Devlog #4 - Final boss progress

The final boss of the game is quite a handful of work. I was already expecting that (see my last devlog post for details) but it was still surprising how long it's taking me! The only thing I've really achieved so far is to get initial versions of all attacks implemented into the game. But they're all pretty cool, so take a look!

Throwing arm attack

The basic idea behind the boss is that it's a big robot with deadly arms. The arms are the main way the robot attacks the player, and I can control both of them individually. So I made an attack where the arms are launched in the direction of the player. I had some trouble to get the homing of the arms work in a way that works and feels fair. The way I did it was to add a warning sign where the arm shakes and turns into the direction of the player, so the players know in advance that they need to dodge an arm.

This is currently also the attack that leaves the final boss most vulnerable. The boss can be damaged by jumping on it from the top or hitting its left or right side, just like every other platform in the game. (This does not yet work in all difficulty settings, but I'll fix that later.) That way, I barely have to program any logic regarding damaging the boss-- I just need to make sure it recovers to an inactivate state a few seconds afterwards.

Flail attack

The boss swings its arms around itself while moving in the direction of the player. Very simple and effective. Since the boss moves quite fast, this is the perfect attack to wall jump upwards to dodge the attack and then fall down to hit the boss on its head. Very hard to dodge if you're close to it, so once you see the arms start moving slowly, prepare to run away.

Once the boss is hit, it will recoil by doing a variation of this attack while standing still. The arms will also rotate into a slightly different direction. This forces the player to retreat, after which the boss will fully recover and can be damaged again.

Jump attack

The bot flips up in the air (diagonally, targeting the player if possible), hangs there, shakes, and falls down. It will keep his arms above his head, so if players happen to be below the bot when it falls down, they'll be crushed instantly.

So what's next?

I'm actually quite happy about these attacks. Currently, I need to make these attacks feel fair and leave good weak spots on the final boss. Then, I'll implement health for the boss, and maybe a final state. This is what I was thinking of in regards to the final phase (a very quick prototype, please don't mind the inaccuracies):

But I still have to see it that actually makes it into the game...

Other stuff

I made a logo for the Star Fix, making a rather literal representation of the companies' name, and animated it like a shady neon sign.

Also, Unidrax (who helps building levels and the spaceships from time to time) found a sprite for a toast NPC I made a while back as a joke, and turned it into a playable character!

That's it for today.