Boss Enemy
The Boss is the Hardest enemy design among the other enemies. This encounter tests the players quick reactions and adaptive strategies. The boss uses multiple attack in patterns accordingly with its action cooldown that define the difficulty of the boss.
Combat Behavior Pattern
Offensive moves:
Slash Attack 1
Slash Attack 2
Whirlwind Spin Attack
Arial Front Flip Spin Attack
Multi Projectile
Defensive Moves:
Dodge and Guard
Dodge and Counter Slash
Slash Attack 1:
The first attack of the boss is a 4-combo melee weapon slashes rotating towards the player and the last slash is a heavy attack that makes the player fly away if caught. This attack incentivizes the player to dodge side backwards.
Slash Attack 2:
The second attack of the boss is also a 4-combo melee weapon slashes where the last slash is a ground slam heavy attack that makes the player fly away if caught. This attack incentivizes the player to dodge side wa.
Boss randomly chooses one of the two slash attacks as the basic attacks.
In the animation montages, each of the attacks have controlled play rates to show the windup animation speed for the player to anticipate and feel the weight of each strike.
Whirlwind Spin Attack:
This is a heavy spin attack where the boss spins like a whirlwind with the axe extended. The boss does a windup animation letting the player react and be ready for dodging. This attack is strong and effective as it tracks the player location and curves towards the player movement forcing the player to perform a perfect dodge or maintain high amount of distance.
Boss spin attack moves in a straight line. The AOE Curve Profiler range sets the curve strength to make the boss track the player.
Arial Front Flip Spin Attack:
This is a single strike AOE attack where the boss jumps into the air and spins and comes crashing onto the player location. On the area of impact an aerial damage is caused and if the player is caught, the player takes severe damage and flies away. Similar to the spin attack, the player needs to anticipate and dodge at the right moment.
Boss launches in to the air when the spin attack montage starts. LaunchEnemyToPlayer function calculates the position of the player and launches the boss towards the player.
Multi Projectile:
The Boss launches a barrage of 5 projectiles in 3-4 sets in a cone. This attack incentives the player to destroy the projectiles or dodge the projectiles.
Boss randomly chooses 3 set or 4 set projectiles montage. Inside the montage at specific intervals the boss orients towards the player and shoots a set of 5 projectiles in a cone.
Defensive Moves:
When the boss takes 5 hits consecutively, the boss performs a backward dodge followed by a defensive action. This defensive action has a 10 second cooldown and this cooldown also effects the difficulty of the encounter. The boss may perform one of the 2 defensive moves - Counter Strike or Defensive Guard.
When Boss is in guard Stance, the player's light attacks will stagger the player. The player has to use heavy attacks to break the guard of the boss.
The Boss uses this counter defensive move where the boss slams the ground with the axe doing AOE damage and pushes further with a forward slash that make the player fly away. The player is incentivized to dodge backwards and maintain safe distance.
Boss Behavior Tree:
The boss actions are driven by the distance between the player and the boss.
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When the player is less than 400 Unreal units, the boss uses melee combo slash attacks.
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When the player is between the 400-700 unreal units, the boss might use the spin attack or the projectile attack. The projectiles attack has a 10 second cool down to make sure there is always a verity.
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When the player is more than 700 units, the boss will do the air spin attack to cover the distance at high speeds.
The boss has an aggression level variable that defines how often the boss is ready to take an action. When the boss is on action cooldown, the boss will chase the player if the player distance is high or will strafe around the player if player is in close range.