Following the release of Cuphead, I was curious to log my attempts at progressing through the game in order to determine a difficulty curve but also to factor in the distribution of gameplay variety and rewards throughout. This [progression spreadsheet] uses a metric of “attempts” to determine the challenge posed by a particular level when using identical settings.

This produces a number of curves which represent the macro and micro difficulty as well as the cumulative number of attempts made from the start. It also factors in the gameplay bricks and visual variety used throughout each level, whilst signifying timestamped progress of the overall progression and when upgrades or rewards were earned. Finally, it also compares the skill of an average player with a professional speed runner to identify the gameplay depth and amount of improvement that can be made with substantial investment.