this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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Maybe the article is being vague but stuff like this really doesn't seem like it should be patented. Especially considering I'm pretty sure I've seen this done in games before. The simplest being Mario games giving you invincibility in a level after you die a set amount of times. Or I think A Hat in Time would shorten certain boss battle segments after you completed them already.
The implementation here would need to be really new and impressive to justify this being a patent. And I'm guessing it won't be, assuming they ever actually do something with it.
There are examples of subtle difficulty shifts too, such as RE4. The game will spawn more/less enemies and change drop rates based on player performance.
See also, Left 4 Dead's "Director" system. https://left4dead.fandom.com/wiki/The_Director Pretty sute that qualifies as prior art.
I thought Max Payne had adaptive difficulty like two decades ago.
Minecraft gets more difficult over time too, the longer you stay in the same area
And also "will you snail"
Reminds me of some other cool game mechanics that have been patented/copyrighted leading to games as a whole losing out on fantastic ideas. The nemesis system from the Shadow of Mordor games / loading screen minigames come to mind.
They will have a very difficult time with prior art, especially given there's been literal articles about L4D's dynamic difficulty adjustments to pace the game with the 'director.'
There's a number of games with dynamic difficulty adjustments, so the scope for this to be successfully defended would need to be quite narrow.
Or even more in your face directly from nintendo: in mario kart (like all of them) you get a banana or green shell if you're in 1st and things like blue shells and flying chain chomps if you're in last. The worse you do, the better your items get.