The Final Dragon is a project I started in school that lasted 3 weeks and the main goal was to create a fully functional boss battle within that given time frame. It features 6 intense rounds of dodging and shooting action and serves as my most proudest work when it comes to C# scripting.
The player fighter jet sprite, fighter bullet sprite, fireball sprite, electric ball sprite, and crystal sprite were NOT created by me.
After recieving the task I took it upon myself to scope tight but still be able to deliver a fun experience for the player. So I set down some ground mechanics and expanded from there.
During the planning phase I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to create for a theme. I really wanted to make something that felt epic and completely unrealistic so I eventually decided to go with a jet fighter plane versus a really large dragon.
I felt like the game needed a good balance when it came to difficulty so I planned out a few unique powerups that could give the player an upper hand while fighting the boss.
I also made use of the point system from old arcade games and designed it so that everytime the player reached a certain amount of points then the player would be rewarded with either a life or additional rockets that could be used to severely damage the boss.
The best part of making this project however was deciding what abilities the boss would use during the different phases while delivering a fun experience at the same time.
Giving the player a challenge wasn't easy at first. Things turned out to be quite difficult against the player and the game required much playtesting. But thanks to my collegues at work I managed to acquire that perfect blend in difficulty and enjoyability.
I let my creativity run wild as I believed a dragon could use an array of different elemental abilities. For this project I decided fire and electricity would be a good mix and with that I created his different phases. Fire Barage would be his first ultimate attack and Electric Rain would be his second ultimate attack.
In the end, I managed to deliver a fine experience and a great challenge for the player. The project had taught me so much about C# scripting and scoping tight but at the same time making sure the game was not created half-heartedly. I truly gave it my all in this project and discovered a certain love for scripting itself.
But of course none of this could be possible without the help from a friend and her graphical abilities as well as the constant help from my collegues who gave me great constructive feedback to help me make this a truly amazing experience.
Patrick Enz © 2016 | Level Designer