Archive: 5 posts

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I'm creating a boss fight for my versus level. One of the methods for killing other players or A.I. bots is to push them out of the play area and into the lava below. The boss won't be insta-killed by falling in: instead he'll jump back out and be on fire temporarily. I'm planning on giving him a grappling hook which will save him if he doesn't get thrown too far (have to build it myself since sackbots can't use them ). The grappling hook will have a randomiser attached to it, so the boss has a certain % chance of saving himself from a fall or going in, taking damage, and emerging on fire. I'm considering requiring the player to wear down his health and then, when he's ready to be killed, the player must force him into the lava. Ring-outs aren't guaranteed: if an enemy is running toward you and you execute a push, they usually don't get pushed very far because the push has to overcome their momentum, and, even if he is pushed off, he has a chance of surviving by successfully using his grapple hook or by landing on one of the moving bounce pad platforms instead of in the lava. In short, while pushing is very possible and there are techniques where it works nearly perfectly, it presents an extra challenge. My question is: is this a good idea? It's not super difficult to ring out A.I. bots in my level, but it can sometimes be pretty challenging if you don't catch them off guard, and it presents an opportunity for another player to steal the kill from a distance, which might be frustrating (and he has a chance of saving himself from falling, unlike other opponents, which might make it even more frustrating). Also, if it's a good idea, what sort of visual cues can I use to indicate that the boss can only be killed in lava, since all other opponents will be killable by other attacks? I don't want to stop the action to spell it out: "You have to push the boss into the lava to kill him!"; but I need some way to let players know so they don't get frustrated at the seemingly immortal boss.

2013-04-02 12:55:00 Author: Sehven Posts: 2188

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bosses can be very tricky to pull off, many things people forget that you are seeing could be an issue is how , or why , or what am i supposed to do? haa. sooo im not sure about your lvl and how it plays if theirs story. but on my boss level i noticed the same i was like how am i gonna have the player know how or when to attack. well cutscenes work well. i introduced the boss with visuals that camera will be on him when he says something and then the cam will go to the place of attack, quickly and not for long. another way is if you have story in the level, is maybe you see a traveler, and he says something like beware of the boss, he is very powerful, and some say it might be true if you attack his blah blah . or sign may help. and if your not going that crazy .your last resort is just some fancy lighting or arrows indicating . good luck

2013-04-02 20:44:00 Author: pj15 Posts: 164

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There might be a short cutscene when the boss first shows up and he'll definitely get one when he dies, but I really don't want to just stop the action and have him say, "You may have weakened me, but you will never be able to kill me by pushing me into the lava!" I'm really trying to avoid immersion breaking things. I don't want to stop the action to try to explain things and I'm avoiding having floating health bars (health is indicated by characters flashing red when injured, and the boss will have a red flashing that gets brighter as he takes more damage and starts flashing really fast when he becames killable) and any other sort of obvious signs. There's no story: it's just a straight up arena battler with bots added in (this is a sequel to my Jedi Arts level (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=78803-Sequel-to-Jedi-Arts) where bots show up if there are only one or two players and there's a boss fight at the end. I'm following the same formula but improving the gameplay, level design, etc.) The thing is, we may not always realize it, but gamers don't tend to like things that take us away from the action. Having a long intro or tutorial that can't be skipped at the beginning of a level, stopping the action to explain things, or having enemies with inscrutable weaknesses are the kind of things that cause players to quit your level without finishing and/or not come back for replays, especially in LBP where people play community levels 'cuz they're looking to quickly jump into something fun and awesome.

2013-04-02 21:55:00 Author: Sehven Posts: 2188

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I see no reason why it wouldn't be a good idea. After all, technically it's not much different from a multi-stage boss where the boss becomes invulnerable to the attack that worked in the previous stage. As for visual clues, I can come up with these approaches: Show that he treats damage differently from regular enemies, with different sparks and sounds for example. Or maybe he visibly regenerates his regular wounds (the flashing slows down again), but not the lava damage. Emphasize that you're in a new "stage" and expect a new approach from the player. For example, start giving the boss a brief stunned/prone animation after a successful but ineffectual attack to send a signal that something's different: he's vulnerable for a kill now. On top of that, the inactive aspect of the stun promotes action from the player.

2013-04-02 22:16:00 Author: Rogar Posts: 2284

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technically it's not much different from a multi-stage boss where the boss becomes invulnerable to the attack that worked in the previous stage Yeah, but I don't generally like those kind of fights. Emphasize that you're in a new "stage" and expect a new approach from the player. For example, start giving the boss a brief stunned/prone animation after a successful but ineffectual attack to send a signal that something's different: he's vulnerable for a kill now. On top of that, the inactive aspect of the stun promotes action from the player. That might work pretty well! And while he's stunned, he'll be especially vulnerable being pushed out of the level. Right now, the player and A.I. bots have a sort of stunned animation where they make a noise, pop up into the air a bit and a follower set to flee moves them away from the attacking player a bit. I didn't give the boss one of those, 'cuz he's tough, but I could rig one of those for when he's vulnerable to lava death and double the speed of the flashing light. That should be enough to let players know that something is different, and the force push will so fun and useful that it won't take long for them to try it on him. I'll just have to get it built and then get some guinea pigs to try the level and see if they figure out the pushing thing. I think I'll also disable his ability to grapple his way back up when he's ready to die: if a player tries to push him while he's stunned and he manages a "saving throw" and pulls himself back up, they might become discouraged from trying that tactic again.

2013-04-03 00:48:00 Author: Sehven Posts: 2188

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