The final challenge for the game, bringing together all the skills and features used throughout the game. It is the product of several ideas I had been through and serves what I see as the best solution.
Originally, I had planned a final challenge that would see elements of the three major challenges repeated, however, I realised that this would allow the player to complete the game without needing to craft items, which would have made developing the whole system quite pointless. To solve this solution, I instead decided to implement a boss enemy that could believably only be damaged by metal items, due to its armour. This would force the player to craft up and make use of the system, making it a far more prevalent part of the game. It is hinted at in the Golems cutscene with the rhyme "sticks and stones can't break his bones.".
One issue I wanted to make sure would be dealt with was instances where the player might try to outrun or get into a position that the Golem cannot. To solve this, I added a fireball attack, which the Golem would choose to use when the player was passed a certain distance. To ensure that this did not cause the golem to always sit at range, a cooldown is also added for this magic attack, to give the boss time to close any distance if the player moves.
Finally, I did not want to give the golem a health bar as I felt it would detract from its feel and not match with the overall style of the game. Considering this I decided a better approach was to use spatial elements to show the player how well they are doing. My implementation for this was to use Unity’s particle system to adjust the visuals of the Golem as he takes damage at different percentages of max health.
100%: Gray Smoke
75%: Black Smoke
50%: Black Smoke + Sparks
25%: Black Smoke + Sparks + Flames
0%: Dead + Sparks
This has proven to work very well, with playtesters commenting on how clear and informative it is to them during the fight.
Thanks for Reading!