Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
The last thing to do for this floor is to reveal the encounter list (Figure
13-10
).
Figure 13-10.
A screenshot of the encounter list for the second floor of the Devil's Castle
The general idea behind my encounter lists for this dungeon is that the player will have a greater chance
of encountering harder enemies the farther away he/she gets from the entrance. This ramps up the tension in
anticipation of the fated encounter with the final boss.
The Third Floor
While the first two floors of the Devil's Castle are fairly plain (in terms of layout, at least), the third floor is rather
interesting. There's a dead-end area in the southwestern corner of the floor, as well as a large open space near the
center that is most likely intended to be a treasure room. Given that I plan to have the final boss on the next floor, it is
appropriate that we honor one of the most classic RPG conventions on this one. Let's have a boss rush!
A Boss Rush Overview
In some RPGs (and games of other genres, for that matter), the push toward the final boss is punctuated by having
to re-fight all of the bosses that were previously battled. In our game, the player only has to fight two bosses (Gemini,
at the Dark Cave, and the Demon, at the Dark Spire), so our boss rush will be two enemies long. You could loosely
classify boss rushes into two broad categories.
1.
Consecutive boss rush
. The player has to fight each of the bosses without having a chance
to recuperate, rest, or otherwise replenish his/her resources.
2.
Nonconsecutive boss rush
. The player gets a chance to restore him-/herself after each of
the individual boss fights.
We'll be making a boss rush of the second type.
