PAR/TARGET SCORES
Designer-set benchmark scores attached to each level — par times, target scores, medal thresholds (bronze/silver/gold) — that define graded success beyond mere completion.
- SOLO-DEV COST LOW
- TIMING REAL-TIME / TURN
- COMMON IN RACING · PUZZLE · PLATFORMER · SPEEDRUN
Golf gave the vocabulary; Trackmania's medal times structure its entire progression (author medals as the developer's own gauntlet), Hitman's silent-assassin rating is a par expressed as constraints, puzzle games like Opus Magnum set par on three axes (cost, cycles, area) with histograms showing where you fall, and N++ and countless platformers run gold-time economies. Designers set pars because completion is a floor, not a measure: a par converts every finished level into an open question — 'done' becomes 'done, but the gold time says otherwise' — which multiplies content lifespan without new levels and communicates the designer's judgment of what excellence here looks like. Tiered medals then serve every skill band simultaneously: bronze welcomes, gold challenges, author/developer medals taunt. Opus Magnum's histogram innovation replaces the designer's bar with the population's curve, making par social. Key decisions: how pars are derived (developer best runs, playtest percentiles, or solver-verified optima — inconsistent par difficulty across levels is the genre's chronic complaint), what medals gate (content unlocks force engagement; cosmetic pride keeps it optional), and whether par comparisons are private or leaderboard-public. Pitfall: pars that reveal the intended solution — when beating par is only possible via the designer's one clever route, the target stops rewarding optimization creativity and becomes an obedience test; good pars leave room for players to find lines the designer never saw.
SEEN IN
- TRACKMANIA
- OPUS MAGNUM
- HITMAN 3