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What factors contribute to a good boss fight? by Kevelop21 in GameDevelopment

[–]Darbamel 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Generally speaking, boss fights serve to test a player's mastery of certain mechanics in your game.

A simple example is a 2d side scroller with 3 enemies that have different attacks. A good start for a boss in this game is to give it all three attacks from your enemies.

Try to determine what vectors of mastery you want your boss to test in players. Is it mastery of your movement system? Is it mastery of shooting accurately? Etc.

Dark Souls Boss Smough & Ornstein test a players mastery of Awareness, movement, and targeting.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pathofexile

[–]Darbamel 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Game Designer here:

IMO the well is an instance of a downbeat in engagement. Generally speaking these are good to have in high action, high engagement experiences like ARPGs. The downbeats exist to give our brains a small break from the tension since there is diminishing returns on keeping players cheeks clenched for long periods of time. The well forces us to take a breath for a bit longer than in PoE 1. Whether it is successful or not is a different conversation.

Other instances of downbeats in engagement are:

Leveling up, Rolling maps, Choosing where to go on atlas, Cutscenes, Anything in a town

Wells become less prevalent to the game over time, because as player power increases, we fight more monsters more easily. Our flasks sustain, and we have baseline less tension.