Power Ups and How Long Should They Last?

Objective: To simply discuss Power-Ups and how long they should last…

What’s a game without power-ups? Power-Ups can give our players a slight advantage to advance in a game or utterly destroy our foes. It makes us feel excited to get that power-up boost! We all have that favorite game that has our favorite power-up. You look forward to seeing it drop, poop, or roll down the screen and nothing is going to stop us from getting it!

The real question is how long should they last. I’m sure there is some deep AI analytics with a deep profound answer but I simply think it, well, depends. It depends on the type of game, and where you are in the level. Are you on a boss level/ fight? Are you just starting the level out? Does the game have a game manager that learns if you’re sucking or not and decides to give you a little edge? It really just depends.

I don’t think there is a definitive answer and the game designers probably spent many hours figuring out just the right amount of time for each power-up. That’s it, just food for thought.