The Rat King
Rat King Boss Encounter
Engine: Unreal Engine 5 | Tools: Blueprint, Sequencer
This fight was created to focus on the arena first and took heavy inspiration from other platform fighters such as Spyro and Crash Bandicoot. We did not have a damage system in this game, so directly fighting the boss was never intended. Instead we wanted to “fight the arena” so to speak. And thus after a few iterations the team green lighted this extremely fun and challenging version of the boss fight!
Full Fight
Phase 1
Phase 1 Mechanics:
Moving Blinkos (a new mechanic not present in previous Dillo levels where the pinball movement parts now act as obstacles)
Combined Blinkos (A Spring connected on top of a bumper)
Mostly static and calm to tutorialize the new mechanics and to allow the player to acclimate themselves to the arena
Phase 2
Phase 2 Mechanics:
Lightning Lines are introduced. These are a mechanic that restarts the player to the start when they make contact. We debated having these completely restart the fight, but figured it would be too punishing of a mechanic as more are introduced over time. Lightning Lines also spawn in the side hallways
Spinning Plates: The platforms after the main arena and before the boss target begin to rotate causing the second portion of the stage to be less consistent and harder to traverse adding to the challenge
Phase 3
Phase 3 Mechanics:
Falling Platforms: This mechanic is introduced later in the fight as it causes the challenge to become much more difficult and the goal was to let the player acclimate themselves to the arena before it begins falling apart. These work off of an array of tiles and are picked randomly allowing replayability and a unique experience each time
Additional Lightning Lines are introduced. This line begins going horizontally across the arena in addition to just the front to back lines
Phase 4
Phase 4 Mechanics:
Falling Platforms: This mechanic is the same as before, however at this point the initial falling platforms would have finalized and a few more are added to begin falling creating a truly chaotic and difficult final phase.
Additional Lightning Lines are introduced. This line begins going horizontally across the arena and crosses the other horizontal line creating a very difficult final phase.