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Bosses are one of the most vital parts to any game. They are usually really fun, difficult, and sometimes frustrating. Though making a boss battle, fun or even difficult can be challenging. So you can use our fancy tips, to make your boss, a good one!

Note: This article requires the person to have somewhat experienced Plotscripting skills.

[edit] What is a Boss?

A boss is an enemy which you have to defeat to progress in the game. Ususally, you can't beat them on your first try. Bosses are often very powerful (compared to average monsters) and it might even have minons that join in and fight against you. If a boss is killed all its minions usually also die at once.

Try to make a boss strategic. Not just an "attack after attack" enemy. Add elements to a boss battle you wouldn't normally put in. Before we get into the spiffy stuff, you should the basics of making a boss.

Some bosses can be easy!

[edit] Preparing For A Boss

Before you start making the boss, there are things you should do before getting to the main battle. First, have events that lead up to a boss, you don't just randomly walk up to a NPC and BAM! you're in a unexpected boss fight. Often players can suspect the boss is near, giving them a chance to prepare their party.

Dungeons: Usually, there is a boss is at the end of every dungeon. So give that last room something spiffy, something that matches the theme of the dungeon.

• There are usually mini-boss battles scattered throught the dungeon. Unlike major Bosses, they might appear randomly, not letting you party prepare.

Saving: Depending on the difficulty of the game, you may not want to include this.

• Before the final dungeon boss, give your player a chance to save, or a warning to save. Nothing is more annoying, when you finish a dungeon but lose at the boss battle. When you realize you forgot to save! Then the player has to do the dungeon all over again. If you want, set up a rest area next to the boss, so the heroes will be in good shape to fight. Then again, not including these feautures sure highten the difficulty of a game, (or make it more frustrating).

Preperation: If you need to prepare your heroes do so now, sometimes you might want to change their appearance, or give them something extra to fight the boss with. You can do this with plotscripting.

• Also let the player have time to prepare. They can change their equipped items to suit the boss, or storm the dungeon fighting more battles to gain experience. (This isn't related to bosses, but it's best to try to make all equipable items just as good as each other, but do different things, it makes games more strategic)

Cutscenes: Now, you're almost at the final boss fight. There's one more thing it's good to do. Add a cutscene using plotscripting. See the (in-progress) chapter "Creating Cutscenes" for more tips, but here are some boss specific ones.

• When you walk into a final boss room, change the music to suit the boss. Make something important, and story relevent to happen. Often, in boss rooms you won't see the boss at first, but then they will appear in the cutscene. Have the hero and boss exchange some threating words, throw in some spiffy effects, and have the boss run at you. Then, start the battle!

[edit] How to make a Regular Boss

A boss battle is still a regular battle, so when creating the actual battle, you need make the enemies, the minons, and the formation. You may want to find the appropriate music and backround you will use before you start.

[edit] Creating the Boss

Start your boss like you would make any ememy. Bosses are usually quite powerful, so keep this in mind as you go.

• As normal, draw your boss graphics. Make it look anyway you want. It's good to give each boss (and dungeon) a theme. Typical themes are forest, ice, water, light, darkness, or fire.

• Once you are done, go the enemy editor, and create your boss. Give it a name, and apperance.

• Next go to the stats menu. It's tricky to set the bosses stats. You don't want your boss to be too easy or too hard. Play your game, or get someone else to try it. When you get to the part where the boss is, check out the party's stats. Try and aim your bosses stats to be roughly higher than the heroes. For harder bosses, the player might have to train their party to beat the boss.

NOTE: Always keep, how many heroes and minions are fighting and your party's stats, in mind.

• Once you've set your boss stats, it's time to bring in the attacks. To make bosses more interesting, make really cool boss only attacks, use extended animations, status effects, make fighting the boss interesting.

Make the boss more likley to use powerful attacks when weak, or attacks that the boss will only do when weak. Like shown in this picture.

• Next we must use the Bitset menu, you want to set "Boss" on, it's for other reasons I'll explain later. Also, you don't want the player running from the boss battle so make it "Unescapable." Sometimes you may want to add weaknesses or strenghs as the key to a battle.

• Make your minions. These are usually weak. Turn on the "Die without boss" bitset. Also, if you want your enemy to make a comeback later in the game, use the "Flee instead of Die" Bitset.

• Last but not least, Rewards. Make sure you make the boss give alot of expericance, maybe enough to grow a level or two. That makes beating a boss feel satisfying.

[edit] Make your Boss Formation

Next is the formation, this is where you create the area your characters will fight the boss. Use the formation settings to set the right environment for your boss.

NOTE: This diagram does not have a backround or music. Make sure your battle is a lot spiffier!

• Make a backround that suits the environment. Make a special one you don't see anywhere else. Make an animating backround if you can.

• Add music that suits the boss.

• Then put your boss in. Be sure to put it in the right place, sometimes a boss is so big you need to make part of it the backround.

• Then add any other enemies you may also want to assist the boss in the battle, make sure, that the "Die Without Boss" is on, so that if the boss dies, you don't have to keep fighting the minons. Also make sure, that if you have lots of assistants, than don't make the boss as powerful.

That's really all you need to do! Now play your game and test the boss, if it's too hard, lower the stats. If it's too easy, raise them. Test it until it feels right.

[edit] After Your Boss

Now the battle is over for the player, but not for the developer! There's still alot you need to do.

• Firstly, finish the cutscene. Have the boss flee or be obliterated, or just make it disappear after the battle. Have a little victory dance amung the heros, or have people go, "Oh, thank you for destroying the evil monster!" Just be creative.

• Next you need to dish out the rewards, make the player feel special for defeating the boss. Some good ideas are, give your player a very rare or useful item (may or may not be story related). Teach the hero a new powerful spell. Or open up new areas for the player to explore.

• After that, clean up your little set, rid any unneeded NPCs, and teleport your hero out of the dungeon back to town, and give the player a chance to save. Set a tag on, it's good to have a tag for every boss because alot of things change after one.

[edit] Spiffy Boss Ideas

This is where we add the creativity to your bosses. You can't make bosses just really powerful, you need to make 'em fun. Read the articles below to get ideas to make each boss battle very spiffy.

[edit] Mid-Battle Cutscenes

Many times in a boss battle, you may want something interesting to happen in the middle of it. You cannot make it happen in the middle of a battle, but you can make it happen on the field. Just create two different formations (or more) and once the player beats that boss, make the events happen on the map, then enter the next battle as second part.

• For the first part of the battle, use the "Flee instead of Die" Bitset on beacause the boss, so that it moves backward instead of being obliterated.

[edit] Minons

Minons are other enemies that will fight with the boss, usually they are much weaker than the boss. Just create the enemies (or edit ones that have already been made) and put them around the boss. I have mentioned before, be sure to add the "Die Without Boss" bitset on. That wasn't so hard! Was it?

[edit] Series of Battles

This is a way of challenging your players. Right after you finish one battle, another boss comes and you have to fight those two in a row.

• This will not let the player heal, or use an item. So make sure the two battles are attached in a plotscript.

• Also, put a mini-cutscene, inbettween the battles so the player knows that someone is coming.

[edit] Change Forms

If you want your boss to change after you beat so much of it, make each form as different enemies.

• Go to the Spawning menu of the enemy, and make this enemy spawn the next form when it dies. You can make as many forms as you want. Make sure it only spawns 1 enemy after it dies.

[edit] Battles You Can't Beat

Want a boss that you must to lose to, but can't beat it until you come back later in the game?

• Just make a beatable and unbeatable version of your boss.

NOTE: A unbeatable enemy is usually achived by giving it way too much HP and/or defense.

• Read How do I make the story continue after you die in battle?
• In the plotscript, once you lose, make your heros flee (in a plotscript), and you have to accomplish something in the game until the boss is beatable.
• When the event happens in the game that lets your boss become beatable, set a tag on.
• Then in the same plotscirpt, if that tag is on, the script will lead you too the beatable version of your boss.

NOTE: An unbeatable boss provides no challenge to the player, and this idea is mainly used for story purposes.

[edit] Battles That You're Not Supposed To Beat

Alternately, you could make a boss designed for a party 20 levels higher. In this case, you're intended to lose. But, make it so that something happens if you do win.

A famous example of this is Chrono Trigger, where you're given multiple chances to fight the final boss, and are even forced to encounter it directly at one point. You're not supposed to win (this particular battle is the most difficult battle in the game, hands down), but if you do, you get a very special ending.

[edit] Multiple Parts

Make one boss, be a bunch of multiple parts as different enemies. For example, in The Wandering Hamster, there is a a ghost boss in the game. The boss has a big head with two hands floating next to it. Notice the hands seperatly attack the hero. This is because the head, and the two hands are three different enemies. Although you only attack the head, when it dies, the hands die too. The head was a "Boss," and the hands "Died without Boss." You couldn't attack the hands because they are "Untargetable."

• Just make the main part as one enemy, with the boss bitset on, this is the part heros attack. Also the "Unescapeable" bitset should be on since it is a boss.
• Then make the other parts that attack the hero, set the "Die without Boss" bitset on, and "Untargetable" as well.
• Put the parts close together in the formation, and then your done!
• You can customize this idea a lot, be creative!

[edit] Removing a Hero

Lets say you want to make a boss really challenging. Removing a certain hero from your party just before the fight. Then the player must fight without that hero.

• Use the "swap out hero (who)" and "lock hero (who)" commands before the battle starts.

NOTE: Do not use the "delete hero (who)" command or their stats and equipped items will be lost.

• Make something in the cutscene have the hero be removed, so the player won't be confused when they are missing the hero.

• Be sure to unlock and swap in the heros before the plotscript ends.

Keep in mind when making this bosses stats that you will have less people to fight, so the stats should be lower.

[edit] Adding a Hero

Perhaps you have a really hard boss too hard for your party. Well add another hero right before you fight the boss. Make him/her appear in the cutscene. Then remove the hero after the boss is over.

Or you could add a special hero, that doesn't do much and is pretty defenseless. Your heros will have to keep this person alive to win the boss. You can do this, with plotscripting. After the boss have the script check if the hero's HP equals zero. If so, use the "gameover" command.

[edit] Must Flee Battles

This is a battle that you must to flee from to win. Though if you just hold ESC and leave it's no challenge. So try this.

• This battle will have many enemies.
• Make some normal enemies to put in, make these ones "Unescapable."
• Make some unbeatable enemies. DO NOT give them the "Unescapable" bitset.
• Put multiple enemies of each kind into a formation.

NOTE: When the player fights these enemies, they must beat the normal enemies before they can escape.

• Be sure to warn the player that he/she must defeat the certain enemies and then try to escape to win or he/she might not think of it. (See Combat Dialogues)
• You don't get experience after running. If you are using this as an important boss battle, you may want to use plotscripting to give the player some experience after the battle.

[edit] Conclusion

Now these are just some examples of bosses, but there are many more ways to spiffy up a boss battle.

• If you have a really good idea, you can add it here to by clickling the "Edit" Link at the top of the page. Or if have an idea for a boss, but don't know how to put it together, click "Discussion" then "Edit" then add the suggestion there.

Be creative, if you are really good with Plotscripting then you can even make a really hard Minigames as a boss battle. Anything challenging can be a boss battle. Just have fun with it!