Level Up.pdf

316 LEVEL 11 They All Want You Dead
MAKE THE PLAYER HATE THEIR ENEMY
How? Simple. Make sure your boss does bad things! This is why villains are
always killing off their own henchmen: so they have someone to kill if they
can ’ t kill the main characters! Have the enemy take something the player
needs or cares about. Kill the hero ’ s parents, kidnap the princess girlfriend,
burn down their quaint village, you get the idea. Whatever your enemy does,
make sure it impacts the gameplay as well as the story. Make the parent the
blacksmith that gives the hero that magic sword. Does the girlfriend heal the
hero whenever he visits her hut? Not anymore! The enemy just kidnapped
her! And now that the village is burned to the ground, where is the player
going to store all the collectables he ’ s found? Japanese RPGs do this
right — they kill off the player ’ s girlfriend, who happens to be your best party
member. Are those tears I see? Are they being shed for a lost love or
because you can no longer heal every other turn?
When it comes time to design your boss fights, don ’ t feel like you have to
kill the boss at the end of each battle. In fact, it ’ s better if you don ’ t. It gives
the player someone to fight later in the game. Because your player will have
“ history ” with this bad guy, they will hate them even more! If you kill off your
enemy in the first act, who is left for the player to fight? Unmotivated, your
hero loses the will to live, starts drinking, moves in with his parents15 .
Pathetic.
And more importantly, not fun.
Taunts are a great way to get the player ’ s Irish 16 up, but you have to be
careful not to overuse them. To paraphrase Spider- Man, “ With great power,
15 Oh right, his parents are dead! Now you ’ ve turned your hero into a homeless person. Are
you happy with yourself?
16 I apologize to any Irish people reading this, especially Irish people who are prone to get
angry at authors.