Hello everyone, this is my first post in this forum, so I want to apologize in advance for any mistake I might make and, please, tell me if I break any rule or say something wrong.

I am making my first game, i'm not a professional game designer yet but i am studying to become one. I am making this game to improve my skills and knowledge, so i will appreciate any kind of suggestion and constructive criticism from this community.

The game is a hybrid of a runner and a platform (the main character moves forward on its own, the user can make it jump or attack, collect coins, defeat enemies etc. The game is subdivided in worlds, each one made of 8 levels plus a boss level).

Now that i've introduced my game, let's come to the point. I have a set of 5 regular enemies (plus their upgraded, stronger forms) so far and i am trying to figure out when i should introduce them.

I believe that introducing all of them in the first 5/6 level could be wrong, this might undermine the diversity between levels through the whole game and ruin the surprise of discovering new enemies. But i am afraid that, with a small number of enemies in the first level, players might get bored quickly with a game that appears too banal at first and give it up before it gets a chance to become interesting.

Thanks for your attention. Ask me if you want to know more details.

5 different enemies over 5 or more levels isn't that much to most players, and you mentioned stronger versions to fill up the later level.

Specifically for diversity, you could make each world work in it's own way, for example a fire-world where all enemies can shoot fireballs or something.

There's an article about this on the front page: http://www.gamedev.net/page/resources/_/creative/game-design/the-art-of-enemy-design-in-zelda-a-link-to-the-past-r4147

(full disclosure: I wrote it).

That being said, notice the practical steps at the end. I will assume that your enemies are functionally different and that some of them have synergy.

If this is the case, don't look at them as 5 enemies, but 5 ingredients to many recipes.

It could be that 1 alone is an easy challenge, and 2 is a bit of a harder challenge, and 3 is even more complex, but 4 is actually fairly easy on his own.

Then, 1+4 is near impossible to beat, 2+3 is fun to play with, and 2+4 actually work against one another and make it easier in a way.

I haven't seen your game, but I'm assuming that if enemies are well designed, the above is possible (as per examples in the article).

Thank you guys, that really helps.
I understand that it's not wrong to introduce many enemies in a few levels.

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you could make each world work in it's own way, for example a fire-world where all enemies can shoot fireballs or something.

That's a pretty good idea, i don't know if the kind of worlds i want to create will allow me to do that, but i'll keep that in mind and see if i have a chance to do that.

Thank you Orymus, i'll focus more on synergy, i believe that that's what makes this kind of game truly fun and interesting. And that was a great article, i have so much to learn, and that thaught me a lot.