Wrenched Devlog #20 - I Did Redesign The First Boss, and IT'S EPIC!!

[@YourFavouriteColor]

I think you can enhance this boss encounter by making the building where you have the final might more special. The building is like any other building. Try making the building like, city hall, or some other important/prominent location to make it visually distinct. also, adorn the setpiece to look more like the belly of the beast. Perhaps clutches of giant robot squid eggs? Perhaps evidence of the police or military trying to kill it and failing? Just take opportunities to push the concept. this makes the world richer and more memorable.

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Definitely!!

[@AlexLusth]

Really nice work as always! One tiny piece of feedback would be the blue expanding rings coming from the tentacles as they slam down. They look very similar to the orange rings you need to jump over, but it doesn't look like you need to jump over the blue rings, which might be a bit confusing.

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Good point!!! Will have to do something with that! 💪💪🦆

[@braedenmoore3023]

I love the progress, I also think that Squit will be much more memorable as first boss. My only feedback I have at the moment is a more bass heavy thud and cracking when the tentacles slam, I just felt the high pitch cracking sort of noise was a little out of place. A fun suggestion for the boss of Falls, maybe look into VTOL aircrafts, something that would zip around and fire bullets or something, then change to hover mode as it drops bombs or something, maybe something you have to reflect back at it in order to make it come down so you can do more damage. Love the content, so inspirational!

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Thanks for the inspiration! Sound design is definitely something which needs to be “leveled up” in the game! (Also love the vtol suggestion!)

[@Firestone-Games]

Hey, awesome work! I'm excited to play the Game when it's released!

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Thanks! Be sure to sub to get notified 🤭

[@FreakyGamma]

Another banger! This is such a perfect balance of keeping us engaged while not digging too deep on the technical side of things. Loving the boss design, Squit is such a great character to have, however, it might just be me but I feel like Squit is very short lived and un-personalized after the player has developed a "connection" while playing through the level and encountering it throughout their playthrough. It doesn't make sense for Squit to just die and fizzle out after getting its tentacles hit a few times, and he doesn't really have any kind of grunt effects (which I'm sure you'll be adding anyways). But a simple yet effective way to give the player a way to feel like they're doing damage to Squit is after all 4 tentacles are hit off the building, Squit could lose balance and fall on the platform where the player is suppose to hit Squit a few times to deal damage to the main body, a few vfx to show progressive damage, and you're set! Maybe throw in a few extra speech bubbles to show Squit underestimated the player. I think you could get away with having him injured and run away so you can re-use him in a later stage where he comes back with a vengeance! This way, you can still give the player an easy first experience boss fight since it is the first level and you don't want things to be too difficult for them. It would be awesome to see Squit have more phases, he could have a few broken tentacles that were modified to shoot lasers, or he can grab the player and throw them in the water where he can electrify it. Endless possibilities...hey maybe Squit even joins forces with a robot shark and they fight the player together.

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Yes as I replied before, sound design has to be leveled up (including voicing for Squit)… I do agree on some of your points, the original plan was indeed to have him fall over so you can hit him (check the first boss stream for the full details), but I wanted to keep implementations/development time low (since I have a full game to make still). However I like the idea of squit coming back, so I might not want to blow him up… because what if he would fully pull himself out of the water in a later level to reveal even more of himself… that could be really epic!! so thanks for thinking along!! 💪💪💪

[@FreakyGamma]

You're totally right....the real boss here is scope creep!

[@thelordz33]

I don't think it really makes sense for Squit to die just by hitting his tentacles. It'd be like you dying because someone smashed your fingers. Sure, it'd hurt but it wouldn't kill you. That, plus the fact that Squit is a cool design, is why i think it would be cool that instead of dying after this encounter, he would just swim away, swearing revenge and you might fight him again in another, upgraded battle where you actually hit his head.

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Who said he was dead indeed…. (the end cinematic is just a placeholder, squit might makena come back!)

[@GGFTV]

Squit looks sooo good, and I am now subscribed! :) I would recommend that when he slams and the messed up ground objects spawns in, maybe fade it out instead of it instantly disappearing. Of course, I believe that means you would need to use a shader, and I'm not sure how comfortable you are with shaders

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Im fixing the slam vfx tonight on stream!! Tune in around 20:00!

[@Elim_Animations]

Massive improvement in my opinion, but a suggestion, when a tentacle hits the floor just add some particle effects that are tiles.

[@Elim_Animations]

Never mind I’m stupid, I just seen the stream scheduled later.

[@savvyslick1812]

Oh yeah, I am _really_ digging this guy. An interesting palette that helps the character stand out against the elements around him, a very distinct visual appearance from the other robots you've encountered so far, a design that's both simple and detailed. And the cycloptic eye was just the cherry on top, honestly. This is the sort of first boss you remember long after you stop playing for the day. I would even argue that the _scale_ of Squit is perfect; really helps with giving the player an unexpected little jump, as you mentioned. I noticed that Squit's phase rotation perfectly syncs up with his HP so that he goes through 2 complete cycles, and the start of a third. It may just be my own personal taste, but I think maybe a little extra challenge in the final A phase would really rank up the intensity right before the end. A lot of the time when people are really honed into a boss, a diegetic 'final stand' is the only way they can know that they're almost at the finish line without breaking focus to look at the HP bar. I can imagine a reaction to someone beating the boss on their first try being more along the lines of "Oh, I did it?" rather than a more satisfying "Take that!" sort of air, if that makes any sense at all. Other than that though, this guy's epic! His personality- for as little of it as we've seen- is likeable in an antagonistic sort of way, and the animation on the swaying of the tentacles honestly makes me envious, and I've never rigged or modeled anything in my life. Excited to see how you'll design bosses going forward, clearly you're starting to develop a knack for it!

[@CherryNuggetGames]

I totally get it!! thanks for the feedback, I will have to do something with this! 💪💪😎🦆

[@FreakyGamma]

I love this! It's a first boss so the simplicity is still good, can't overwhelm the player, but a simple little addition for a tiny bump in difficulty would be a great addition, maybe just a few moving lasers or anything else the player has already seen in their playthrough, Squit could slam tentacles at the player while the player tries to hit the other tentacles as well, he's suppose to have 8 tentacles after all. I wrote a few of my own critiques as well. Been following mr nugget for a while so I'm glad you found him too!

[@alangregoryvitek]

Awesome video! The boss fight abstract class is a nice touch Also, can’t wait to see CRT again

[@CherryNuggetGames]

He’ll be back one way or another!

[@juked6877]

i wish before dying he had a last textbox before dying to make it more dramatic and rewarding since he basically insulted the player throughout the level like “you filthy humans… always doing whatever you want.. (insert some lore here if u have any)” and then big dramatic kaboom cutscene

[@tomjanssen627]

Nice job, really digging squit. One suggestion though, it feels like the rockets take forever to fall down and you being alle to dodge them by standing on the tentacle. Maybe make it so the player has less reaction time during each subsequent phase and/or more rockets.

[@CherryNuggetGames]

The tentacles like enemies don’t have collision with the player! I am just doing perfectly timed aerial attacks with a dodge out! A pro-gamer move as you might call it (and testament you should stop playing your own game)…

[@arctiformgames]

Fantastic work and i love the new boss! Will be looking forward to fighting Squit!

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Thanks!!

[@Vinchuca]

Oh no! looks like I miss some streams ): my desktop psu die. As for if Squid is better boss than Cee-R-Tee... I don't know, I think gonna need some demo build to be sure ;) but the idea of the boss interacting to the player trough the level is 10/10

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Haha yeah SQUIT was made almost fully on stream!! Always nice to get some input while working on things! And a new build is coming ASAP!

[@quincyisrandom7487]

Amazing progress as always! This is truly inspiring!

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Thank you so much! I am also very proud of this update 😎

[@GrahamOfLegend]

Holy crap that squid boss is epic 🤯🤯

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Thanks! Glad you also think so!!

[@hideyboishit]

the impact effect of the tentacles should have a slow fade out animation as it's kind of jarring for it to just blip out of existence

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Yeah… it’s all still WIP! This has been the nr1 comment so far 🤣

[@MedicMainDave]

OOhh! This new Squid Boss reminds me a lot of the Drill X boss from Skylanders Giants, I'd find it very funny if it could also Rap :p

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Wow thats dope!!! Thanks!

[@Elim_Animations]

That is still one of the most memorable bosses for me, he just got stuck in my head as a kid.

[@MedicMainDave]

@@Elim_Animations I just loved Giants from beginning to end, I can still recall playing it the first time when I was at my cousin's house (I had no wii) and the whole lore, the bosses, everything was just perfect in my childish eyes back then

[@Elim_Animations]

@@MedicMainDave Yes, it was the best skylanders game in my opinion and also the first one I played. Something about it is just so nostalgic.

[@zayniacgames]

Badass Boss Battle

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Thanks!!

[@shortcake_cafe3614]

finally, the squid game update.

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Let’s go!!!

[@JYK-F1211]

Will there be cosmetics ingame for example after you defeat the boss you get a squid helmet and at the start you can get a tv head as a nod to crt boss

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Thinking about something like this!

[@kingbubbles4509]

Awesome work! Do you ever do a run through of the code you write and explain how things work? Thats something I'd love to see!

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Sometimes! But I also do (very) occasional live streams where I make things live!!!

[@jeromesicot6209]

Love it

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Me too!!

[@thedrumlover251]

Epic

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Glad you also think so!!! 💪🦆

[@VJArt_]

I feel like the second time he goes to his 1st phase he should get damaged in the model, to show progress. Him going back looking the same might imply the player is doing something wrong during the slam phase

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Good one!

[@morgan0]

with the damaged tiles reverting back, if you replace them with an animated set, it could bounce the neighboring ones up when it hits and they fall back into place after, or maybe make them all stay disheveled. the ruined section popping out is a bit jarring imo. otherwise looks pretty nice

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Like that idea!

[@animecafe303]

Its much better than crt but Players can avoid the missiles damage by climbing up the tentacles and add a splash damage to the tentacle slam .Thnk you

[@CherryNuggetGames]

The tentacles like enemies don’t have collision with the player! I am just doing perfectly timed aerial attacks with a dodge out! A pro-gamer move as you might call it (and testament you should stop playing your own game)… And I am also just reaaaaally good at dodging the tentacles, they have a very big damage area!

[@sudhansubalasahoo]

Really noice

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Thanks!!!!

[@yvanvan3729]

3:26 9:18 IMHO you should keep the damages done on the roof by the tentacles of the boss ! Making them disappear isn't great.

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Yeah.. it’s still a WIP! I will experiment with how to remove the damage done 😎

[@twinguy9633]

The sound design of thr tentacles smashing sounds really cheap. I would work on that

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Sound is definitely something that needs to be worked on!

[@dizqiz2play736]

What is your keyborde?

[@CherryNuggetGames]

I have a Keychron C2! Love it!

[@iiropeltonen]

I watched your streams. Good recap. I feel your SFX need some work. The slam and splash sound really small. Like kicking a bucket and sinking your fist into water. Other than that impressive coding and design! ❤

[@CherryNuggetGames]

🤣🤣 Sound design is definitely something that needs to be upped indeed!!

[@videorowtv5198]

The new boss looks amazing! But having only 1 attack at each stage feels kinda boring and reperetive. Especially when you can stay right next to the tentacles while dodging the rockets

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Give it a try next demo and see what you think! I promise it’s harder then it looks playing it 👍💪

[@The-Sentinel]

The damage of the roof when the arms slam down and how it disappears just looks...bad... Do a decal that doesnt look like permanent damage...like dust ring or subtle cracks.

[@CherryNuggetGames]

Ok, ok, ok…. you all got me… I am doing a live stream tonight fixing it!!! Tune in if you like to see how! 😎