Devlog No.003

I'm currently still working on the boss and things have been slower going than I thought they would be due partly to job related issues and partly to having to rework some elements. However, I can at least show off some early work on the boss and talk a little about the plan for them.

The first thing to note about this little bit is that the arena isn't finished yet. I plan to spruce it up more so it looks more visually appealing. Most of the actual arena design elements feel enjoyable currently, but I still have to add a couple mechanics for the first phase. The second phase isn't in a space to actually work currently and I had a lot less done than I thought spritewise. I found that some of the mechanics were hard to spot and understand so I added in some more to make them stand out visually. You can see the red outlines and then the red xs on the ground now and hopefully this conveys the danger zones adequately. One element not showing will be a laser from the boss's eyes and he'll telegraph that, but I don't think that'll be necessary to have red outline around since it'll be so in your face.

The ground slam mechanic currently throws a lot of stones and forces Aria to 'hop' if you are on the ground when he hits. In addition, spikes spawn as you can see and will drop down. One spike will always form over Aria to force you to move. The others are carefully distributed so that you should be able to find a two space spot nearby. (They're distributed 1 per 3 spaces)

At a certain percent, the boss will shield himself and you'll have to destroy a power node. You can see this in the clip, but it doesn't show the shield visual on him yet.

There will also be an attack node that periodically gets activated and created a ball of lightning to chase you to a spot and then zap it a few times. More so meant to keep you on your toes than anything, but I am worried this might make the boss harder than intended. Only way to know is to test!

I also haven't programmed in the boss damage indication that will show how much he's hurt, nor a health bar. There isn't any music designed for the boss, but it will be like that until after I finish the boss and then I will show the fight to my musician and have him compose for it.

So like I said, it's not as much progress as I had hoped, but I think that everyone will like the second phase! I won't spoil it just yet, though it will be a little bit less static and more visually satisfying. ;D