Bossmen

PitchDesign DocGCS Capstone

Two guys on our way out

• Gregory Peng– greg@pengink.com

• Jay Meistrich– jmeistri@andrew.cmu.edu

• How do we go out with a bang?

Observations

• GCS games rarely implement boss battles– Boss battles typically prioritized last– Projects frequently run out of time

and never get to put in that boss battle

• GCS games rarely have playable builds until the very end– Not as much time to iterate

Our Solution: Bossmen

• Bossmen is a game where one gun wielding hero with a jetpack is pitted against a variety of cubic themed boss monsters in epic one-on-one battles.

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Base gameplay

• Player’s tools against these bosses are static and unchanging.– Laser gun

• shoots in direction that character is facing• mouse aims player• left click to shoot

– Jetpack• force that pushes the player up in the air• WSAD to move player• right click to turn on upward boosters

Level and camera styles

• Two level/camera styles for simplification– Circular Level

• Camera follows player, set point of rotation around boss in the middle

– Horizontal Level• Boss is facing the screen, with

the player facing the boss• Camera follows player left and

right, but not as much when they move toward boss

boss

boss

P

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Cubic Art Style

• Super low poly bosses, constructed out of basic 3d building blocks

• Minimal animation– any animation is just a

matter of moving some blocks anyway

• Changing facial expressions textured right on their faces

Sounds pretty simple…

• You’re right!– The player has a limited set

of abilities– The art style is rugged yet

charming– Harkens back to a simpler

time, of arcades and quarters

But what about the fun?

• If you may remember, the title of the game is Bossmen– Actual title may vary

• Variety in gameplay comes from the bosses

Sample Boss #1

Sample Boss #2

Sample Boss #3

Boss Design Framework

• Phases

–Idle

–Attacking

–Getting Hit

–Dead

INSERT YOUR

CRAZY IDEA

HERE

Demo

でも

Team structure

BOSS

engineer

designer

artist

BOSS

engineer

designer

artist

BOSS

engineer

designer

artist

project lead engineering lead

music

Rapid Development Cycles

• 3 weeks max to finish a boss– Boss X taking too long? Drop him, move on

• Routine playtesting– Regular builds up on the forums

• Learn from each boss you make, starting real simple and getting more complicated with each new cycle

Looking for these sorts of fine upstanding people• 4x Boss Programmers

– C# w/ Creation.Engine• 4x 3D artists/animators

– Bunches of blocks! Easy as pie.• 4x Junior Designers

– Mini-team leaders, coordinate with programmer and artists• 1x UI artist

– Life bars for player and boss

• People who can fill multiple roles PREFERRED– designer/programmers– programmer/artists– designer/artists

Two guys on your way out

• Gregory Peng– greg@pengink.com

• Jay Meistrich– jmeistri@andrew.cmu.edu

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