to balancing AI opponents in games lies in learning from others. It's crucial to actively listen to community feedback on various games. This insight offers invaluable perspectives on what works and what doesn't in AI implementation. Respecting the community's input is fundamental; they are the end-users who experience the AI firsthand. Additionally, using other games as examples, whether they're indie or AAA titles, provides a wealth of knowledge. By studying their successes and shortcomings, you can refine your AI design to strike that perfect balance between challenge and fun.