Hey hey all! Bedtime Hans here :)
We've been working on The Jester's boss fight(s) recently and it seems like a good time to share! His carnival themed outfit and style in fighting is similar to that of a circus. It is theatrical, musical and overwhelming. Here's how we structure the fights, coordinating carefully with the music to put the attacks on beat and create a visually pleasing event at the same time. Creating musical boss fights is an essential part of the Figment universe. Their theme songs give little tidbits of information, describing why they are spreading chaos in The Mind.
Step 1
Greyboxing stage: prototyping boss mechanics but also exploring general game mechanics, puzzles and enemies.
Step 2
We thought of an interesting stage shape to go alongside the mechanics developed above and put on some temporary textures, models and music to get a feel for the fight as a whole. As the music is essential, getting the timing right was a barrier of its own.
Step 3
Here's one of the animations we implemented into the fight.
And this is the final version of the stage, ready to be placed in-game.
Step 4
Some crisp animations and different fight patterns, it's all coming together.
Step 5
And this is the final result! A cleaner background, some lighting effects and even wildlife (if you can spot it) have been added.
If you want to check out the process with the music, click the video below :)
https://youtu.be/NqFm4SFykcg