Boss Design and Weapon Balance Stump Indie Devs
Many indie developers are grappling with core game mechanics, including boss design (separating threat and target), shield implementation, transition effects, weapon balancing (gold cost per attack), and overall gameplay loops. There's a focus on experimentation and player feedback to refine these elements.
SOURCES (60)
“I'm making a game called Parry Dungeon [demo on Steam] to learn how to make enemies with unique behavior, like flanking, picking up dropped weapons, hiding, stalking, strafing, etc. You crawl 2 dungeons, defend against enemy attacks by using a directional parry system, then aim…”
“Hi thank you for reading. I am having a conundrum with my video games combat. The game is a 2d side scroll game where the player can have a ranged weapon and a melee weapon, think megaman zero, deadcells, etc. My boyfriend who is a casual gamer, when playtesting my game has requested I add a way to jump ontop of enemies to damage them; like in Mario. Its been a few months now and the game has had melee attacking, shooting, and jumping ontop of enemies to damage them (ill refer to this as bounce”
“Our playtest is coming up soon, so I’m doing a final polish pass on the boss fight. How does it look? submitted by /u/Asbar_IndieGame [link] [comments]”
“https://reddit.com/link/1wvskej/video/4421ca0rs1th1/player submitted by /u/TheWalkingCarrot [link] [comments]”
“Your revolver has bullet slots. Each one can be fitted with a Mark that changes how the bullet behaves. Load your shots. Build your run. Survive purgatory. 🩸 Marks • 🗺️ Procedural Rooms • 👁️ Bosses Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5154900/Gunnat/ submitted by /u/PolaroidAwk [link] [comments]”
“The idea is that the Vigil can only be hit while staggered. To stagger it, you need it to lunge at you so that it ends up at the edge of the platform. The only way to dodge its lunge is to use your phase ability. If it hits you, you tumble to the ground, and the window to hit it back closes before you can get up. Striking it while it circles you causes it to leap out of the way and counter-attack. The counter-attack will be a lunge, but if you manage to strike it afterwards, the next attack has”
“Earlier i added an auto evasion for the ecs entities, i wanted to expand more around it during fights Here the player has auto evasion on ( Later it'll be a timed window during enemy attacks ), so particles auto evade and then return to their position, and even during transitions, you can see them slowly returning in the end Its been a fun mechanic to expand, still have few ideas that i want to try on Let me know what you think! #unity #ecs submitted by /u/OmarItani10 [link]  ”
“Earlier i added an auto evasion for the ecs entities, i wanted to expand more around it during fights Here the player has auto evasion on ( Later it'll be a timed window during enemy attacks ), so particles auto evade and then return to their position, and even during transitions, submitted by /u/OmarItani10 [link] [comments]”
“Hi r/IndieDev I've released a new video on Lead Simulacrum showing the Infantry combat system in the form of pitting one company against another; https://youtu.be/q6qGkld_4XA?si=qtyHvihZ4v_yQC0o On top of that, i've made some further progress with the game's firearm designer, map generator, and a brand new uniform designer, shown in the screenshots! Near the end you can also see some amazing examples of firearms designed by the community! For those who aren't aware, Lead simulacr”
“Me and my friend have been adding ultimate abilities to Cleaning Unit, our bullet-heaven FPS. This clip shows the first one, BAS (Big Ass Sword), in action. We've also got two more (Dragon and Revolver) already in, but they still need some polish before they're worth showing - planning to post about those in the coming weeks once they're in better shape. For now, curious what you think of BAS - does the impact/payoff feel strong enough for an ultimate, or is something missing? Also o”
“Items can effect size, count, damage, knockback, etc. and each Weapon has a subset of stats it benefits from. This naturally creates a web of synergies between different Weapons. submitted by /u/bilbaen0 [link] [comments]”
“I posted this in gamedesign sub, but I want more opinions. A bit(lot) of context surrounding the combat in my game before the design question: - First off, the video takes place inside a PvP gamemode and the enemy players you see in the video are pretty simple bots that I spawned in for testing. - My game’s combat is built on a bullethell system, but I try to push the limits, generally with boss attacks. - Your player’s class is dependant on their current weapon, there are different tiers of wea”
“Like enemies that “flank” you but really just pick a random point behind cover. Share the smoke and mirrors. submitted by /u/RatioSpiritual5298 [link] [comments]”
“The Purple Slime fires a laser beam. The old version: it charged up, locked onto the player, then fired. Played fine on paper, but felt boring in practice. The new version: it keeps tracking the player during the charge-up, pauses briefly, then fires. Since the laser can be blocked by obstacles, it actually creates some interesting gameplay moments now. Feedback and suggestions are always welcome! submitted by /u/xmi2025 [link] [comments]”
“Just wanted to show off all the unique guns I've been adding to my 2D mining roguelike. This is also without any upgrades. Things get a lot crazier when you start to stack things like extra projectiles, lighting/burn/poison, bouncing bullets, explosive bullets, etc.. If this looks interesting, there's a public playtest you can checkout right now on Steam submitted by /u/Mysterious-Sky6588 [link] [comments]”
“"Breach containment and carve your way out of a megacorp black site in this hardcore top-down shooter roguelite. Master your control of physics weapons to parry swords, bullets, lasers, everything. Time moves faster when you move, but staying still won't get you anywhere." Game : KILLSEC "release Q4 2026" Link : https://store.steampowered.com/app/3940470/KILLSEC/ submitted by /u/DXT75 [link] [comments]”
“Hi everyone! I recently released a major update to my game's playtest, it brings new abilities, reworked enemy AI, improved onboarding, and new ways to interact with the world. Some of the new abilities include: a parry, a new ranged weapon (Flamethrower) and a charged attack! I've also made enemies more aggressive and streamlined the early-game experience to make the game's world and mechanics easier to understand. The playtest is live now and I'd love to hear what you think! &#”
“I wanted to share the newest boss in my deep sea twin stick shooter. In the first phase you fight through its 8 tentacles before finally facing the main body which is just the head and the stumps/remains of its tentacles. Still working on my pixel art so happy to hear any feedback Itch link (squid is not yet in it) submitted by /u/zUcCc_ [link] [comments]”
“We’re working on Clumsy Impact, an action roguelite focused on fast-paced combat, ricocheting bullets, and powerful builds. We’d love to hear your thoughts on the trailer. submitted by /u/Able-Significance241 [link] [comments]”
“We’re a two-person team working on Wielderless , a co-op action game we’re developing into a roguelite. You play as a cursed sentient weapon rather than a fixed character. You can fight directly in physics-based weapon form, scan enemies for compatibility, weaken and charm them, then possess their bodies and use them as your current combat style. Different hosts have different archetypes, levels, traits, and compatibility, so a big part of the game is finding bodies worth stealing. The current p”
“This is the Backburner, a weapon that powers up its damage the longer & faster it boomerangs! Obvious parallels to Cuphead here with the Roundabout. I found the Cuphead variant to be cool, but I added extra damage upon if it actually boomerangs for longer in this game, to encourage the boomerang-y feature! The boss is the Executionerd; the nerdy executioner of Solara! I think his boss turned out super fun, and I'm very happy about it! What do you all think? submitted by /u/Di”
“I developed with my team a particular game mechanic where you cast some spells to throw them. What are your opinions about this ? submitted by /u/SoftwareCurious6798 [link] [comments]”
“Hi all, this is Pearl Essence - an ecological bullet hell game. How does this look to you? It's a fair bit into a run so there's a lot going on but I wanted to show the various possible elemental interactions (of which there are many more!) Legibility and balancing the design of this game has been a fun and interesting challenge. It's still in fairly early development but if this sounds and looks interesting to you I'd love to have you join the game's Discord server to try it”
“There are multiple skill variants and spell variations for each ability slot, but we picked the best ones to showcase for now. As you can see in the video, we're experimenting with a new mechanic for the Blood Mage where casting spells costs your own HP! Does the balance between the HP cost and life-steal feel right for a fast-paced roguelite? Also, what do you think about the VFX readability and style? Thanks in advance for your time and feedback! Steam Link: https://store.steampowered.com/”
“The general idea being that you unlock different weapons as the game progresses and each feels unique. But at the same time being a tactile choice. There will be no armor options. Mobility will affect roll and movement acceleration, but not top speed. SPEAR - starting weapon. I deliberately want to move people away from leaning on block and this seems a good way to do that. Range - best Attack Speed - fast attack, slow recovery Damage - medium DPS - medium Force - medium Mobility - High Block -”
“We’re a small team working on CORRUPTA, an isometric action RPG roguelike built around pattern-driven combat and stealing powers from enemies. Enemies can drop Magi Hearts, which you can bind to your weapons to use their abilities and build different combinations throughout a run. This is an early look at one of the rooms we’re currently working on. We’ve just started sharing development updates, pixel art, enemies and gameplay on Instagram if you’d like to follow the project: @corruptagame  ”
“Hey everyone! We realized having just one death animation for our basic enemy (the Hoolis) felt repetitive, so we updated the system in Tiebreakers with more variety and explosive physics. We also added force modifiers depending on the weapon type, heavy balls make them explode and bounce, but we're thinking lightweight shots like pingpong balls should make them fall faster or have more floor friction. What do you think of the ragdoll/explosion behavior? submitted by /u/Green-Ass”
“The basic idea was to combine the atmosphere of Fear & Hunger with a combat system inspired by Library of Ruina, but bring the whole thing into 3D. It's pretty ambitious, and getting to this point involved a lot of experimenting with different JRPG combat systems. Combat has probably been the hardest part of development so far. Stabilizing turn order, initiative calculations, attack effects, and making sure the correct animations play depending on the attack and weapon type turned out to”
“Hey everyone, do you think a phase and pattern based boss would appeal to roguelite fans? curious to hear what you think. submitted by /u/dmrsefacan [link] [comments]”
“Hey everyone! Ever since we released Lootbound , our tactical inventory-management roguelite, we’ve gotten one piece of feedback louder than anything else: "Why are the heroes facing away from the enemies during combat?!" Honestly? Good question. 😂 Sometimes as developers, you get so used to looking at your own game that you completely overlook the obvious. We listened to your feedback (and gentle roasting), and our team spent literally one day dropping everything to create a new upda”
“By equipping the Parry badge for 2 BP, you can press the parry button (with good timing, of course!) to INSTANTLY parry the attack, take no damage, and gain some invincibility frames!! This may need some tweaks, since I literally just made it in an hour tonight. I think I'll make the timing a little stricter and fix some hitbox stuff. ...But it's SUPER fun to play around with! I'm also thinking about adding upgrades that deal damage to the boss when you parry, too!! Maybe some other”
“The game's name is "Demon Gun, at least for now. It's about a pistol that gains sentience and now travels through the world (and space most likely too) collecting coins. Why? I will have to figure that out haha. You have limited ammo which changes depending on the level. There are also pickups that allow you to slow down time, plan your next action more precisely and help you reach certain coins and progress the level. Many things are still placeholders and a subject to change but I”
“If you aim at certain parts of an enemy, their evasion will increase, but you can destroy those parts and potentially eliminate their turn. Be careful, though: they will change their strategy, sometimes to your detriment. For instance, the Rifle Bandit will loose the rifle and start lobbing dynamite at you for huge damage! The idea is to create a short-term/long-term trade-off. Do you want to gain a turn now at the cost of taking more damage later? Or is it better to wait until their HP is lower”
“This is the Tachi, one of the ten unlockable weapons in my indie game Gauntleteer! This video here shows it with maxed-out endgame upgrades... So it's a tad overpowered in the footage haha. But it's sooo satisfying, right!? I record footage of this boss a lot, apologies. It's one of my favorites in the whole game and just the best to test new weapons on as it features attackable minions and multiple phases/projectiles haha! submitted by /u/Different_Corner4727 [link]  ”
“I'm currently working on polishing the Combat part of my game. The goal is to polish it enough to create the gameplay trailer and finaly the steam page. Tell me what you think, did I reach appealing gameplay quality? submitted by /u/NightGrindGames [link] [comments]”
“Here is a bit of additional info for anyone interested: This is actually not as straight forward as you might think. These type of 2D action platformer bosses are usually designed with animations in mind, as they influence the gameplay heavily. Simply put, usually you design an action with a specific intent (e.g. an attack where the player must jump over), and then create the animations based on your needs. This ensures timing and balance. Also, anticipation frames are very important to a) have”
“Thanks for suggestions here i updated animation timing offsets, aligned the animations a bit. Pleae let me know how combat feels :) showcasing some skills and stances submitted by /u/Responsible_Mine894 [link] [comments]”
“Just added a new ranged enemy to my game. It throws a device that projects damaging laser beams across the area. I’ve also implemented the Elite version. It fires a device with even more laser beams for a wider AoE and a bigger challenge. Visuals for the Elite model are still a work in progress, but the mechanics are all set. What do you think about the attack indicators and telegraphing? Would love to hear your feedback! submitted by /u/OkurYavuz [link] [comments]”
“Hey everyone! I've added new sword attack animations and shooting mechanics to the game. Test version - the number of shots is currently unlimited (whether ammo or another resource will be consumed later - I haven't decided yet). There's currently no ability to shoot at enemies in the air (I'm still thinking about how to implement it). You can actually hit them with a sword in the air, but I haven't done the animation yet. Damn, I just realized it - I forgot to add the flying”
“The game is called Broken Dagger . There’s still a lot of work to do, but here’s our latest trailer showcasing the game’s combat system. submitted by /u/ENginee777 [link] [comments]”