Balance challenge and available options
This is a broad pattern that relates to the abilities of the specific player target group. It is more related to general game design considerations than a specific design pattern per se. Challenge should best be balanced against the abilities of the players so that the game maintains the interest of the players. In single player games this is more pronounced than in multiplayer games. Challenge single player games is often determined by hiding information from the players (information that relates to how the system works). Hiding information can result in players having difficulty to understand what they have to do, or what the current state of the game is. In multiplayer games challenge is additionally based on the competition with the other players.
Nevertheless, multiplayer games where players compete indirectly (for example by solving puzzles), a balanced challenge remains of importance. Balance could be affected by mechanisms such as
- the difficulty level of the available puzzles (characteristics and number of the puzzles to solve).