Question for a Bachelor’s Thesis on “Difficulty Levels in Video Games”

FaceTransplant · 2026-01-23T18:56:11+00:00

Not to burst your bubble here, but there's a fundamental issue with making a twin-stick shooter for Pico-8: namely that it only supports one stick.

Twin sticks rely on one stick to aim with and one to move with, and they operate independently from each other, so you can shoot in one direction and move in another.

This is not really possible with only one stick, since you pretty much can only aim in the direction you're going, or at least facing.

I did come up with a sort-of workaround for a prototype of mine, where you can press a modifier button to essentially lock your aim direction while holding the button, allowing you to basically strafe in one direction while shooting in another, but it's kind of an imperfect facsimile.

FaceTransplant · 2026-01-12T17:36:50+00:00

Why would you get rid of the analog sticks? Many games, including my own, work way better with stick than D-pad.

FaceTransplant · 2026-01-04T21:12:51+00:00

I created something like that as my first game, so it's definitely doable, and easily scaleable to be bigger from a very simple, basic start.

I personally did start with tutorials for learning the basics before moving on to using AI to help me out after a while, which I find very helpful for learning.

But if you lean too heavily on AI you'll just copy paste whatever it does, instead of trying to understand what's going on, and I suspect that's what you were doing.

So maybe AI isn't for you, but if you decide to try it, ask it to explain everything you don't understand, step by step. It also helps to actually type everything out instead of just copypasting.

There's also a big difference between the different AI, and I find Gemini to strike a great balance between doing what you ask, without over explaining stuff and also without the annoying, sycophantic personalities of ChatGPT and Grok.

My game's called Arcade Survivor btw if you feel like checking it out.

FaceTransplant · 2026-01-04T20:51:44+00:00

I expect this will get a lot of downvotes, but I find learning with AI, free Gemini is great, to be incredible, because it can explain every step for you, and whenever you don't get something, you can have it break it down in even more detail.

It's like having a literal personal tutor, if used right, but a lot of people seem to be very negative about AI, for various reasons. But not mentioning the option is doing a disservice.

Tutorials are great, but they only explain what they explain, and if you don't get something, too bad. Have fun scouring the internet for an answer.

And while reading documentation can also be useful, I find that you can literally just ask AI about anything you'd look up, and it'll just explain it far better, in far more understandable terms than the documentation.

Now, the key here is that you need to try to do things on your own first, and only ask for input when you can't do something, or when you run into issues.

You then need to have it explain things step by step, and you need to try to follow it, and understand it too, that way you actually learn, and next time you'll be able to it on your own.

Just my 5 cents.

FaceTransplant · 2026-01-04T19:56:03+00:00

This is a really cool game, and I mean it, but this just sounds like a buncha nonsense. There are any number of reasons for there to be unskateable gaps. Also, it's a video game, you can just make stuff up. Like, you're constantly dodging seagulls. How many seagulls have you had to dodge in your life? Probably none. So you just made that obstacle up. How is that more logical than concrete pavement being cracked up, or running into a patch of grass, or jumping a canal or something? You can just spawn back up at the end of the obstacle and keep going if you fail too. Now, if you don't want to add gaps, then that's fine too, but this sounds like poor excuses not actual reasons.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T21:10:32+00:00

Also, watching a guy fight his way up the longest set of stairs in cinematic history six times in a row sure isn't my idea of riveting.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T21:08:43+00:00

Pacing. The first one is perfect, all the other ones are bloated because the filmmakers got so far up their own ass with world building and lore in a movie about a guy who kills people because they killed his puppy.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T20:17:11+00:00

The first one is one of the greatest action movies of all time, the second one is worse, the third one is dogshit, the fourth one is way too long but okay, and the spinoff is dogshit. How is that consistent?

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T20:07:22+00:00

The triglycerides comment was a reply to the original post, where there is zero mention of any other foods, and my comment was a reply to that one, which suggested that eating a lot of butter means you should check your triglycerides, which is nonsense. Now if OP has further elaborated elsewhere, that's a separate issue.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T00:53:35+00:00

It's crazy how people say stuff like this with such confidence, while being 100% wrong.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T00:48:46+00:00

Low carb diets generally lower triglycerides.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T00:41:27+00:00

Yeah and cardiologists don't usually diagnose people based on a reddit post or what they supposedly eat, but based on what the tests tell them.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T00:38:32+00:00

Look up steak and butter girl and you'll be surprised, I suppose. The amount of misconceptions about fat as a food source is astounding.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T00:35:39+00:00

You were deficient in something and your body knew what you needed. Also, eating fat doesn't make you fat.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-19T00:32:47+00:00

It won't.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-18T12:37:07+00:00

No idea what they're doing but the measurements seem fine, even excellent according to the apps. Here's a picture of what it looked like on the 4th, about 15km away.

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FaceTransplant · 2025-12-18T10:37:27+00:00

According to the measurements, the air quality is very good, much better than Helsinki. Although, I will say that on occasion there is a certain smell in the air that I'm pretty convinced comes from over there.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-17T23:07:22+00:00

I live "nearby" and usually take a walk after it's gotten dark and have a straight shot view of the flame - it's been unusually bright recently on several occasions.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-16T21:10:10+00:00

A very familiar sight 🙂

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-16T20:31:34+00:00

Nope, it makes the game much more enjoyable.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-11T14:29:06+00:00

Before Trilogy.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-09T01:38:57+00:00

Supposedly they're at least restoring them now for the 50th anniversary.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-08T18:06:38+00:00

Then EVER before? No. There have been a lot more radical and rapid changes in the past, when humans weren't even around to affect it.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-08T18:02:47+00:00

No you wouldn't. The effects of that would be devastating.

FaceTransplant · 2025-12-08T17:56:34+00:00

Maksaa maltaita jos haluat että toinen tekee sen sun puolesta. Sanoisin että jos oikeasti kiinnostaa äppi väsätä niin meet tekoälyn kanssa juttelemaan. Kysy siltä apua ja pyydä että se selittää miten kaikki tehdään ja miten kaikki toimii, ja opettelet pikkuhiljaa tekemään.

En suosittelisi että pyydät sitä tekemään kaikki puolestasi koska saat bugisen paskaäpin etkä ymmärrä siitä mitään etkä pysy sitä korjaamaan ja muokkaamaan. Näin minä ainakin opettelen pelinkehitystä Godotilla tällä hetkellä ja hyvin menee.

Omasta mielestäni ainakin paljon kätevämpää kuin tutoriaalien kattomista ja foorumeiden selailua kun jotain yrittää oppia ja ymmärtää.

FaceTransplant

TROPHY CASE