Behind the creative boss design of RPG brawler Young Souls – iGamesNews

The gameplay is partly inspired by old school games like 2D beat ’em up and partly from our personal influences, which lean towards 3D beat’ em up and more modern games. The best example of the latter’s influence is probably the fast-paced gameplay we infused into Young Souls; things definitely move faster than classic titles, which tend to be more deliberate in nature (but no less captivating!)

Create enemies

As the game progresses, you will face off against a group of mid-bosses whose primary role is to introduce new enemy behavior or a weapon / prop that the player collects and uses once the mid-boss is defeated. Defeat Mohm, a creepy giant spider, and you can fight with his mandibles which can spawn friendly poisonous spiders – the perfect weapon to face an enemy mob.

Main bosses are a key part of the story, and so these showdowns are recognizable heights in both story and gameplay. From a gameplay perspective, the main bosses present real challenges for your progress in Young Souls, testing your mastery of the game’s combat system by unleashing a combination of different attacks that you will need to defend and counter.

A balance between freedom of artistic direction and gameplay

For the artistic direction, we worked with Xavier Houssin, one of our favorite character designers in the business. He designed all of the characters in Young Souls, including (obviously) all of the bosses – with whom we took two totally different approaches to design.

For mid-bosses, Xavier’s guidelines were very game design focused, with art direction influenced by gameplay. This meant that Xavier was working from a very “functional” description of each monster and an estimate of its size. A gigantic but slow mecha is the perfect way to introduce you to bombs or a stealth assassin is a great enemy to learn to parry and counterattack.

However, for the main bosses, this approach was reversed: Xavier worked from the story guide and a “story sheet” that we created. This ensured that the gameplay wouldn’t interfere with his ability to shape characters according to his own vision. For Kah-Kon, Xavier wanted him to have a huge Morgenstern as a weapon. Transmitting the weight of such a massive weapon was tricky, but given the importance of this boss, we just had to pull off this animation!

Our biggest challenge: designing monsters

Designing the Young Souls bosses was no small feat, but in the end it was worth it because the game gives the player a lot of freedom. You’ll find all kinds of weapons and accessories, each with their own uses and effects: Magmatic Swords, Gladiator’s Shield, Freezing Blades, Poison Armor, XP Boosting Sneakers or Grappling Hook … we’ve got it covered. you need.

Since bosses have to defend themselves against various attacks (especially when you can play the game co-op with another player), we made a point of customizing each boss with multiple behaviors. The Fazmore Destroyer can either attack you with lasers and fireballs, so long range attacks are definitely recommended … but if you play too cautiously, it will teleport right in front of you and give you a punch that you don’t. will never forget.