Flying Lab Software has posted a devlog detailing the design process behind Fortaleza da Luz mission in Pirates of the Burning sea.

Once the mission had reached a certain state (the state where we can show it to people and not be embarrassed), we started in on the testing of the mission. Major changes often come about in response to feedback from other developers, and from players. Luckily for us, this was the point at which our experience making Bey’s Retreat paid off.

An important reality of game content, and on-line game content in particular, is that it “ages”. This means that any encounter we can make gets easier with time, simply by virtue of being played. Players that are daunted by content the first time they see it find it extremely easy the fifth time they play through it, and that’s if they ignore strategy commentary being spread via the internet or by word of mouth. Our response to this is to have three people playing Bey’s Retreat or Fortaleza da Luz daily (literally every day for at least a month) with the remaining members of the group coming from a pool of people who haven’t seen the content nearly as much, if ever. This way the three people who see it every day get to see the mission age in fast-motion, while the other members of the group provide fresh perspective.

Read more here.