Level Up.pdf

296 LEVEL 11 They All Want You Dead
In Maximo: Ghosts to Glory, we created coffins that burst through the ground
to deliver enemies into the world. If the player collided with them, they would
be knocked backwards. If they swung at them, they would shatter the coffin,
but the enemy inside wouldn ’ t be hurt and would go right into their attack
routine. Why go through all of this trouble? Because of this very important
thing:
FIGHTING ENEMIES IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!
In an action game you are going to be fighting a lot of enemies, so do
whatever you can to make it awesome! Explosive effects, funny or dramatic
hit reaction animations, cool and/or gory kills and, of course, lots of
feedback and rewards 9 .
When the enemy is defeated or killed, what happens to the enemy? Do they
vanish in a puff of smoke or pop like soap bubbles? Do they dramatically
clutch their hearts and die an agonizing death? Do they explode? How is
treasure delivered to the player after the enemy is defeated 10 ?
Determine how the enemy model is removed from the world. Do they fade
away, leaving only weapon pickups where their bodies once were? Do they
dissolve into a pile of goo that then melts away? Or do bodies stay on
screen as a gory reminder of your combat? Remember, what happens to
your enemy affects your ESRB rating.
Every action game I ’ ve worked on has had one enemy that does this
attack behavior: step 1: enemy sees player; step 2: enemy charges player
9 We ’ ll talk about how to make the most of rewards in Level 13 .
10 Looks like Level 13 has its work cut out for it!