So, you just played the demo of my project, you fought the first boss, and you thought: ‘Gee, that boss was pretty cool. I wonder how he did that?’ Well, wonder no more, for I am here to tell you just how to make a boss like that! For those of you that haven’t played the demo yet, spoiler alert! But here’s a video of the boss in action if you don’t mind spoilers.
This is a given, but here’s the list of custom graphics you’ll need for a boss like this:
- A standard killable NPC (If you want your boss to be hurt by jumping or spinjumping, use a Goomba. If not, use a Spiny) This will serve as the boss’ weak point. Make its death effect invisible. Don't forget nogravity=1 and speed=0 if your boss is immobile!
- A friendly NPC reskin, which will serve as the boss’ ‘hurt’ state, in which you can’t damage him. Whenever you place it in the level, don’t forget to set it to ‘Friendly’ so you don’t grab it like an item!
- Whatever graphics you need for the boss’ attacks.
Now, you need a place where the boss will be fought. Since you’ll be spending the entire battle here, it’s important that the arena has both safe spots and danger spots. You should make a basic arena first and then edit it as you make the boss’ attacks. It’s never a good idea to have a rigid attack or arena design.
Now’s when things get tricky with the layers and events. First, take a look at this: Jeez, those are a lot of events.
Yeah, those are a LOT of events and layers, all related to a single boss. But don’t get scared away just yet, it’s actually pretty simple once you get the hang of it. First, we’ll make a layer for the boss’ first hit point, let’s call it BossHP1 or something. Then, head over to the events and make an event for killing the boss NPC. Call it something like ‘BossHit1’ (Labelling your events like this is VERY important if you don’t want to get confused by all the events!) You can leave the event itself blank for now. Next, place the killable NPC in the level, and set its death event to the one we just made. Now, make another layer for the boss’ ‘hurt’ state. We’ll call this layer ‘BossHurt’. Hide the ‘BossHP1’ layer and put the friendly NPC reskin in the BossHurt layer, then place it in EXACTLY the same spot as the killable NPC. Now, go back to events, and make the BossHit1 event show the BossHurt layer. Now, when you stomp or throw something at the killable NPC, it’ll instantly spawn the boss’ hurt state on top! Yup, he felt that one.
Congratulations, we’ve created the boss’ ‘prone state’, the state in which you can actually hit the boss! However, ‘Prone’ shouldn’t mean ‘helpless’. The boss shouldn’t just wait for you to hit him unless it makes sense for the boss in question. Instead, we’ll make a new layer called ‘Prone’ and add either a couple NPC generators or Rinka Boxes to make things dangerous even when you’re trying to hit the boss.
The boss isn’t just gonna take you hitting him lying down, you know. Let’s make him strike back! Make a new layer for the boss’ first attack, and make it however you want! Raining bombs, extra Rinkas, enemy generators, pick whichever you want! However, you should only put ONE attack in the layer. Let’s say extra Rinka boxes. Hide this layer for now. Next, go back to the events screen and add an event called ‘BossAttack1’ or something. Now, make the ‘BossHit1’ event call the ‘BossAttack1’ event, either instantly or after a short delay. Have the new attack event show the layer that has the extra Rinka Boxes. Now, make BossAttack1 call an event that hides the layer after a while, call this ‘BossAttack1Stop’. Next, repeat Step 3 but use a new layer called ‘BossHP2’. This will serve as the boss’ second hit point. Have the event that hides the Rinka Boxes call another event that hides the ‘BossHurt’ layer and shows the ‘BossHP2’ and ‘Prone’ layers. Now, once the boss has attacked, it’ll revert to its prone state and you can hit it again! Let’s summarize the event flow quickly:
BossHP1 dies > calls ‘BossHit1, showing the BossHurt and BossAttack layers > After a time, Call BossAttack1Stop, BossAttack is hidden > BossHurt hides shortly after, and BossHP2 shows
This is the most basic example of an attack string. You can have multiple attacks in a single string, so spice it up a bit with multiple attacks! You could even have the boss use two attacks at the same time as the end approaches! The possibilities are nigh-endless.
Fancy screen-filling attacks are great, but often impossible to avoid unless you know it’s going to happen. Pictured: Fancy screen-filling attack
In situations like that, a telegraph is great to have. It can be as simple as an exclamation mark telling you where (not) to stand in a second. This is easy to implement. Make a new layer called ‘BossAttackXWarning’, where X is the number of the attack. Put some exclamation marks or other warning signs in this layer, then put this event in the string between the BossHit/AttackEnd and your new attack event. Now, before your boss rains all kinds of death down on you, it’ll politely tell you where it’s going to raise hell, or where you should be to avoid the attack. Excuse me, kind sir. I am about to vaporize the area in an attempt to kill you. Please understand.
Once you get the final hit in, it’s rather anticlimactic to have the boss just disappear, so let’s make another event, called BossDeath. Here, you can customize your boss’ death effect. The Eclipse simply explodes, but maybe you want your boss to fall down comically, or have fancier explosions! Play around a bit, and make the boss awesome even in death! A worthy adversary, even in death...
I hope this helps people make some truly awesome bosses! It may seem daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, the only challenge is coming up with attacks for the boss. Good luck on whatever boss you may intend to make!
All joking aside, this is a pretty good boss-making tutorial for anyone new to SMBX. Hopefully, it will decrease the frequent overuse of SMBX's pre-programmed AIs. I will say, you probably shouldn't use a giant, blocky graphic for your explosion (perhaps the explosion from Metal Storm would work instead?).
Imaynotbehere4long wrote:This tutorial is boss! (sorry, I had to)
All joking aside, this is a pretty good boss-making tutorial for anyone new to SMBX. Hopefully, it will decrease the frequent overuse of SMBX's pre-programmed AIs. I will say, you probably shouldn't use a giant, blocky graphic for your explosion (perhaps the explosion from Metal Storm would work instead?).
This is a boss guide, not a boss showcase But yeah, I intend to change that explosion sometime.
Imaynotbehere4long wrote:This tutorial is boss! (sorry, I had to)
All joking aside, this is a pretty good boss-making tutorial for anyone new to SMBX. Hopefully, it will decrease the frequent overuse of SMBX's pre-programmed AIs. I will say, you probably shouldn't use a giant, blocky graphic for your explosion (perhaps the explosion from Metal Storm would work instead?).
What do you even EXPECT from SMBX bosses? Recreate Wart or SMB3 bowser without using the actual NPCs. I'd like to see you try.
Imaynotbehere4long wrote:This tutorial is boss! (sorry, I had to)
All joking aside, this is a pretty good boss-making tutorial for anyone new to SMBX. Hopefully, it will decrease the frequent overuse of SMBX's pre-programmed AIs. I will say, you probably shouldn't use a giant, blocky graphic for your explosion (perhaps the explosion from Metal Storm would work instead?).
What do you even EXPECT from SMBX bosses? Recreate Wart or SMB3 bowser without using the actual NPCs. I'd like to see you try.
Imaynotbehere4long wrote:
More than just the base boss AI in an empty room with an NPC generator that you have to use as your weapon.
Exactly. I don't have a problem with using the base boss NPCs. What I do have a problem with is the frequent lack of any sort of creativity. Seeing the 38th SMB3 Bowser with a Billy Gun out in the open for no reason gets kind of boring.
But yeah, I intend to change that explosion sometime.
.
