Dev Diary: Designing Great Boss Fights

In this video, I discuss creating dynamic boss fights in games from the perspective of a game designer & developer.
Boss fights that are both challenging and interesting are difficult to produce. This is not for lack of ideas. Rather, translating those ideas into mechanics that make sense to players and result in a fun experience is the hard part.
More difficult still: Deliverance is not a video game. In a board game, you compound the difficulty further by requiring your dynamic boss fights also use a human's brain to act as the computer.
Enjoy my musings -- this is raw and uncut!
Timestamps (WIP):
0:00 - Introduction

[@goodrichgames]

Always interesting to see what the process is for other designers! I hadn't thought about splitting the skills as a both a mechanism to lower complexity and expand the design space for finer levels of scaling so that was very neat, thank you. My favorite boss fights include: A. Ganondorf / Ganon from Ocarina of Time. The phased boss fight typically work as a really cool escalation, especially when it's a surprise. B. Moldrom from a Link to the Past - a similar mechanic I could see working really well in Deliverance where maybe the demon throws the target Angel down into a cave / mineshaft and they have to battle other enemies on the way out that don't leave otherwise. The frequency of the throw could scale based on player count. C. Phalanx from Shadow of the Colossus was super cool and I don't think I've seen a boss fight done like that in a board game. The boss could move quickly in a pattern around the board and the players have to "board" the boss in order to consistently damage him. D. Iron Forgeman and Dhuum are my favorite GW1 bosses. The "action-based" mechanics as you mentioned are more difficult to scale with players but I think round-based scaling may work best for these situations. E. "The tank" in Left 4 Dead 1. An encounter where players have to juggle aggro and kite could be very fun in Deliverance. F. I love the Forever Train boss in Star Fox 64. I love Andross as well but the train really stands out in my mind. G. Valtan gate 2 and Hildebrandt Palace were probably my favorite Lost Ark bosses. - Kaithas

[@johnnyhath]

36:22 yes, this kind of talk is very interesting! I think the insight into the design can also help folks parse rules or text if they're hung up on anything. So, interesting and also helpful!

[@playdeliverance]

Absolutely!

[@saosaoldian6742]

Thanks Andrew for an amazing game! I wish I could offer suggestions but I mostly play strategy games. That said the strategic depth to this game, from my perspective, is rich and rewarding. Yes I overthink all my moves lol.

[@playdeliverance]

Ahaha well at least Deliverance scratches that Strategy itch, too. Love your contributions, my friend!!

[@brettf.8431]

Thank you for this game first and foremost. My wife and I being Christians were immediately drawn to it. We are on the secret mission currently in the campaign. I was a WoW player from Vanilla to 2016-2017 as well and I immediately got MMO vibes once we started the campaign. I am personally more of a campaign player rather than a one of skirmish so, I cant wait to see the campaign moving into the EXPANSION!

[@playdeliverance]

The future plans we have for this game are right down your alley, then 😉 I can't wait for you to see it!!!

[@jefftharp9177]

Dude, you have no idea how excited I was to hear "We're deep in development of the next Deliverance expansion." I picked the game up a couple of months back and I'm genuinely blown away. My wife and I both are. She's currently getting the minis ready to paint!

[@playdeliverance]

That's exciting! I'm very eager to deliver this content -- it's going to be really amazing, and just about double what you have right now!

[@jefftharp9177]

@@playdeliverance Brooooo! So more of everything? Angels, demons, and story?

[@playdeliverance]

@@jefftharp9177 Yes, absolutely! And maybe a few new surprises :D

[@jefftharp9177]

@@playdeliverance Duuuuuuuuuude

[@johnnyhath]

My mind is boggled that you took Nefarian down with 34 people back in Vanilla. Incredible!

[@playdeliverance]

Aha yes it was insane. We did have 12 Grand Marshals or Field Marshals in our raid, which helped with DPS 😆

[@adammoody8271]

Great video dude! I raid lead in WoW for many years so I have a deep appreciation for what you're really saying when you killed Nelth. I also had a good belly laugh at your low kick, heavy kick, low kick, heavy kick...guilty. =0) One of the most disappointing features with a LOT of TT games is that you can have everyone build up their huge attacks and drop the boss in 1 turn. I love Too Many Bones but nearly every boss can be 1 shot if you have 1 or 2 people just build up their attack. A HUGE thank you for endeavoring to create encounters that are challenging, require strategy, communication and multi-dimensional thinking and result in a cacophony of geek screams when you down the boss. I'll dig into my trove of experience fighting bosses in WoW and share some ideas in the Deliverance Discord. You're a beast Andrew! Keep on keepin on! The only correction to this video is that the current player count for WoW Mythic raids is 20, not 25.

[@playdeliverance]

Thanks for the info!! I bet they dropped WoW mythic raids b/c the playerbase is dwindling and nobody wants to play a tank or healer 😆😆😆 I played a rogue, so I was basically ostracized from any significant raiding unless I made myself invaluable to the raid (raid leader + 10% of the total raid DPS every boss). I love that you have appreciation for the experience in Deliverance! I actually didn't buy TMB (but I did Kickstart Elder Scrolls: BOTSE from Chip Theory). But I was absolutely sure that saving up all your buffs and damage increases wouldn't save you in Deliverance 😇 So many games that do that just seem one-dimensional. The biggest thing I consider is "what is the ideal strategy? Then, how realistic is it to just forget strategy and deal damage instead?" I would love if you shared your perspective on Discord!

[@jeremiahford2996]

Love. This. Game! God bless!

[@playdeliverance]

Thank you 🙏