Lambent Boomer – Gears of War Boss Encounter

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cYq5rSIDGA

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Overview:

The lambent boomer encounter is a boss fight created through extensive kismet scripting. The fight takes place in a tight, circular room where Dom and Marcus must maneuver to use cover against the lambent boomer. However, after taking a set amount of damage, the lambent boomer explodes into a flock of kryll and escapes while an emergence hole opens, forcing the players to shift positions. Once the enemies from the emergence hole have been defeated, the lambent boomer returns to the fight. After closing four emergence holes with increasingly difficult combinations of enemies, Dom and Marcus can destroy the lambent boomer for good.

Tasks:

Designed and constructed the entire level using the art assets available
Scripted boss AI and phases, including emergence hole encounters
Created intro cutscene using matinée
Created dynamic torchlight with matinée
All of the lighting

Development Time: ~30 hours over 1 week

Design Goals:

Create an interesting boss fight for Gears of War using scripting to do something new but still familiar to the player.
Use an interesting cover layout to create an encounter that keeps the player on the move.
Create a lot of gameplay in a tight, efficient space.

Post Mortem / Design Thoughts:

What went well

I was able to get a tremendous amount of gameplay out of a very small space
The AI for the lambent boomer boss is actually very simple but feels very cunning in the game
I was able to keep the player moving through cover constantly, both around the perimeter of the room and from the interior to the exterior
The pace and difficulty is challenging but not overbearing