Boss Arena Decision and early Creation

For a long time, since near the beginning of the project, we knew that we were going to have a bird boss, though whether it was on top of a bell tower, it had a nest, sunlight hurt it, the arena was enclosed, it could fly and other things where still undecided. 

I started making some sketches and thinking of ideas for the boss fight. We wanted to have a circle arena, and I though of using climbing and fire in some way, or an alternative. I also considered using catapults, both for items and the player, and using switches.

The design of the left involves climbing up around the side, which heights are portrayed at the bottom, and stand up opposite the flame, and then use the flame to make the bird scared and angry so that it rams the wall underneath you, eventually making itself dizzy and being open to the bell drop.

The section in the middle I tried to make 3 different options to climb up to the top, I like the idea of climbing but I wasn't too happy with this sketch.

The boss arena of the right is quite complicated, it involves using fire to change where the bird stands, getting into a catapult, waiting for the bird to tread on the release switch which launches you up to a platform, where you can flip a switch, once the switch at the bottom and a switch at the side has been activated, you can anger the bird, get it to make itself dizzy and drop the bell on it. I liked some of the aspects of this idea, such as the catapult as it felt fun and pretty crazy.

Them top design here was all switch based, using fire to get the bird to ram different walls which are switches, activating different platforms to climb up, annoy the bird and drop the bell on it. I also thought that in the same area the bird can at first be swooping at you, and you need to take it down with the grappling hook. 

This is a potential second level with fireball catapults that you can fire at the bird.

However I do not have a scan of what we decided to take forward for the boss, and these drawings, for the moment, have become redundant. We needed to decide what the bird boss was going to be, and of course I put forward my sketches, however through discussion and for the most part ignoring my ideas, each of the three stages of the bird boss was decided, of course I voiced my likes and concerns about each aspect but that didn't stop them from being green lit by the lead designer. I did get to steer the discussion in some ways, for example I wanted to drop a giant bell of the giant bird, and that still happens.

Where these bad ideas? No, otherwise I would have been very concerned, though it was strange to me that the boss was designed and green lit so quickly with such minimal input from me, the lead game play designer. 

The first stage would see the player climbing up to the top of the bell tower roof, avoiding the swoops of the bird, until the bird crashes or the main character grabs the spike right at the top and tries t take the bird out with it, causing the roof to collapse. 

The second stage puts the player in the bird's nest, the player must use the eggs to hide from the vicious bird attacks, and use hiding or some kind of distraction as a way of sneaking past the bird to then climb up some rubble and cut the rope of the bell, causing the bird to try to ram you, fall over and get hit by the bell, making the floor collapse. I cannot remember if the distraction was my idea but using an egg for it was.

Lastly the player would be surrounded by rubble that they can use their grappling hook on, they have to use the rubble to create a rope that the bird can trip over, however they first have to distract the bird (my idea, I think) and dodge out the way, then finally injure the bird. Once they do this 3 times they win. This section has a much faster pace and more thought on the side of the player than the other sections. we had the decision about tripping the bird up, but in terms of how we do that I decided that it needed to be distracted, a part of my earlier designs that carried over.

Once the ideas where in place, it was still up to me to create the boss and make it fun. Through this I though about what the player would have to do and the player's though process, both the conscious and subconscious.  I used whatever room for maneuver was left in this stage after the initial design in order to get something as enjoyable and true to the original design as I could.

At this early stage, I am left with a block that moves as the bird should, with the final two areas of the fight coded in and working, with a few bugs.

I learnt a few things from this early designing. I've heard that game designers need to be prepared to throw away their ideas, and although I have done this myself in the past, this is the first time it really caught me by surprise and it gave me a new challenge.

I was still involved in the design process, so I do feel like I was needed for this, but it more taught me that the lead game play designer isn't always the only one, though here I do feel as though the balance was off.

In hind sight, there are a few ideas I had that got carried across or that I thought we should have so they ended up being implemented, so my early design definitely weren't wasted, but decisions about changes still felt a bit strange and quickly made.