You OWN bosses and episodes- discuss!

[Hazza]

Hey guys- here is a question (possibly asked before- but it's 2009, so)

Welcome to the 'what I would do if I could direct my own Quake title' thread!
(possibly the first in a few).

If YOU got to make your own Quake title (remake, mod, expansion- whatever), how would you incorporate Episodes- and more importantly, what kind of BOSSES would you put in- or major end-of-episode fights?

How many episodes would you have? Would you make them hub-based (Quake classic style) or linear (Quake 2 style)?

For bosses- may be your OWN boss ideas, OR examples of existing bosses that you think are suitable (from any game- including mods- but for the sake of not losing everyone, preferably Quake 1 titles (maybe Quake 2).

Of course, by BOSS fights you CAN include a situation where you just enter a really tough fight with some ordinary monsters (eg a massive room full of Grunts, even!).

Discuss!

[WarioN64]

I'd have Shamblers everywhere.

[nitro/adminofdeath]

I have a extra episode and it should be very Hard

[foq]

I'd give Chthon and Shub HP instead of the lame ways we kill them now

[MH]

I've no problems with the "lame ways we kill" Chthon and Shub, it at least makes them stand out a little from just regular fights. Chthon with HP would be a totally boring anti-climax: duck behind a pillar, pop out, fire a few rockets, duck back, repeat to fade.

I'd put a "special" at the end of each episode, drawing from the Chthulu mythos. It's a long time since I've read Lovecraft so I can't be specific though. Otherwise I think SP Quake as it is is just fine; sure it leaves something lacking, but too many changes and it would no longer be Quake...!

[Hazza]

I'd probably go for sequential episodes (the hub was awesome- but I didn't like how it was just an easy-to-hard episode 4 times over instead of an easy-to-hard game).
I'd probably go for an Armagon-style hub- choose your difficulty- but the episodes are a long story-based sequence- like Quake 2 as well.

I'd have LOTS of episodes- some ending with bosses, some with heavy fights- some with both (eg fight a Boss midway through the level and run across a Vore bridge at the end).
The episodes are short, and frequently alternate between different environments (think Quake 3 Arena- it went between medieval, base, gothic, industrial, romanesque, etc).
To break up the whole start hitech- then castles onwards theme.

I'd also have many of the episodes blend hitech and medieval so there is a more diverse use of monsters (like Armagon did in Episode 3 with frequent use of grunts, enforcers, ogres, fiends and shamblers- all looking like they actually belong there).

[Zop]

The rquake coop server has an interesting version of shub where you have to shoot it... but it also fires homing missiles and other junk, so expect to die a bunch.

[Hazza]

Nice! I'll check it out.

[Radec]

I'd make a game where you take on the last of Quake's forces and then take the lord him self. Playing the first game you'd think Shub was Quake but the Mission Packs talk about Quake still being alive and a male (not female like Shub).

I've imagined Quake as a larger version of the Knight with a massive sword and magic capabilities the likes you never seen.

Maybe being able to jump at you faster than Spawn and cut you to shreads like a Knight but be able to attack you from a far with maybe firing 5 bigger versions of the Voreball at once.

And maybe when you beat him, he could transform into somekind of skyscraper sized beast of hell to finally kill you. But then he swallows you whole and then you walk around in side of him, avoiding being digested and gunning your way to his heart and shoot it to kill him, sacrifising your self and thus brining the story of Quake to an end.

I dunno.

[metchsteekle]

[Hazza]

Now THAT's what I'm talking about!
Now my favourite Cthulhu portrait!

I'd make a game where you take on the last of Quake's forces and then take the lord him self. Playing the first game you'd think Shub was Quake but the Mission Packs talk about Quake still being alive and a male (not female like Shub).

I've imagined Quake as a larger version of the Knight with a massive sword and magic capabilities the likes you never seen.

Maybe being able to jump at you faster than Spawn and cut you to shreads like a Knight but be able to attack you from a far with maybe firing 5 bigger versions of the Voreball at once.

And maybe when you beat him, he could transform into somekind of skyscraper sized beast of hell to finally kill you. But then he swallows you whole and then you walk around in side of him, avoiding being digested and gunning your way to his heart and shoot it to kill him, sacrifising your self and thus brining the story of Quake to an end.

I dunno.

Funny you should say that- Nehahra had something similar (the villains behind helping the original player kill Shub are a larger, faster knight named Max and a sky-scraper-sized lizard-demon monster called Nehahra- you fight the lizard first, then the knight in the following level).

I myself imagined Quake would be Azathoth or Nyarlathotep (on behalf of Azathoth) trying to destroy the universe- and would be some massive, homogenous creature (either a gargantuan floating blob- or maybe a flying body with lots of arms- or heads- or even a shapeshifter?

Seeing as Shub's dead- and Ctthon may arguably have been Satan- the candidates are slimmer.

And you more or less never fight him- but he occasionally drops in to beat you up, mock you and leaves (because of some inability to remain teleported in your position?)

[Kazimira]

I actualy always imagined the final guy behind everything to look very erm... normal. Like the type you wouldnt expect. The final fight would be this normal guy getting you to fight off huge creatures he's summoning just by a wave of his hand. Finaly you have to fight this guy who looks like a weak guy almost accountant like. The sort of person you dont know if you should really kill because theres no chalange.

As for episodes they could have done alot more with the hub than they did. Just imagine you did the episodes in the order you did them and everything was the same then you did them kind of last to first or right to left. Doing each episode changes things in the next so if you go though one bit in the next one theres more rooms opend up and so on and so forth. The very last episode is always the hardest yet it looks quite diffrent to if you'd done it first.

[spooker]

i think quake is not a particular, individual entity, but rather an abstract, malevolent force that can never really be eradicated (that would mean no more sequels anyways!!!)

[R00k]

I would say that a BOSS level should be the focal point, and the episode is the challenge to sustain your excitement until you get to the boss. So, imho if one was to make a kick ass mod for these types of games the boss levels are primal and should be a sub game in itself. Anyone else voting for shambler pong yet?

[Hazza]

Also- some boss ideas/sequences;

-A duo of largish monsters (think Kona Fire or Earth Barons)

-A VERY large room of grunts and enforcers- overwhelming! Believe me, when faced with a LOT of either of those things at once things actually get pretty dicey.

-Chthon (generally a stationary enemy that you strafe around)

-A dragon (an enemy that flies in bombing runs- and later just hovers and dodges shots while constantly raining fire down)

-Some extremely large walking enemy that relentlessly bombards you (I had a concept idea of A shub *****rath-like creature with lots of legs and a skinny pair of arms to use magic or something.

Of course, a more cybernetic/mechanical boss should also be used to break up the medievalishness.