Level Up.pdf

320 LEVEL 11 They All Want You Dead
The first villain was the arch henchman; the physical adversary. A muscle ­
bound goon that would beat the tar out of Bond until he turned the tables
with one of his spy gadgets or a deftly executed judo move to throw the
goon into a pool of piranhas. Physical adversaries in the Bond films are the
classic henchmen like Jaws, Tee Hee, and OddJob. In video games, these
characters are monstrously large, freakishly hideous, and very heavily
armed.
The second villain type is the mastermind; the mental adversary. These
villains are fought at the film ’ s climax. Usually mastermind intelligence leaves
the hero at a disadvantage and against overwhelming odds. In video
games, this is when the boss gets into their robotic suit to blast away at the
hero or forces the player to solve an environmental puzzle that, when
solved, brings the cackling villain to his knees.
Even though the mastermind has been defeated, there is still one more
“ villain ” to defeat: the global threat. This isn ’ t a person so much as a threat
to the hero ’ s world. This can be the timer on Goldfinger ’ s nuclear bomb,
Hugo Drax ’ s deadly spore bombs, or SPECTRE ’ s space - capsule - eating
rocket.
Some questions to consider when designing bosses:
• What makes the boss a worthy adversary? Most bosses have the upper
hand on the player in size, strength, firepower, and defenses — make
sure the player knows they are in trouble even before the fight begins.
• What does the boss represent to the hero? In many games and movies,
the villain is merely an obstacle to the hero gaining true love (rescuing
the princess) or a threat to peace. But don ’ t be content with those
tropes. Villains can represent the inner demons of the hero; in Return of
the Jedi, Luke Skywalker must reject the dark side and become like his