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Single-Player Bossfights

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Well, some of you may know that I specialize in bossfights. However, most of the research and analysis I have done and put into my tutorial were involving multi-player bossfights. Single-player bossfights need to be approached in a different, more unique way. Human-interaction usually makes up a majority of the difficulty in multi-player bossfights, and since that cant be present in single-player ones, a new set of rules needs to be followed.

So, I am turning to you guys to think of creative ways or approaches to make a single-player bossfight more interesting. I have a few ideas in mind myself, but I want some more fresher opinions.

~Asomath
 
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mm, interesting thread it gonna be... since my RPG gonna have single player boss fights too...
 
Well, in single player bossfights its normally a half-hour long Hack-en-Slash Potion-Chugger, with the boss pounding you, and you are running around trying not to die. if you ask me there are several single player bossfights that I notice.
1: Hyperboss - Really tough slugfest with a boss that has potions and offensive abilities.
2: Armyboss - not really a boss, but a group, or horde of extremely powerful units, and they keep coming unless you can find somthing to blow up that stops em; from comin'
3: Summonboss - Weaker boss that sommons different minions to fight for him.
4: MORE LATER.
 
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The same thing. He is slow so you can avoid it, healer or not. I think healers need offensive spells anyway. And doesn't everybody like a bit of a challenge?

Yes, they do love it so. With melee fighters, such as warriors or assasins, what would be the best for them in that scenario? Perhaps an alternate way to do damage to the boss besides hitting him directly, or finding a way to stun him via his own spells?

~Asomath
 
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Well, a bit from classic:
Diablo II:
Andariel - Healing intensive / dispell
Duriel - gear check (tank'n'spank)
Radament - kill asap, or he will keep resurrecting the undead
The Summoner / Mephisto - ranged boss / avoid single-target missiles
Diablo - avoid AoEs / don't let usrself get Bone Prisoned
Nihthalak - manage adds / avoid corpse explosions
Ancients - RUUUUUNNNNN!!!!! POTIOOOOONSSS!!!! AAAAAAA!!!!!
Shenk the Overseer - slow strong boss / kill adds 1st, or he will turn them into running bombs
Blood Raven - ignore adds, kill boss; when she dies, adds die automatically
Baal - kill twin / avoid spells
High Counsil of Zakarum - separate from others and nuke one by one / avoid hydras
Pindleskin - WAAAAAGGHHH!!! free loot!!!
Lord de Seis - sneak from behind and nuke
The Smith / Hephasto the Armorer / Isual - dont let him come close
Witch Doctor [insert unpronounceable name here] - try not let him face you (fire breath)
Coldworm the Burrower - immobeli boss with smth like dmg aura (never came near, so cannot tell) - moar free loot


Diablo I:
Diablo - manashield + wall of fire + a cup of espresso (to stay awake) - gear check generally
 
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Single-Player Bossfights?
You definitely gotta make use of the environment some how.

Oh, a very good concept. How would you make use of the enviorment? Im thinking perhaps the enviornment could be used to block attacks, or making him destroy one of his own powers (such as a shield) via what surrounds you.

Edit: Yet again, Trillium is able to find a source of relating information. Athough your describing the features, the mechanics of the boss fights themselve are still unclear.

~Asomath
 
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Well... For example you could go hide somewhere where the boss can't reach you and force him to use some skill that makes him weak after using it or just use environment as a shield for certain attacks or destroy some pillars or something that will stun the boss and make him weak or just lure him into some sort of a hole so you can get free time to beat him while he is getting up. The possibilities are pretty much unlimited :p
 
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Yes, thank you Xerex, another method established. Yet, there are many single-player RPGS that may require improved bossfights, so we must think of more methods.

Thanks for the contributions so far, +Rep to those who helped with ways so far.

~Asomath
 
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Quest items. Like for a boss with a energy beam as a 10% HP move, and you can find 5 mirror pieces in the dungeon. Find them all and get a item to reflect the laz0r.
Or the classic ''only sword that can damage the boss''.
Or a boss which requires excellent timing on your skill use
 
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Moar classic:
WoW (yeah, yeah, i know...)

Loken/Murmur - run away from aoe, but not too far
Tribunal of Ages - survival / waves of mobs/ no actual boss
Supremus - MOVE OUT OF VOLCANOES< GOD DAMN YOU!!!!
Herald Volazj - goes invulnerable (and passive), creates ur clone and you must fight it
Void Reaver - a free loot
Kael'thas (MgT, Phase 2) - run away from wandering mobs with dmg aura and try to nuke boss asap
Warlord Kalithresh - tank'n'spank + kill water tanks when he starts channeling, or boss gets buffed
Selin Fireheart - similiar (hope you've been in MgT)
Magtheridon - tank'n'spank + must click cubes at certain moment to prevent tremendous aoe
Jedoga Shadow-smthing/Malygos - must kill adds before they reach boss
Romulo & Julliane/two bosses in UK - must be killed within ~5 sec of each other
Big Bad Wolf - sometimes transforms ya into smth weak for short time - 'Run away, little girl, run away!'
Keristrasza - don't stand on one spot, or debuff will stack

cant remember anything more, that would suit single-player, will think later
 
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How about somthing like two bosses at the same time and the idea is to get them to beat each other to death by avoiding their attacks so that they hit each other?
They should have massive damage so that you can't screw around while avoiding the attacks :D
 
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Have you ever played Impossible Bosses? The abilities in that game are simply astounding, and while the massive dps wouldn't quite work in a single-player game, you could create some spells like the ones in Impossible Bosses (unique and original, mind you. I dont like rippers) and incorporate something like that into the scheme of things. Maybe as a % HP move, or maybe just randomly. :D

Ideas? I cant help you code anything but you could ask an expeirenced JASSer (I'm not a hardcore mapper, and as such have used GUI most of the time) to create some of spells for you. I cant give ideas unless I have some info of the bosses, though. If I had maybe two bosses I could come up with an absolute LOAD of spells.
 
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I support using the environment. maybe make it so the attack takes time to make(you can see it when he's going to attack), and its actually a small line AoE, so you can hide behind stuff. maybe give him a mad amount of HP, so you have to make him collapse some pillars on himself to kill him. in the later phases, his attacj speed increases, and the pillars fall in every direction, so you have to watch out to not get hit yourself.
or maybe have a summoner boss summon ranged attacking adds on top of the pillars, and you have to kite a giant miniboss around to make him collapse the pillars. or maybe add a domino effect to the pillars.

damn i love pillars for bossfights.
 
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one more idea:
two phases
1st phase: boss sometime casts nova-like spell, player must hide behind pillars
2nd phase: boss sometimes casts Volcanoes... right beneath pillars... has same casting anims as nova from 1st phase... =)))
 
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suitable replacements for pillars could be obelisks, rock pillars, tentacles(im looking at you mister c'thun!) stalagmites/stalactites, pillars made of different materials, etc.
 
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thats an interesting bossfight! mr. greatoldwhatchamacallim smacks up tentacles and starts using different aoes/beams etc, and the player have to hide behinds the moving tentacles to make him hit himself(he is invulnerable to all other damage).
 
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i meant, the player hides behind the tentacle from old god and old gods starts happily smacking him with that very tentacle =))) that would be logical =)))
 
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logical explanation: old gods are pretty damn barking mad. pretty damn barking madness includes problems with controlling limbs.
 
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C'thun dont, but great old whatchamacallim does.
edit: because his madness is a special case, knows as pulchellus damno latratus dementis.
 
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Guys, Time to go back to the old game bossfights. How many of you own Super Mario 64?
Stuff like the Boss runs at you, and you knockback him into fireballs etc. Or another concept, the boss has three generators that make him invincible. Get him to destroy them with his shockwave abilities, and he is vulnerable. A very cool (but Hard, Maybe) fight would be deflecting his own projectiles, with the fact that maybe only certais one that alternate can be and not deflected (like fireballs and rocks. Do you know anyone who can catch a fireball?)
I like the one with two bosses that you go to get too kill each other.
 
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a bit changed Malygos Phase 2:
boss shoots his lazor (AoE) at semi-random intervals, also protective circles spawn at random spots. while in the circle, AoE damage is reduced by, say, 80%, but you can't dps while in teh circle. may also ad an enrage timer.
player must hide in the circle as soon as boss starts casting teh aoe and must dps as soon as boss finsihes cahnneling the aoe. properly done, it can be rather tricky fight
 
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You could also make e.g. a moving wall or something that deflects his attacks, so you have to move along with the wall to make him hit himself.
Another thing could be that the player is fighting him on top of some platforms and the boss knocks the platforms down from time to time so you have to keep moving along some bridges or something, you could also make it so that you are invulnerable to him on the platforms, but not on the bridges, so he knocks down the platforms to be able to damage you.
 
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I like it, I like it.

And do answer your question, this was actually for some of my multiple single-player map projects im working on. I may add a section to my tutorial though, because these are totally different than multiplayer bossfights.

Also, since most of you are coming back to add to this thread, even after I repped you, I know you are truely helping. A second round of rep for all of yall! (This is really good stuff, im excited about all of the posibilities I didnt see before that have revealed themselves to me)

~Asomath
 
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I have an idea, based on what difficulty the computer is (Easy), (Normal), or (Insane), the boss plays differently, like new attacks, health, items, and things that were used to kill him are switched around a bit based on difficulty.
 

Dr Super Good

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If you want challenging bosses, do not use D2 as a base.
Diablo II:
Andariel - Spam blessed hammer. Drink antidote if lacking poision res before fight.
Duriel - Spam blessed hammer. His attacks are usless on you due to insane block / defense.
Radament - Use same strat as Andariel. If minions are annoying, then leave area after killing them to remove corpses.
Diablo - Spam blessed hammer. Teleport arround if lacking res / block otherwise just tank and only teleport to save merc.
Nihthalak - Teleport ontop of him and spam blessed hammer as he will die long before any corpses form for him to blow.
Ancients - The only real challenging non uber boss. Just spam blessed hammer until they are low on health in which case teleport away to avoid nuke on death. Do not let yourself be a punching bag and remember to spam pots and hammers.
Shenk the Overseer - Spam blessed hammer. Honestly not worth mentioning.
Blood Raven - Spam blessed hammer. Honestly not worth mentioning.
Baal - Spam blessed hammer. Retreat if he clones or if low on health to town or corner to regenerate and let any effects time expire.
High Counsil of Zakarum - Spam blessed hammer. Hydras can generally be ignored but to prevent excess damage constantly teleport in and out killing one or two each time (most safe way).
Pindleskin - This guy is tough. Spam blessed hammer if you can from a distance as his charge ignores block and is filled with a huge dose of pain when chained. Use merc to take the hits while 1-2 hammers kill.
Lord de Seis - Spam blessed hammer. I forget which boss this is as I thought he was a bady.
The Smith / Hephasto the Armorer / Isual - Spam blessed hammer. Retreat if getting overwhelmed to regenerate and then repeat.
Witch Doctor [insert unpronounceable name here] - Spam blessed hammer. If low on fire res just go out of his range and get the hammers to hit him for a distance.
Coldworm the Burrower - Spam blessed hammer. Use antidote if low on poision res otherwise he dies in 2-3 hits with you taking no damage.

As you can see, D2 hardly has any varience in boss killing, and you can often easilly replace "Spam blessed hammer." to "Spam 1337 soc move + infinity".

A propper boss fight should need some thinking, some physical game stats and some time. Bosses should take atleast 2 minutes to kill and you should be forced to move in some way or another. They should also rely on physical power in the case of RPGs so that they are easier the stronger you are. Finally they should not just be constant action, there should be breaks letting you regenerate, move or prepair.

Example of boss. A forgoton one in the centre of the room. Around the edges are runes of healing (instant use) and mana but in limated supply. Boss starts off being unkillable and attacks you with a non homming projectile attack a few times. The boss then summons 3 tenticals that move after you trying to hurt you and you must try leading them onto certain areas of the arena making them stuck or kill them. If you make them stuck then you will have a long period to attack the boss during which it is uncapable of attacking. If you killed them the duation is shorter. The cycle repeats but at 66% HP it spawns more tenticals and attacks with more projectiles. At 33% HP it goes nuts and the tenticals move faster but last shorter, also the fireballs move really fast and can only be doged via a huge radius circle. Once killed you get some reward and a full reheal / recharge.

As you can guess this is very legend of zeldery but in a more simplified form. The ideas you must use are very simlar and in the end most of the damage should be avoidable.

Poor boss design on the other hand. . .
Boss starts off hitable and is only killable that way. Boss spams high damage moves that can not be humanly evaded and kill you in a few hits meaning you have to chew pots. Boss then moves on to spam instant death moves requiring some form of medic to constantly revive you or else you will lose. Boss has insanly large numbers of HP / armor so that the battle lasts for 10 minutes with the same repetition of mass pot use / rezing. No way to have a pause to recopurate / prepair for another attack on the boss.

This boss design was seen in FFF (Final Fantasy Forever) with the one ghost boss. Overall these bosses are highly annoying and often were seen in the final fantasy series where by turbased combat was all it had. Although some of them were ok in final fantasy, they do not convert well to WC3 unless properly ballenced and should certainly not be combined with elements of a good boss battle as they will only annoy and irritate people further and you must remember that FF allowed people thinking time before actions, in real time WC3 battles you do not have that.
 
Like DSG said, you need health-interaction. Being able to interact with the boss is key, and here's an example from the campaign I'm working on.

There is a small dungeon room where you are confronted by a mysterious cloud of dark energy. While you cannot attack it directly, you need to run around and hit all 4 magic runes or levers to turn him ethereal for 10 seconds. Then, you can do massive damage to him. Once he turns back into his energy form, the runes/levers reset. The lower his health goes, the longer he can be transformed.
 
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What about this?

A melee-ranged boss with extreme damage (Enough to kill you on 2 hits), but also attacks very slow. He moves a little slower than you, but not accutaly very slow.
When he attacks, its triggered with shockwaves, so you will have to avoid the shockwaves. After he attacks, there will be an opening on about 5 seconds, where he doesn't move or attack, and takes like 3 times damage.

Or this:

A big mountain, where you start at the bottom of it. The boss is on the top, and can cast spells and eventually attack. On the way up, you will have to destroy a few amount of minions. And! A lot of gates and such are blocking the way. Some of them are vulnerabe, however some of the invulnerable, you will have to find a lever or such. And the lever may sometimes be hidden!
Meanwhile, a HORDE (I mean more than 100) creeps is following you from the bottom, they are moving extremely slow, but together they are about 5 times as strong as the boss (Lets just say, you can't kill them), so you better have to hurry. At the top of the mountain, there is a generator or something, that prevents the monsters from coming in. However, the generator will open once every... 30 seconds? and let a minion or two in, before it closes.
 
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i think for a single player bossfight ( teheheeee )

you dont have to just be restricted to just ONE unit or hero.
Instead you are givein a raid of maybe 12 , or 24 character hero's, some of them repeat ( for instance, 5 priests, 3 paladins, 6 warriors etc..)

and using alot of micromangment, you can probably re imitiatate a WOW boss fight by having those 24 units attack a powerful ragneros, makeing sure your healing everybody and shit.

and btw ( thatts how i hope we plan the boss fights in TDC >=P )
 
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That mountain gave me an idea.

There is a god damn imba boss after you that is super fast and strong, but you are still pretty far away from it. The idea is to climb fast to the top and try to throw rock chunks and boulders at the boss so that it won't catch you. This will go on for a couple of mintutes (Maybe add some creeps on the way up to make it even more challenging). When you reach the top, the boss is too weak to fight in full power so now you just beat the crap out of it (This part can also have some sort of tactic if you can come up with something, like maybe push it somehow down from the mountain or w/e the place is).
It doesn't have to by mountain necessarily. Maybe an old temple ruin with lots of broken pillars and stuff that you can throw at it.
 
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How about a boss necromancer who has a shitload of minions next to him, and you have on your side a necromancer who has agreed to help you in defeating him. You have to protect the necromancer until he usurps the necromancer's control spell so he can turn the undead against their master. You can also make it so that you have to turn them via some spell reading or rune touching, while avoiding the minions, so it's more interesting.
 
That mountain gave me an idea.

There is a god damn imba boss after you that is super fast and strong, but you are still pretty far away from it. The idea is to climb fast to the top and try to throw rock chunks and boulders at the boss so that it won't catch you. This will go on for a couple of mintutes (Maybe add some creeps on the way up to make it even more challenging). When you reach the top, the boss is too weak to fight in full power so now you just beat the crap out of it (This part can also have some sort of tactic if you can come up with something, like maybe push it somehow down from the mountain or w/e the place is).
It doesn't have to by mountain necessarily. Maybe an old temple ruin with lots of broken pillars and stuff that you can throw at it.

Or, you have to break support colums to cause a rock-slide... or you have to activate old generators that will either teleport you away to safety or summon some minions to assist you?
The different options are endless :)
 
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