Monster Hideout
Mid-game boss encounter prototype, where the player uses a rock-paper-scissors based combat system to defeat a boss across 3 stages
Key Takeaways The importance of debugging tools
Sped up development of complex features - visualizing the A* algorithm allowed me to troubleshoot bad performance and in some cases no path being found at all
RolesTech Gameplay Designer
Feature Owner
EngineUnreal Engine 5.4
Team size6
Timeline3 weeks - Q3 2024
Ideation - 3 days
Prototyping - 2,5 weeks
Overview
Main challenges
Building a modular A* Pathfinding system that would enable a phase-transitioning chase sequence
Design & implementation highlights
Chase sequence using A* Pathfinding designed to get the player into a desired position without taking over control
Rock-paper-scissors based combat system designed to provide engaging gameplay and future scalability
Project
Project brief
Create a prototype for a mid-game boss encounter with at least 2 phases, balancing elements, elements of progression, scalable components and a boss that affects the arena in some way
Team goal
An encounter based on rock-paper-scissors type combat, that starts slowly with a stealth phase, followed by a chase phase that leads the player to the final arena that escalates to full on action.
Core gameplay loop
Gameplay design
Challenge Shift from open level to arena
The team wanted a variation in environment, by having the first phase would taking place in an open level and the last phase in an arena
Player location is unknown at the time of the transition
Player shouldn't wander in circles due to focusing on the wrong things, resulting in an extended phase
The solution had to make sense to the narrative to keep the immersion
Solution Chase sequence
Designed and implemented transitional phase using A* pathfinding, where all pathways are blocked, except for the ones leading to the arena and the player is chased by the boss
Guides the player to the arena without revoking control
Pallette cleanser between two combat phases - with a lower difficulty but higher intensity
Challenge Engaging, scalable combat
More to do than just point and shoot
Designed to be expandable with potential new features
Solution Rock-paper-scissors system
Designed and implemented a three-element based combat system, where the boss had an elemental state that was healed by the same element, damaged by another and unaffected by a third
Player has to keep track of boss state
New elements can be added and rebalanced with additional effects
New features can be added to use the existing elements in new ways
Design process
Feature Owner
Goals
Define a vision together with the team
Support ongoing work to ensure that we work towards a single vision and correct course when necessary - for example asking level designers to remove corridors leading to dead ends, to avoid player frustration from taking damage unfairly.
Experience over time
Visualization of how the player experience should evolve as the encounter progresses
Plan vs outcome
At the beginning of the project we planned for designing and implementing Phase 1-3, with the first phase leaning more into stealth and ramp up the intensity in the last phase.
As development progressed we realized two major things:
- The gameplay/tech team realized that developing proper stealth will take more time than we anticipated
- The level design/narrative team pointed out that we were dropping the player into a level with a boss without giving them a fair chance of getting to know the level and setting
The plan was adjusted by:
- Removing the stealth plans and instead treating Phase 1 purely as a combat onboarding phase with a slower boss
- Only spawning the boss once the player had interacted with four items spread out throughout the level. The four interactions would serve as a confirmation that they have visited all areas before initiating combat.
Gameplay vision
Our main tool for planning and communication was Miro - below are some of the ways I used it to communicate the vision.
Pre-phase Exploration
Give the player a chance to explore the level to get familiar with it before engaging the boss
Phase 1 Combat intro
Introduce the player to the combat and element mechanics
Phase 2 Chase
Guide the player to the arena where phase 3 takes place, and indicates that the boss is enraged
Phase 3 Final showdown
Increase difficulty and intensity by adding combat elements based on the ones introduced in phase 1