Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Cerulean Games has worked on games with boss battles, and its author has
personally programmed a number of these encounters. Boss battles should be
looked at like a unique mini game—they will typically require a decent amount
of unique code and a lot of focused testing to ensure accuracy and stability.
The first thing we should think about is what the boss battle will do, how it will
challenge the player, and how it will progress. For our example game, we are going
to have a rather simple boss. The king—as he shall be dubbed—will fall from the sky
on to a platform, dance around allowing the player to hit him, and then jump across
to fall and land on another platform. When the king has taken enough hits, he will
be defeated.
Many boss battles act as a form of puzzle. In World of Warcraft,
Blizzard went to great trouble to make sure their epic raid battles
incorporated strategies, alternate methods, and fun events. Planning
all of that in advance is key to a good boss battle. Of course, video
games are iterative, so chances are you can't plan everything in
advance. So, if you are going to build a very involved boss encounter,
build it up in pieces. Do whatever you can to avoid a scenario where
you are adding loads of features, otherwise the boss can lose its fun
and you might miss your deadline!
Let's also determine what the boss should look like. Based on our evil red
tanks, let's make him a big metal beast with a similar art style, as shown in the
following image:
