I don't really mind scaled up enemies. If there's some kind of power progression in the game, the enemies scale up but either a) don't change their names (Witcher 3) or b) they change their names (Skyrim, Fallout 4).
I don't expect game developers to make a unique monster for every stage of progression. Especially not unique art. That's a lot to ask.
Borderlands 2 had the widest variety of enemies I've seen so far. Most of the time it would be a flood of common enemies, but occasionally you'd get a "Super Badass Loader" (which had unique art) or the appropriate equivalent (Psycho, Skag, Thresher, Constructor, etc) and were in for a good fight. Yet you'd still see the same enemies used later in the game, just with higher levels.
Diablo 3's rift bosses use recycled art from previous monsters in the game, but gives them completely new attack patterns by reusing existing code in different ways. That's the ideal case, IMO.
Stronger versions of enemies?
I don't expect game developers to make a unique monster for every stage of progression. Especially not unique art. That's a lot to ask.
And therein lies the inherent weakness of video vs table top games. tabletop games don't require massive artwork. so you don't have to compromise on the design because you don't have the artwork manpower to execute it.
By holding video games to a lower standard you encourage mediocrity.
"Its too much artwork" is not a legitimate excuse for lack of requisite variety in enemy types.
recycled art from previous monsters in the game.... reusing existing code in different ways. That's the ideal case
Boy! You're easy to please! <g>.
How about unique artwork, abilities, and AI for each monster type? (Yeah - I'm a 1 percenter).
I put it to you that recycling stuff, while sometimes necessary, is technically being lazy. especially in a game where you have the freedom to do what you want - so nothing is preventing you from making everything unique - except lack of time, funding, or the will to do it.
Much has to do with the concept of "games as art" vs "games as product".
As art, everything should be unique, and dev costs are irrelevant. All design decisions should be made to improve the player experience, not reduce the developer workload.
As product, quality only matters insofar as it impacts profitability. So reuse of assets and code is good. It makes the dev team more productive, and thus hopefully more profitable. But it doesn't make for a better game, just richer publishers. So they can then go out and fund another less-than-everything-it-could-be game for maximal-profit.
In hollywood they have the concept of "one for them and one for me".
"One for them" is mass market crap that makes money. Actors and directors do these to make a living.
"One for me" are those pet projects where its about the art , not the money - sometimes referred to as "Art films". The film they always wanted to do, even though it may never make a lot of money - or may even lose money.
I tend to do this by scaling the AI.
I start by designing the meanest fastest and most difficult AI I can, make this the top level of creature, then purposefully nerf it a bit at a time for progressively lower level grunts.
This way a goblin slave (lowest) might just have suicidal seek and engage AI, while the top level elite has search, military strategy such as pincer movements, can lead a team, retreats strategically to find health etc and can analyse your attack to find weak points.
You can also give elite units a ranged weapon along with their sword, e.g. a single handed crossbow or a slingshot, so they have a second level of attack to counter.
Hope this helps!
I start by designing the meanest fastest and most difficult AI I can, make this the top level of creature, then purposefully nerf it a bit at a time for progressively lower level grunts.
This way a goblin slave (lowest) might just have suicidal seek and engage AI, while the top level elite has search, military strategy such as pincer movements, can lead a team, retreats strategically to find health etc and can analyse your attack to find weak points.
You can also give elite units a ranged weapon along with their sword, e.g. a single handed crossbow or a slingshot, so they have a second level of attack to counter.
Hope this helps!
E.g. an elite version of a npc should have some extra feature/skill the standard version does not have.
Having another attack or something unique means the player has something new to learn and not just more times they have to hit something.
I don't expect game developers to make a unique monster for every stage of progression. Especially not unique art. That's a lot to ask.
And therein lies the inherent weakness of video vs table top games. tabletop games don't require massive artwork. so you don't have to compromise on the design because you don't have the artwork manpower to execute it.
By holding video games to a lower standard you encourage mediocrity.
"Its too much artwork" is not a legitimate excuse for lack of requisite variety in enemy types.
Mediocrity? Have you played the games I mentioned and examined how much work went into the enemies in them? Your responses seem separated by a few degrees from how I'm judging these games.
With enough thrust, even pigs can fly. But when the thrust inevitably runs out, those pigs fall to their death.
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But Norman time and/or money IS ALWAYS limited (even for hobby projects), this is the point of the thread. Calling people lazy/greedy isnt really helping.
Combat is simplistic in my game so damage/hp scaling along with maybe blocking some abilities for lower tier monsters ("normal" mobs) will probably be enough. Same can maybe be done with ai/movement to give "champion monsters" some edge or slightly different behaviour.
I like the idea of some area buffing though. A matriarch spider can make other spiders in the party stronger, so you gain from taking that one down first. But then maybe that should be a different monster-type altogether.
Yeah how they do it in Borderlands (VERY similar solution to Diablo IMO) is kinda my idea as well. "Strong"/"badass" version that adds some extra danger and loot but reusing most of the assets.
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