A big problem with a lot of the games I download is this- the game starts out too hard! Simply put, this is the number one easiest way to throw off a gamer new to your game. If they die a few times too early, they won't want to continue!

What, you say? Your early levels ARE easy? 99% of the time the game creator will make the early levels too hard without knowing it. Why? Because they've played the game SO MUCH! This makes what would be a hard level actually quite easy to them.

How to fix? EASY! Make the first few levels RIDICULOUSLY EASY! Require the player to use the character's abilities, but make dying almost not an option.

Also it's a good idea to release a demo of the first few levels or have some friends try your game. This is a fast and easy way to get feedback on the difficulty of your levels.

Once the gamer is through the first few levels THEN tone it up a bit. A BIT. Now that they've learned a few things about the game and feel a slight sense of accomplishment, throw some challenge their way.

Of course at the end the player will feel they've gotten quite far, so make the very last levels super difficult. Make sure, also, to have a save or password system. Odds are if they DO stop playing, they'll come back later and try again. At this point they really feel that they've gotten far enough that just leaving the game alone would be stupid.

Also note- limited lives aren't so great! People think it's so cliche that it must be in their game, but that's not true! After getting a Game Over MANY MANY people won't feel like trying again! Limited lives are for arcade games where they need to limit your time. What was the last game you played where there were limited lives? Just make people restart the level!

Checkpoints aren't too hard to implement and people love them! I've played several games that were RUINED because I had to restart the entire level when I died. I'm not saying every game needs them, but they spur the player on to complete the level and lower their frustration.

There you go! I hope people listen to this! Most klik games I've only played the first one or two levels simply because they were too hard, lacked checkpoints, or in those that I got to later levels I was rubberbanded back by Game Overs.

Good luck!

-The Klik Factory