Devlog 6 - Creating the Final Boss: The Dev!

Hello Everyone!

I'm Isiah, one of the programmers on our game Script Scrapper. My primary roles have included designing and programming the final boss fight as well as developing puzzle mechanics throughout the game.

For my final game project, I designed and coded a multi-phase boss encounter that serves as the climax of the player's journey. I'll walk through the concept, design process, technical challenges, and key lessons I learned along the way.

Concept and Initial Ideas

During our early meetings, the team agreed we wanted a memorable boss fight at the end of the game. At first, I was hesitant- I'd just finished a Metroid-Vania project where I coded a boss fight solo, and I wasn't sure I wanted to dive back into that again. But everything changes when I saw a piece of concept art drawn by one of our programmers, Caleb. It immediately sparked my interest. The visual storytelling potential was huge, and I knew I wanted to be the one to bring this boss to life.

Narrative Direction for the Boss

Our game follows a character who becomes trapped inside a half-developed game that was eventually abandoned by its developer. After discovering the true potential of the world, the player sets out to prove that the game is worth finishing. To reflect that story arc we decided the final boss should be a physical manifestation of the developer- a godlike figure who controls the game world and pushes back against the player's growth. The fight represents the culmination of everything the player has learned, and we wanted it to feel, chaotic, personal, and challenging.

Design Philosophy

My goal was to create a boss that:

• Felt challenging but fair, especially to more experienced hack-and-slash players.
• Acted as a supporting force to regular enemies, rather than stealing the whole spotlight
• Encouraged adaptation and quick thinking, much like the rest of the game.

The boss taunts the player from a distance, launching a barrage of elemental attacks while protected by a shield. The player must break through that shield to make the boss vulnerable, after which the boss teleports away and changes elemental states-cycling through lightning, fire, and water.

Boss Fight Loop

• The boss begins with a shield that protects them from being damaged while available, and launches attacks periodically
• Player attacks the shield to temporarily break it and making the boss vulnerable, using the elemental state that directly counters the boss's current state deals extra damage to the boss
• Boss takes damage, then will attempt to teleport to a new location
• After teleporting, and below a certain health threshold, the boss will switch elemental states, and unlocks new attack patterns,
• The final phase of the fight will combine all elemental attacks for combination attacks and issue a chaotic finish for the player.

Current Look of the Boss In Game

Elemental Phases and Attacks

Each elemental state brings new challenges, keeping players on their toes, and waiting in anticipation to see what the boss will unleash next. Forcing them to stay on their toes and stay mobile.

Look below for some visual showcases of the attacks I'm prototyping!

Lightning Phase

The boss targets the player's position with a lightning strike. A visual indicator appears under the player, giving them a brief window to dodge. After a short delay, a bolt crashes down (soon to be visualized with a flashy yellow spark). I'm also working on a shockwave attack that forces players to jump while still watching for incoming lighting-combining vertical mobility with spatial awareness.

Fire Phase

The Fire Pillars are fast-moving objects that chase the player, encouraging constant movement. If a player stays inside the pillar too long, they'll take critical damage. I've tweaked the damage values to find a balance between threat and fairness. I'm still conceptualizing a secondary fire-based attack. Ironically, fire has been te most difficult element for me to design-definitely the one that has pushed me the hardest.

Water Phase

Designing water attacks was tricky. After brainstorming with teammates, I landed on a wave crash attack: large water waves rush towards the player with visual cues beforehand. Because our character is so fast and agile, the attack deals heavy damage, but with plenty of time to react. I'm still working out a secondary water move, and hope to reveal it in a future update.

Technical Challenges

Some of the biggest development hurdles I have faced when working on this boss included:

1. Syncing teleportation with animation states
2. Balancing gameplay to be fair to both the player and boss
3. Working with unity's animation events

I want every attack to be readable, reactive, and satisfying, and all of these issues have only made my passion for creating a fun experience more vivid.

Final Thoughts

This boss fight was easily the most ambitious system I've built yet. I've learned so much about designing attack patterns, creating fair mechanics, and how to tell a story through gameplay. I'm really proud of how far the fight has come. and I'm excited to see how players respond once we finalize the full game. Huge shoutout to my team for the amazing feedback and support. And once against props to Caleb for the concept art above it really is what kickstarted it all.