Game Design: “Shadows on Deck” - The Game Maker's Companion: Game Development - page 174

The monsters we will encounter are of course the skeleton pirates, but lots of different ones
can be introduced, depending on the level they are in. When coming up with these, it is a great
help to already know which environment we will find them in. So, for instance, up in the masts of
the ship, we could add some diving sea gulls with sharp beaks; in the dark cave, there should be
bats and poisonous glow worms; in the hold of the ship, we could find crabs, rats, and even
snapping barnacles. We should have several kinds of behaviors, too, so some patrol and will
chase Flynn, some will stand and block the way, and some will pop out as a surprise and try to
grab Flynn.

Figure 7-5. Why are pirates cool? Because they arrrr!

Monster and Hazard Rules
•

Wandering monsters . The player has to deal with these when they're blocking the
path and can otherwise be avoided. See Figure 7-5 for a first sketch.

• Wandering beasts. These are smaller than the humanoid baddies. They will die from a

smaller fall, but have just as sharp weapons; rats with teeth, crabs with pincers, and so
on. The player can also outwit or avoid them.

• Stationary monsters. These are actually small hazards such as seagulls and bats that

dive from the sky. They will only attack at one spot, so that the player can avoid them
with a bit of timing. Let's add spiders to this category. They can go up and down on
strings. Poisonous glow worms in the caves can pop out of holes in the ground.

• Traps. These are stationary hazards, which won't move but that the player should

avoid. The hidden ones will act with a bit of a delay, so you step on them, then a
warning sound will indicate something is happening, and then SNAP. These can be
meat-eating plants, poisonous arrows, bear traps, and so on (Figure 7-6). We can use
quicksand, too. If the player pauses on a spot with sand, Flynn will slowly start to sink.
He can move past these hidden traps, including the quicksand, if he keeps up a good
speed. As mentioned earlier, these traps can also be used to defeat monsters.