4th blog post of 10 Week Project – Designing The End Game Boss

Since the beta is next week, we have tried to finish the design of the end game boss.

The enemies of the game are made of three elemental types and it was decided that the boss would possess all of these elements. What element she is currently using will be shown by changing the color of the sprite and by having different projectiles/attacks for each element. The visual representation of our boss will be somewhat like the lost souls but wearing a mask. Our artists already have a lot of work to do and the reason why we chose this simple design is that it would not take too much time to draw and animate.

A quick sketch of design ideas for the boss made on a whiteboard. And yes, we do call her Gunilla.

The attacks for the elements are inspired by the attacks and behaviors of our three elemental enemies. This way, the player can beat the boss using her/his experience of the earlier stages of the game. The player will also know about the rock paper scissors-system of our elements, fire is strong against wood, wood against water and water against fire.

The boss’ fire attack will have a medium range, just like our fire enemies, and the attack will be several projectiles moving towards the player in a formation that will be possible to avoid. The reason why there will be several projectiles is that our fire enemies often come in groups.

The water attack will have a long range; the boss can hit the player even if she’s on the other side of the play area. The water enemies are able to shoot at a diagonal angle, thus the boss’ can do the same when using the water element. All enemy water projectiles will be round, so that we do not have to draw several water projectiles going different directions.

The final element, wood, will have a short range. The wood enemies do not shoot at the player, instead they use melee attacks.  This is why the boss’ wood attack will also be melee.

When you encounter the end game boss, her health bar will be added to the HUD. The health bar will tell the player how much health the boss has left, because not knowing how long you have to fight a boss or not knowing how close you are to winning can be frustrating. The health bar does not necessarily have to be a bar, as that would not match the game’s art style.

At first, the boss will randomly switch between the three elements to attack the player. However, when she has lost 50% of her health, she will check the player’s currently chosen element and then switch into the stronger one. The boss’ speed will also be slightly increased. Before the boss switches elements, the player will have to use a certain element for a couple of seconds without changing, and when the boss has switched, it will keep using that element for a certain amount of time.