Size

The size of the enemy will determine how the player will fight it. Smaller enemies might require a melee attack, which will also preserve ammo for the larger enemies. Much larger enemies might require skilled attacks and a range of high and low attacks. Work with the height of the player and the enemy; there is nothing more boring than hitting an enemy in the same place compared to hitting a creature in various places! But size can also have an influence on health. Typically, the larger the enemy, the greater the health, and it will be harder to kill. Size will also determine the reaction to projectiles and being hit. Smaller enemies might fly backward or flinch and then retaliate, and a larger enemy might not react to a hit at all. Having a variety of sizes can also help influence the player’s emotions and prevent boredom. For example, if a player can defeat a huge enemy, then they may feel empowered and heroic for taking down a difficult foe, and defeating a group of smaller enemies without taking a hit might make you feel like a badass. You will always hear someone in your life say, “Size never matters!” When it comes to game design, the size of the enemy will always matter!

Behavior

The reason for having a varied number of behaviors is to allow the player to work with their mechanics and skills to defeat any obstacles they face. This also allows the enemies to complement each other with their behaviors to create varied gameplay and creative puzzles . While the player explores their world and encounters enemies, this then teaches them about threat levels. This makes the player question: Which will be the easiest one to kill? Or what is the best way to approach this?

As the player progresses through the game, the speed and size of enemies might become more erratic and difficult. This could make them harder to kill and become a challenge.

Speed

But enemies or hazards don’t always have to be chasing you; the difference between them can simply be mobility. In lots of shooter games , you may find turrets set up to defend certain areas or other enemies. But these can rotate and target the player and are still classed as an enemy. This also goes for a humongous creature that has limited or no mobility but can still be classed as an enemy. Make sure that you design your enemies that can keep the player engaged and decide their plan of attack. They might want to defeat any turrets or defenses before they take on any mobile enemies. Making the player think of a strategy will always keep them on their toes!

The next thing to consider when designing an enemy is the speed. You might have seen faster enemies have lower health, and slower enemies will take more damage to defeat. But finding the balance between fighting a computer and the game feeling realistic is where true mastery in design takes place. Ensuring that you are creating the illusion that the player is fighting a real enemy and needing to use strategy to defeat them creates the atmosphere that is needed when playing a game. But what is the best way to design the speed of enemies?

Slow enemies are perfect when there are a group of them. Most zombie games will incorporate a varied list of zombies to defeat based on size and speed. In most Call of Duty: Zombies modes, the first few waves feature a small group of slow-moving enemies to give the player a chance to explore the environment and choose a vantage point for future rounds. The zombies don’t feel very threatening and can be easily beaten. But getting cornered by slow movers could lead to your defeat! Slow movers can be intimidating! But the further the player progresses, the speed and size gradually increases, thus increasing the difficulty.

Fast enemies are somewhat the trickiest to defeat and require fast finger movements to stop them. These can dart forward and attack as soon as they are engaged. They tend to work best in horror and action games. The best way to defeat them is with skill and learning. Ever been killed by the same enemy multiple times? Ever thought about how they move and what their fighting pattern is? Sometimes, the best way to learn is to die! Learning the move patterns of a fast enemy through repetition might be the best way to overcome them. Or if you are are a pro-gamer and quick with blocking and attacking and defeating them without dying, then they won’t be a problem for you! Again, thinking of size, a smaller enemy might be the quickest and have an erratic move pattern, which could prove a challenge for your player.

Movement

As mentioned , some enemies will be quicker than the player, which will mean they need to act quickly to counter or avoid an attack. Try giving your player a prompt and have an attack indicator above the enemy; this will give the player the correct timing to dodge or parry an attack. But what about the rest of their movement style? How will they travel around the environment? What will they do once you are spotted? And what do they do if they spot threats that aren’t the player? Showing your understanding of these will not only determine their attacks but also their personality.

You need to consider whether your enemies will move randomly or in a set pathway . There’s nothing worse than to see enemies moving in the set pathway that doesn’t seem or feel realistic. Try to include a variety of move styles that give the illusion that they are meant to be part of the world you are making. Stormtroopers are the perfect example when it comes to the personality of enemies in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. While they will react to you once spotted, they will move in packs and patrol the area like soldiers would and from the films. Some groups of enemies might flank the player or even flock together to box the player in. This is when things get tight, and the player needs to think on their toes about how to get out of tight situations. While this might focus on humanoid enemies, what about animals? Lots of games that focus on exploring maps in the wild and uncharted spaces will feature animals from the real world. This is where behavioral patterns come into play. Consider how animals, insects, fish, and birds move for reference. While humans and humanoids will walk in straight lines, predators might move in arcs to circle their prey, and birds will circle and swoop down to attack.

When it comes to designing the enemies, most games will use pathways to determine where the enemies will move to and what animations will play during that. For example, if an enemy walks a certain path, then an animation might play showing the enemy looking over a cliff or edge before walking away. This, in turn, might give the player a chance to pull the enemy off the edge! But these enemies will walk around a certain path following invisible waypoints or markers to make them look like they’re patrolling an area. With this in place, you can design the world around them, such as necessary hiding spots, objects that could be blown up, etc. If this is the method you choose, ensure that movement is smooth and doesn’t clip any surrounding areas and play around with what works for your game and enemies!

Attacks

What is the point of having an enemy in your game that you can’t defeat or fight back? As we continue to think about the designing of your enemies, we need to think about how the player will combat them.

It’s one thing to think about the entrance of the enemy, but how they spawn into the world is another. Depending on the genre of game you plan to make, this will help determine how the enemies will appear. If you are making a Sci-Fi game, then enemies might appear through teleports or land from the sky in pods that the player will need to avoid. You can be savvy with entrances but also turn them into a challenge for the player. Enemies might also climb over walls or climb out of the ground. These methods make them feel more realistic but also avoid the whole “spawning out of nowhere” scenario which can look a bit dry and not very creative.

Thinking about the way enemies appear in the world also gives the player a chance not to slay all of their enemies before they make their way onto the screen. There is nothing worse than defeating all of your enemies at once. This skips all fun you might have designed and makes the game feel too easy. Or consider the enemies spawning off-screen and run toward the player. This is a perfect way to catch the player off guard and deliver an unexpected attack!

In spite of all of this, there should be one crucial thing to consider when designing combat for enemies: it should be fun! If you are designing an action game where a core element of it is fighting enemies , then it should be fun to play! But you can design this in whatever way you like. You can have explosions, humorous dialogue from the enemies when they are wounded, or gory victory kills. But make it worth the player’s while and reward them for achieving gory kills or pulling off that special combo of moves or a weapon that will make the next kill all the more satisfying. Giving the player a reason to go charging into battle and feeling like they will get something out of it gives them that incentive to risk using their limited health or ammo for something that will assist them greatly on their quest. In Dying Light, the player has the chance to find the legendary sword of Excalibur after defeating the enemies guarding it. Once achieved, the player can swim to the rocks where they can retrieve the weapon. This is the perfect reward and provides a perfect advantage against the onslaught of zombies in the game.

What happens when an enemy is defeated? Will it burst into flames and ash? Will it turn to bones and dust? Will it leave anything behind that can be claimed? Will they go down screaming dramatically? Will you have your enemies explode and try to damage the player before they leave? It’s good to think about an entrance for an enemy, but their exit also needs to be just as strong. The Elites in the Halo series have their iconic scream to tell the player they have been defeated. Make their exits one that helps tell the player that they have been successful in their fight. Think about how the game will change once an enemy is defeated. Sometimes, an enemy will drop items such as experience points that will help the player level up their gameplay experience or level up weapons or in-game currency that can be used to buy that bigger weapon the player wants to use, or the enemy will stay there and remind the player of their victory. Sometimes, the enemy's bodies will stay in the world for the rest of the game to remind the player of where they have been.

Whatever you decide, think about how this can be animated and rigged by your team. Make sure that it is achievable!

Rather than attacks being spontaneous, give the player a chance to prepare/see when the enemy is about to attack. Having an animation to tell the player that they need to brace themselves for an attack is crucial when designing an enemy. The enemy could prepare to swing a sword or melee weapon, or cock back a gun, or pull the pin on a grenade. Either way, you need to have an indication that the enemy is ready for combat, and they are trying to engage with the player.

However, not every attack the enemy makes has to deal damage . If designing melee weapon combat, the enemy might block or parry. This could make the player stagger and defenseless for a short period of time before they can continue. This is an excellent way to break the flow of combat but also make the enemy look like they are a worthy opponent.

Some enemies might try to create distance between themselves and the player. In Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, when fighting Sith enemies, they will Force Push Cal away to engage in ranged attacks. This also gives the player a chance to think about a strategy and also heal themselves if they need to. Again, this breaks up the flow of combat and encourages the player to get back in there and carry on with the fight.

Sometimes, making the enemies fight similarly to you is a perfect way to make the player feel as if they have met their match. If you can stun, freeze, or halt your enemies, then they should be able to do it to you! While the enemies could be defenseless, this could also happen to you. You can’t always feel like you’re winning; otherwise, it would be too easy! In Square Enix’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Peter Quill can use his elemental guns to freeze, stun, and pull his enemies. But the player can also be victim to the same attacks. If this is an option for you, be sure to give the player a chance to escape. They might need to repeatedly press a button to be unfrozen, or they could be incapacitated for a short period of time. But be sure to keep it short, any longer and it could become frustrating for the player.

If you can heal mid-fight, then why can’t the enemy? If you plan to use this mechanic, be sure to use it infrequently to avoid the game feeling unfair. No matter the difficulty or size of the enemy, always give the player the feeling that they have the edge in battle. If your enemy is healing, you can add an animation to show they are. This might also be a chance for the player to deal damage while the enemy is healing if you decide to make this a vulnerable state.

Similar to healing, the enemy could buff their abilities for a short period of time. This will make them stronger or impervious to certain attacks. This might also give the chance for the player to step back and think about their next move. If this is something you are thinking about adding, why not think about how it could be stopped? The enemy could have a “buffing” animation play to tell the player that their enemy is getting stronger, before dealing damage during a vulnerable state. This could then reverse the enemy buffing and level the playing field.

What if you had your trusty weapon taken from you? The enemy could steal something from the player to give them the advantage. This changes the motive from “fight the enemy” to “Give me back my stuff!”. Give the player a fair chance to get back what was stolen and not what was found through progression. If items can be stolen, make sure they are replaceable if they end up getting destroyed or damaged in battle.

Everything has a weakness, so your player should be able to exploit that. The Pokémon series is perfect to balancing moves and understanding what opponents’ weaknesses are. For example, if you think that your opponent is using a Grass-type Pokémon , then they should be impervious to fire attacks. The player should be able to use logic to defeat their enemies and never feel that they are confused or feel that something doesn’t work.

Health

Quite simply, how much damage can the enemy take before they are defeated ? No matter the size or abilities an enemy might have, there must always be a way to defeat it. Determining the health of an enemy is calculated in the same way you would for the player. If you have an enemy toward the end of your game and the player has weapons that deal greatly in damage, then will you want your enemies to be defeated in one hit? Think about the ratio of damage dealt by the player at certain points in the game and the health the enemy will need to have. You wouldn’t want an overpowered enemy at the start when the player has little or no weapons! You also need to think about the different attacks your player can deal and how effective they might be on your enemy. Will you have some enemies that can be defeated in one hit, or three? Just make sure that when you are deciding on the health of an enemy, they don’t become bullet sponges. This is when the player can pump a silly amount of bullets into an enemy before they deal any real damage or defeat them. If your enemy has armor on, then make it clear visually on the enemy that the player will need to work harder to take them down. Always test this during your development stage and gather feedback based on how much health and damage an enemy has.

Your enemy might have a defense meter that will need to be drained before their health can be depleted. In Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, most Stormtroopers or bosses will have a defense meter under their health bar. This can be depleted through the use of parries or constant direct attacks. Once reduced to zero, the player can then deal damage that can reduce the enemy’s health. This defense meter can be restored again, and the cycle continues until the player has won.

Attention to Detail

If there is an important thing to think about when designing anything in your game, it’s paying close attention to detail. This also needs to be applied when designing your boss. As we mentioned before, size matters when it comes to making a final boss and giving the player a sense that they are going to struggle with the challenge. This section focuses on the thoughts of having a large enemy to defeat.

A top tip when it comes to making an enemy is thinking about the camera position. We’ve spoken about cameras in a previous chapter, but this is a great time to refer back to this. If you place your camera too high, then you lose sight of your character, and you struggle to see what moves they are making. If you place the camera too low, then the player struggles to see where the boss is and any incoming attacks.

In a previous chapter, thinking about elevation and being able to climb up walls or cliffs help give the player a chance to reach higher points of the boss for those extra-damage attacks. Keeping a boss fight all on solid ground can be bland and keep the battle repetitive. What happens if the boss comes down to the player’s height? Fighting dragons in Skyrim is an excellent example of fighting an enemy in the sky and then on the ground. If the player deals enough damage to the dragon while they are in the air, the dragon will come to the ground and attack the player at close range. This gives the player a chance to deal extra damage in hand-to-hand combat where ranged attacks might deal less damage. But it also gives the player an even fight and stops them from feeling that they are at a disadvantage of only being able to travel on foot.

When you are fighting a larger boss, then you can have them deal large attacks. In Avengers: Infinity War, Thanos threw a moon at Iron Man, and Darth Vader threw bridges and large items at the player in Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. The more dramatic the attacks are from your boss, the more memorable they will be. You want your boss to have a lasting memory on your player, and provide them with a fight they will always remember. But also give some room for your player to strategize and understand your boss’s attacks and moves. These are what we call patterns.

Movement sequences should be easy to remember, but feel free to change them around to avoid complete predictability of your boss. Still make sure that your player has something they can follow and remember.

Using sequences gives the player a chance for them to understand their boss and when they expose their vulnerable states. But the boss must be able to deal damage at any point during the sequences, which will, in turn, give the player something for them to avoid and prepare for. There is a chance that the player could avoid taking damage altogether, but this would make the battle too easy.

There are also times where the player has to sit back and avoid taking any damage. For the brave players, they might be able to deal damage to the boss while the boss is attacking the player, but there also needs to be times where the player has to do anything other than avoid being hit. These can be invulnerable attacks that stop the boss from taking any damage at the time.

Once the invulnerable attacks are finish, this might leave the boss in a vulnerable state to receive deadly attacks from the player. This might expose the boss’s main weakness that the player can exploit. This should be the chance where the player can deal the most damage. These weak spots should be typically easy to spot on the boss, even if they aren’t shown from the beginning. Your final boss might be a giant mech, and the only way to beat it is when the vents are exposed from overheating. These could be glowing bright red/orange to show the player where they need to deal their damage. When the player does attack, it should be during a state where the player can’t be hit back, and they only have a few seconds to deal as much damage as possible. When the state is over, then make it clear that no more damage can be taken. Your boss might blow back the player to say: “You’re done now, let’s keep fighting!” and start the sequences all over again.

The final fight can only end one of two ways: the boss’s defeat or the player’s defeat. But this fight needs to be packed full of action to keep the fight going. If the player is injured, will you give them a chance to heal? This gives the player a chance to explore what tools they have around them to succeed. Giving the right abilities and power-ups in the world around them can provide that excitement that a boss battle needs.

Whatever you decide to make the final battle play out, there is always one thing that you need to do: let the player have the final strike. If this is given by a side character or anything but the player, then they lose that feeling of overcoming the boss and beating the game. Don’t let that special moment go to someone else! Once the boss is dead, give the player a chance to put their controller down/set away from the keyboard and enjoy an animation/cutscene which shows the next step in the story. This is also the break the player deserves once they know they’ve beaten the game. The final part should feel like the ending of a movie, where the player can sit back and see how the story ends. Let the player savor the moment in their victory.

But what happens if the player fails to beat the boss? Ensure that you have a point where the player can respawn and carry on. For difficulty, having the player respawn and start the battle again is a great way to have them practice their moves and strategies and what works best to beat the boss. Also, never let the player jump right back into a boss fight until they are fully ready. There is nothing worse than losing a battle and jumping right back in without stocking up on ammo again, restoring health or armor, etc. Allow the player a chance to catch their breath before they jump back in again.

The Setting

The final thing to consider when making a boss fight is the setting. In some games, the setting can also be just as dangerous as the boss itself. Just as we’ve covered before, the environment and setting are important to get right as this can determine the move style of the boss and how they react to the world around them.

You may not have noticed it in previous games you have played, but boss fights tend to take place in a circular arena style. The great thing about this setting is that the camera will always be locked onto the boss, which means they will always be in view for the player. Just as we have covered in Chapter 5, having height and elevation to your level will help give different angles to fight at. This can help alternate a static playstyle and a dynamic playstyle (this means not having your player on the ground the whole time which can be quite boring!).

You need to think about how the boss will use the level to their advantage. Having the level break around you could give the boss a chance to throw things at you. This could also lead to other obstacles other than the boss to avoid, such as holes in the floor which lead to lava or cliff edges breaking which could lead to your death. This helps keep the level exciting but also challenging. The issue with this is that if the player keeps dying during the boss battle, the level will become bland and predictable if the player knows when and where the level will break. Alternatively, you could design the destruction of the level to be at random; this will help the battle feel fresh but not too predictable.

Designing your level with elements that can be destroyed can be the best way to show your dynamic flair. It also creates a unique experience for your player. In Spider-Man (PS4), the player needs to throw objects at Electro to incapacitate him before they can make their attacks. Rather than keeping it simple and punching your way through the fight, Insomniac gives the player a chance to use the world around the player as well as any abilities they have picked up to beat Electro. Using a combination of skills/moves helps keep things exciting.

What happens if you are battling in more than one place? When fighting Calamity Ganon in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Link fights the boss in Hyrule Castle, but the arena is flat and allows the player to circle around the boss to deal damage. However, in Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, Chloe is riding on top of a train and must move to the front to find the bomb and beat the boss . This includes a chance to jump from the train to vehicles such as cars and bikes before returning to the train. This is an excellent example of a dynamic playstyle and keeps the player on their toes on how to reach the final boss. While these are really cool to play, they require more work and closer attention to detail compared to arena-style levels.