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MAKING BOSS BATTLES INTERESTING
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Ralphrius
14
Ralphrius
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CloseAs the topic implies, I'm kinda curious about how you guys make bossfights interesting. I'm pretty sure most of you will agree that a game in which every boss is just a heavy hitter damage sponge does not substitute fun. I'd like to hear how people make their bosses fun!
As for me, there's been an idea I've been juggling with. I've started making a game about a week ago, and one of the things I want to do is make the gameplay varied. Think lots of small plot-related minigames, just to try and break the threat of a mundane "talk to people in village and go into a dungeon with random encounters"-cycle.
One of the ideas I had for this were bossfight intermissions. Essentially, as you're busy fighting a typical RPG boss turn based, once you hit, for example, an HP threshold or a certain amount of turns, the battle would end prematurely, and players would be able to enter a short small minigame. With quick thinking, they can win this, allowing the players to gain extra benefits, or get a penalty with losses, after which the fight would resume.
For example. The first boss in the game is a giant bird that is perched on a nest at the top of a mountain. After a certain amount of turns, the battle will end, and the bird will fly up and flap its wings heavily, charging up for a wind attack. At this point, the player will get the opportunity to shoot at the bird's wings with his magic scepter. Doing so will not only negate the wind attack, but will cause the bird to crash down to the ground and deal extra damage.
Later on, as you get more characters, there would possibly be special intermissions for bossfights depending of the characters in your party at that time. For example, an AI-controlled tank could be digitally sent haywire by a hacker character, or a marksman character could break down one of its turrets.
As for me, there's been an idea I've been juggling with. I've started making a game about a week ago, and one of the things I want to do is make the gameplay varied. Think lots of small plot-related minigames, just to try and break the threat of a mundane "talk to people in village and go into a dungeon with random encounters"-cycle.
One of the ideas I had for this were bossfight intermissions. Essentially, as you're busy fighting a typical RPG boss turn based, once you hit, for example, an HP threshold or a certain amount of turns, the battle would end prematurely, and players would be able to enter a short small minigame. With quick thinking, they can win this, allowing the players to gain extra benefits, or get a penalty with losses, after which the fight would resume.
For example. The first boss in the game is a giant bird that is perched on a nest at the top of a mountain. After a certain amount of turns, the battle will end, and the bird will fly up and flap its wings heavily, charging up for a wind attack. At this point, the player will get the opportunity to shoot at the bird's wings with his magic scepter. Doing so will not only negate the wind attack, but will cause the bird to crash down to the ground and deal extra damage.
Later on, as you get more characters, there would possibly be special intermissions for bossfights depending of the characters in your party at that time. For example, an AI-controlled tank could be digitally sent haywire by a hacker character, or a marksman character could break down one of its turrets.
Avee
5794
I think there are two ways you could do that:
-A classic QTE (Quick Time Event), where a meaningful moment of the battle is emphasized by a more cinematic look and a change in the gameplay (reaction-based inputs are the norm).
-Don't make any change to the gameplay. Instead, create new selectable targets (the wings of that bird) that will simply cancel its flap attack when damaged. You could also give clues to the player before or during the battle. That way there won't be a break in the momentum and continuity of the fight.
In any case, RPG boss battles are usually fun when they require the players to devise a strategy based on the knowledge they previously gathered while fighting other enemies or upgrading their party, etc.
-A classic QTE (Quick Time Event), where a meaningful moment of the battle is emphasized by a more cinematic look and a change in the gameplay (reaction-based inputs are the norm).
-Don't make any change to the gameplay. Instead, create new selectable targets (the wings of that bird) that will simply cancel its flap attack when damaged. You could also give clues to the player before or during the battle. That way there won't be a break in the momentum and continuity of the fight.
In any case, RPG boss battles are usually fun when they require the players to devise a strategy based on the knowledge they previously gathered while fighting other enemies or upgrading their party, etc.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Obligatory links:
- I wrote an article about the setup and planning that surrounds a boss.
- I wrote another article about the skills and tactics that a boss uses against the player.
- This thread is permanently open for requests! I will design a boss for you! You might imagine that you are inconveniencing me somehow by posting in it, but what you're actually doing is letting me skip straight my favorite part of game design, without having to wade through crap like graphics and pacing and worldbuilding that I enjoy far less.
One of the main things I try to do is create tension between multiple situations that are going on. Make three or four different things the boss is doing that the player has to respond to - and then don't always give them enough time to cleanly respond to all those things, so they have to prioritize. Like a boss that repeatedly summons three types of minions that can interact with each-other - one type that attacks, one that heals, and one that grants an invulnerability buff. Dealing with these one at a time is a nice simple combat puzzle, but having the battle gradually ramp up to where the player has to deal with them all at once (while still finding time to damage the boss and stay alive and not run out of MP) is better. You want to make a puzzle that the player has to figure out... but then even once they do, you don't want every action from the time they figure it out until the end of the battle to be totally predetermined. You want them to keep having to make decisions, and tension between different things going on is how you do that.
- I wrote an article about the setup and planning that surrounds a boss.
- I wrote another article about the skills and tactics that a boss uses against the player.
- This thread is permanently open for requests! I will design a boss for you! You might imagine that you are inconveniencing me somehow by posting in it, but what you're actually doing is letting me skip straight my favorite part of game design, without having to wade through crap like graphics and pacing and worldbuilding that I enjoy far less.
One of the main things I try to do is create tension between multiple situations that are going on. Make three or four different things the boss is doing that the player has to respond to - and then don't always give them enough time to cleanly respond to all those things, so they have to prioritize. Like a boss that repeatedly summons three types of minions that can interact with each-other - one type that attacks, one that heals, and one that grants an invulnerability buff. Dealing with these one at a time is a nice simple combat puzzle, but having the battle gradually ramp up to where the player has to deal with them all at once (while still finding time to damage the boss and stay alive and not run out of MP) is better. You want to make a puzzle that the player has to figure out... but then even once they do, you don't want every action from the time they figure it out until the end of the battle to be totally predetermined. You want them to keep having to make decisions, and tension between different things going on is how you do that.
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