Currently working on a new monster after getting some inspiration from the
Helmet Head boss
from Zelda II: The adventure of Link and the Evil Knight that is currently on the site. I liked that when the player knocked off the boss's helmets they didn't just go away, but instead became enemies themselves. So, I have decided to try and replicate that in Hexen due to it being a little more fitting.
So far I have not gotten into actually making the monster in game, but I have started to gather some sprites to use and have been thinking about the mechanics. At first I was thinking about making it just like Helmet Head where after the player knocks off two helmets that's all that will appear and each one would move slightly differently and shoot weak fireballs. But I wanted something a little more than that. So, I have chosen to use five different helmets which not only have their own stand alone attacks after being knocked off the suit of armor, but will also affect how the suit of armor behaves.
The mechanics are not final but I am feeling pretty good on them so far. The helmets included and affect on the armor suit would be as follows:
(Also "Normal Stats" would be similar to the stats of a brown chaos serpent... or a Mancubus I guess. Medium to semi-Hard level)
- Evil Knight Helm: Normal Stats, Melee only / Stand alone: Shoots weak fireballs
- Invisible Warrior Helm: Normal Stats, Melee, Throws Sword / Stand alone: Shoots daggers (Ripper flag added)
- Butcher Helm: High health and attack, Low speed, Melee, Slams sword in ground to cause a small tremor forward / Stand alone: Slow, Shoots rocks
- Archer Knight Helm: High speed, Low health, Melee, Able to leap forward and swing then quickly take a leap back out of reach / Stand alone: Fast, Lost Soul Attack
- Zardaz Helm: High speed and attack, Melee, All previous attacks or something else that I can't think of. No stand alone as this would be the final helmet to appear.
Each helmet would be able to fly when knocked off and can not be defeated. The only way to get rid of them would be to kill the suit of armor. As such, this enemy would be intended as a mid-boss or boss since the helmets would serve as extra enemies to dodge around. Since they cannot be defeated their attacks will be fairly weak as well, making them not too much of a threat but still worth keeping track of as they can still chip away at the player's health.
I'll try to make edits with each helmet on the suit of armor later. I already have each helmet as stand alone pieces so it's just a matter of getting them on the suit after I do some recoloring and other edits. In the meantime, any feedback or suggestions?