Level Up.pdf

302 LEVEL 11 They All Want You Dead
Repair/heal: the enemy regains health.
I suggest using this infrequently as it
can feel unfair to the player. This works
best if the enemy has a healing
animation as well as a health bar to
show that they ’ ve returned to their fully
(or partially) healed state. Consider
allowing the player to attack the enemy
to disrupt their heal.
Buff: this works like the heal, but the
enemy is gaining power to charge an
attack. Usually this can be found
when charging magical attacks. You
also find it in shooters when the bad
guy is charging up their weapon to
unleash hell on the player. The enemy
can either be in an invulnerable state
while buffing up or the reverse, which
would cause the enemy to lose the
advantage they sought.
Thief: the enemy steals money or
equipment from the player, causing
the gameplay dynamic to shift from
“ fight the enemy ” to “ get that bastard
who just stole my chainmail! ” Make
sure the player has a fair opportunity
to get back what ’ s been stolen. Never
steal anything the player has bought
or won as part of progression: make
it something that is (somewhat) easily
replaceable.