Arthur King Of Mars

This was an eleven person project over the course of a weekend. My primary roles was lead boss designer for The Lady of the Lake and developer of her boss battle.
Additionally I designed mechanics for the remaining bosses.
Created for the global Games Jam 2021 Global games Jam Submission.
The game is a first person action game focusing on melee combat, designed to be a boss rush experience.
The theme for the project was 'lost and found'. Our concept was for King Arthur to have lost his sword, crown and companions and had to retrieve them.

Mechanics

In this stage of the game the Lady of the Lake would be the first boss and Arthur would be at his weakest state.
This meant the Lady of the Lake possessed less health than the other bosses to compensate for Arthur's damage output.
I chose to make her attacks water based and would keep the player moving. Geysers of water that home-in on the player and a single shot projectile provided this challenge.
I incorporated a dash/teleport move which would give the Lady of the Lake a quick way to evade Arthur.
If I chose not to implement this feature the boss would remain stationary, making the fight not only effortless but not engaging.
With Excalibur providing an ability to air dash, I needed to find a way to teach the player how to jump prior to the next boss.
I designed a second phase to the boss fight, where the Lady of the Lake would hover at the center of the arena.
This time however the geysers would also have a rock on top. This required the player to jump on these rocks, and whilst being lifted up, jump and then strike the Lady of the Lake.
The rocks wouldn't apply damage, but if the player walked under them and into the geysers, damage would be applied.
Whilst suspended in the air, the Lady of the Lake would react to the players close proximity, and carry out a spin attack.

Mechanics

With Excalibur in hand, Arthur's damage output has increased and he could now air dash. The new boss was designed to encourage the player to air-dash.
Prior to my input Morgana's only attack was going to be a slam of tentacles. However, I implemented leeches that would follow and hit the player, and disappear on impact.
I designed two types of leeches. Smaller leeches move quicker and deal smaller amounts of damage, this meant that using the air dash to dodge them was useful.
The second, which would appear in phase 2, were larger in scale, slower, and dealt larger damage.
The combination of the two leeches and the tentacle slams provided an interesting experience for a stationary boss.

Mechanics

I designed the central mechanic for Merlin. I was inspired by 'The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time's Ganondorf' boss battle.
Merlin would fire a magic orb which the player would have to time their attacks to launch the orb back at Merlin.
This method was used as a way for the player to master their timing of attacks unlike prior bosses who didn't have this requirement.
Merlin would also remain airborne for a large majority of the time meaning the player would have to pick their moments to approach him when grounded.
Merlin would become 'Ascended' rather than having a second phase. This was the ultimate challenge.
In this segment, Merlin would use Morgana's tentacles, a powered-up version of his orb and was intended to use some mechanics from the Lady of the Lake.
However, due to time constraints only Morgana's moves were incorporated.

As the primary focus was bosses, each level was a crafted arena specific to the boss.
Thematically, each level was different sections of Mars, all of the levels had rocky areas but enough variation to add a difference, for example The initial area has a body of water.
The Lady of the Lake's arena also had rocks which could be hit by Arthur to use as a method to jump and hit the boss.

Hundreds of years ago King Arthur sealed himself away under Britain, waiting to spring forth at its moment of most dire need.... Well, that came and went.
Britain has moved to Mars and you wake up a few hundred years too late. Your former friends rather disgruntled at this, need you to prove yourself worthy of calling yourself King Arthur.
Battle through three boss fights to reclaim what you have lost; Excalibur, your Crown and the respect of your closest friend.