Iron Man VR: Final Boss

Goals:

  • Epic boss battle

Constraints:

  • Player must use the Mark 1 suit

  • Must take place at Tony's Malibu mansion

Role:

  • Lead the creation from concept to ship

  • Created several prototypes to solidify direction of the boss fight

  • Worked closely with all departments to heavily iterate on the design and gameplay

  • Collaborated with animation, engineering, audio, VFX, and concept to fulfill the needs of the level

Level Intro

 

Beats:

  1. Intro

  2. Mansion shield scan

  3. Combat

  4. Narrative break

  5. Combat

  6. Foreshadow that something isn’t right

Boss

 

Beats:

  1. Giant Gunsmith shows off new abilities

  2. Introduce first weakpoint without shield

  3. Introduce weakpoints with shields

  4. Introduce teleport ability

  5. Introduce Orbital Strike ability

  6. Gunsmith’s attacks become desperate

  7. Surprise attack from Giant Gunsmith

  8. Ghost creates opportunity for player to destroy holoprojector

  9. Giant Gunsmith explodes

One issue that came up was that Giant Gunsmith was too big for the Malibu layout. We didn't have time to create an entirely new level and had limited options for changing the layout.

One issue that came up was that Giant Gunsmith was too big for the Malibu layout. We didn't have time to create an entirely new level and had limited options for changing the layout.

To solve the issue I collaborated with the Environment Art team to find a performant and cost friendly way to make the layout changes we needed. Once we had a solution I spent time moving the rock formations to better suit the boss fight.

To solve the issue I collaborated with the Environment Art team to find a performant and cost friendly way to make the layout changes we needed. Once we had a solution I spent time moving the rock formations to better suit the boss fight.

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Created a color key + guidelines for the best way to create mission logic.

Created a color key + guidelines for the best way to create mission logic.

Part of the guidelines recommended that all VO and objective setup go in the objective itself rather than the main Mission Controller. This helped clean up Mission Controller logic and kept objective logic self contained.

Part of the guidelines recommended that all VO and objective setup go in the objective itself rather than the main Mission Controller. This helped clean up Mission Controller logic and kept objective logic self contained.

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With the size and technical complexity of this boss fight it was important to simplify how we thought of the encounter. I ended up designing the boss fight around 3 different distances: short, medium, and long.

With the size and technical complexity of this boss fight it was important to simplify how we thought of the encounter. I ended up designing the boss fight around 3 different distances: short, medium, and long.

Short range was the least enjoyable experience for a few reasons. We ended up implementing a constant pushback force and several attacks that actively pushed the player away. This made sure the player kept an ideal distance to the boss.

Short range was the least enjoyable experience for a few reasons. We ended up implementing a constant pushback force and several attacks that actively pushed the player away. This made sure the player kept an ideal distance to the boss.

Medium range was the most fun and allowed the player to make progress by destroying the weakpoints. A majority of the attacks were designed around this range.

Medium range was the most fun and allowed the player to make progress by destroying the weakpoints. A majority of the attacks were designed around this range.

Long range was also entertaining but the player wasn't able to damage the weakpoints. Because players couldn't make progress they naturally got closer to the boss. We used this behavior to break up the fight by teleporting the boss far away so that t

Long range was also entertaining but the player wasn't able to damage the weakpoints. Because players couldn't make progress they naturally got closer to the boss. We used this behavior to break up the fight by teleporting the boss far away so that the entire fight wasn't medium and short range attacks.

Level Design Process

In general my preferred process for creating levels involves iterating as much as possible with playable content. I like to start that process by first understanding the main goals/beats of the level, what happened in the previous level, and what needs to happen in the next level. Once I have a direction I’ll switch back and forth between blocking out gameplay in engine and gathering/evaluating playtest feedback on that blockout.

For the final boss fight I had to modify that process to account for the big technical challenges, content restrictions, and strict narrative requirements. If you’d like more details on how that process worked for the Final Boss fight click the button below. Note: That content is password protected as I show early prototypes.

Full Playthrough

The Final Boss level that I worked on starts at 7:55 in the video below.