Ok, here are some enemies that always made me stay on my toes when I knew they were around. These 2 are all I can think of right now
The walking hands in Blood. They''re hard to spot because they''re so low, but you know they''re there because of the sound they make. I always feared them because the invencibility cheat wouldn''t protect me from their blinding attack - anything that is not that hard to hit but if it goes past your defences can damage your sensor arrays, radars, etc, makes for a really good enemy
The leeches in Abe''s Exoddus. When they''re sleeping, you must be very careful to walk past them without making any noise - and the developers were evil enough to put some tiny, blind leeches walking around so if you stepped on one of them, goodbye It makes for a lot of tension cuz if they wake up, all you have to do is run. I''m imagining some sort of sleeping swarm and having to take a lot of care to go past them (including some mechanics like the tiny leeches so that you don''t just have to slow down your ship).
Sleeping enemies are one of my favorite things in games. Sleeping grunts in Halo, with a patrolling Elite or two to keep you on your toes, made for a few excellent little scenarios.
I''d like to see dormant Siegers combined with the "domains" that Technogoth described. After an "upwelling", there would be a huge population of Siegers in an area that''s been largely drained of psionic energy, and so perhaps a few would wander off to look for other energy sources, but a large portion of the population would go dormant, hibernating in the hollowed-out shell of the system they shattered. You could fly into the ruins of fallen civilization, psionically cloaked or otherwise concealed from the drowsing Siegers, put down on the ancient capitol planet, and set about harvesting technology or artificial minerals that cannot be found elsewhere. Artifacts could be concealed in ancient catacombs and temples, perhaps defended somehow from the Siegers. Then you''ve got to get out before the Siegers detect you. Could be harrowing.
If you are going to give the Seigers more personality, I think you''ll have to give them some form of organization. Even the ravenous undead do not really count as villains, because their will and restraint are gone, replaced by an addiction to carnage. It''s still a force of nature. If the Siegers are going to be more sophisticated enemies, you''ll have to let them have a mission.
Maybe they''re some kind of primordial destructive force, working toward apocalypse since the dawn of time. Maybe they''re the psionic echoes of an ancient race that tried to conquer the universe and was thwarted by some heroic alliance. The Siegers could have come about like the psybionts do, but due to the psionic magnitude of their former selves they are more powerful and horrible by far, and can act autonomously. Heck, you could have the psybionts be like little, friendly Siegers. They have much of the same modus operandi, absorbing psionic energy and converting it into physical power.
Anyway, they need to be more fleshed out. Even if you don''t tell the player where they came from or what they want, you have to know when you build them into the game.
Cleanerdroids: Spacefaring Von Numnan machines designed to clear the spaceways of derilect ships and refuse.
They machines travel to star systems and often lie dormant for years. If they find a destroyed ship or a run-dow space probe, they will dismantle it and use most of its components to build more recyclobots. They also gather solar power and use ramjets to collect fuel.
When they detect ships exiting hyperspace they will often signal their presence and offer to share their excess fuel, energy or parts.
However, they sometimes have trouble telling damaged ships from broken ones and may attack travelers if their ship is in bad shape.
(I think this would be nice because they are good for the player most of the time but if you are hurt they could become a real problem)
------- Cannibal-bots: Cleanerdroids that have been corrupted through damaged memory banks or tampering.
They are almost indestinguishable from Cleanerdroids except that they attack and consume all spacecraft or probes that contain metal or usefull energy. Ones that have been tampered with often remove the weapons from ships and use them to destroy spacecraft.
(sort of like poisoning a well, the robots are usually good but if there is a war on, someone could plant some cannibal-bots in a battlefield or a ships graveyard to raise an army... though the bots would attack everyone)
------- The Lone Ones: Sentient creatures with virtually limitless lifespans, All the females were wiped out in a great war with another race (now extinct) so the remaining males have spread out across the universe and dedicated their lives to staying alive.
To achieve this, they use their vast numbers of robots, to gather resources and erect defenses around themselves.
Most Lone One will usually stay in massive spaceships erected with powerful armor, shields and engines (the Lone ones ship has no wepons lest a malfunction could injure him) and is always guarded by a fleet of thousands or robot ships which range from small scout probes to city-sized warships.
Each Lone one has staken out a vast area of uninhabited space as his own and has his robot guards destroy all intruders, and his resource gatherers mine entire planets and asteroids to oblivion to maintain his defenses.
They make poor allies because they have no need for allies. Though on very rare occasions they may become interested in trading resources for items (sharing their own technology is out of the question), animals or star systems that they particularly like.
Also, they constantly improve their technology and often build massive constructs just to pass the time. They could build a Death Star or some trans-warp gate just for the fun of it. Though they would never let anyone else have it lest they use it against them.
(having all the robot guards in an area could provide an added risk in planning trade routes, so that systems on the outer edge of Lone Ones space would have mainly scout droids and the farther in the tougher and more numerous the robots.)
Oh, actually on a related note. I remember playing a game called Serene (I think thats the name) that used A-life algorithms in it. The Object was to kill a certain number of creatures in the time limit. However when there was a large enough group of them together, they would reproduce and eventually the place would get flooded with them. And the ones you didn''t kill fast enough reproduced to pass their genes onto the next generation so they just naturally got tougher to kill.
Gameplay was a struggle between keeping the monsters seperated, and killing every single one you could because the ones later on would have the characteristics of the ones you didn''t kill.
The fact that they had the same attacks as you also made the game tough.
---------- On second though, I think the Lone Ones would be better off not having wiped out their opponent.
Perhaps they were beaten in a Massive war and have since been scattered across the universe. Small groups traveling to seek out new weapons and gain the resources and number of robot soldiers needed to defeat the "Great Enemy"
Then they could travel in swarms with perhaps a dozen Lone Ones and hundreds of robot drones to colonize planets.
Then they would and use self-replicating technology to mine the whole planet and increase their fleet size. Further their mission would be to test their wepons on whatever enemies they could find.
So while their robot drones wouldn''t improve by getting into battle. Each time one gets in a fight, it transfers the battle data back to HQ and the Lone Ones build improved versions based on the data they collect.
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But then again... I don''t know what I''m talking about...
Why not have the Lone Ones be the sworn enemy of the Siegers? A war with the Siegers led to the destruction of all their females, and now the few males that remain are torn between the quest to find surviving females, the search for an alternate method of reproduction (their incredibly complex make-up is unclonable) and the ongoing guerrila war with the Siegers. The Lone Ones should be absolutely badass if this is the case, each one a match for dozens of Siegers, so that their current crisis arose from treachery. They could be the polar opposite of Siegers, giving the universe a nice duality.
Remember in the Death Gate cycle, there were those weird huge eel monsters and the dragons, and they were like devils and angels, incredibly powerful and diametrically opposed? That''s what I''m thinking of now.
Now it seems that a decision must be made between having a bunch of super-beings in the universe or just the Siegers. I think it would be worthwhile to tone down the Siegers a little so you don''t have to really deal with them being like deities. Just make them tough and scary, and make it so they don''t need ships, and you''ve got them. But they should be killable, huntable, and conquerable if you''ve got the hardware and tactics to do it.
If you decide to make them demi-gods, Wavinator, you''ve got to work out the whole dynamic. What I said above about having a backstory for their origins and motivations still applies. This is becoming more of a writing issue than a design issue.
I personally don''t like the idea of the lone ones, especially not as have them as the enemies of the seiger. I seiger more as beings from another plane of existence that have manifested in our universe. They can''t be reasoned or negotied with because they don''t perceive the universe in the same way we do. The Seiger don''t consider the entities in our universe as being lifeforms anymore then we consider the wind or sunlight to be alive. Even the seigers appearence in our universe is just a twisted manifestations of their true appearence to conform partly to our physical laws.
The seiger crossover to our universe out of curiosity and hunger. They feed upon the various energy forms that flow through the universe like a vast ocean. They sampled many forms of energy when they first arrived until they found one that they now hunger for the most the psychic energy of sentiant beings. Once they have consumed all there is to eat in an area the either move on or enter the death sleep. Where for all intensive purposes they are considered dead, however they are only lying dormant. That is until something peeks their interest or hunger.
Why they came? Is uncertain, but the oldest stories tell of a race now lost to the dust of history that tried to transcend this existence and enter another. However those that succeeded found themselves in the dark and twisted dimension of the sieger. There exstence their lasted only an instant before they where consumed by the seiger. By the time the others released what was happening it was to late, the door had been opened and seiger had begun to find their way in.
----------------------------------------------------- "Fate and Destiny only give you the opportunity the rest you have to do on your own." Current Design project: Ambitions Slave
I hate enemies that I cannot run away from or that will run away from me when badly hurt and repair - robbing me of my prize (whether they teleport away or are simply very fast - pick one).
I hate enemies I''m not allowed to kill to fulfill a later important quest, but who hunt me with impunity as soon as they see me (damned cats)
I hate enemies that can replicate and will grow and grow unless controlled early.
I hate mimics - I will usually run to every strange looking object on the floor, but some impossible objects (a pink sword for instance) may in fact be deadly paralyzing killing machines instead of the strange object or artifact I hoped for.
I hate enemies that have multiple reasons to be hated - there are very many combinations - enough to annoy all kinds of characters.
Why they came? Is uncertain, but the oldest stories tell of a race now lost to the dust of history that tried to transcend this existence and enter another. However those that succeeded found themselves in the dark and twisted dimension of the sieger. There exstence their lasted only an instant before they where consumed by the seiger. By the time the others released what was happening it was to late, the door had been opened and seiger had begun to find their way in.
I think you just found a better way to explain why the civilization of the lone ones was nearly lost I think it just reeks coolness that they''re doomed to fight the twisted versions of their own kind for survival. Maybe there''s more to this
IMO, an enemy is not scary because it is big or powerful. An enemy is scary because it is hard to destroy or attacks in a unique way.
Stalker A spider-like stalker will hover over a ship and attach an egg to it. Once the egg hatches, larva will burrow into the hull and start to munch on it, growing larger. Once they reach full size, the stalker will come after the ship and start tearing it apart until the larva can exit. The eggs can be removed if noticed, but the larva will go bezerk if touched, which will call all of the stalkers nearby.
Volt Eel The Volt Eel will attach itself to a ship and start sucking out its energy, then eventually leaving. If aggravated, the Eel will release all of its stored energy. In other words, you get your power back, but you lose a lot of your armor.
Screamer Screamers fly nearby ships and fire a hull-latching "trunk" at it. Once the trunk is connected, it will unleash sonic waves through the ship to harm and stun the crew. Then, it will form a vacuum and suck of the stunned crew, eventually digesting them.
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Original post by liquiddark Some archetypes for you. These are horrible old cliches, but they work every time when done correctly:
1) The recurring villain - just keeps coming, usually growing in power just a bit faster than the PC (see the villain from Mega Man) 2) The weakness villain - exploits & thereby makes you hate your own weaknesses. If you''re slow, it''s fast, if you''re weak on attack it has huge defenses (I don''t have a good example here) 3) The cocky bastard - doesn''t really have a "gimmick" of its own, just makes you _believe_ it does. Often more effective when used in a cuckoo-egg manner - that is, as an imitator of a much more powerful creature (see the Kilrathi bosses in Wing Commander) 4) The Mime - you go to grab the loot, and it turns out to be an enemy in disguise (see treasure monsters in Final Fantasy) 5) Where made possible by the engine, a monster should be able to hide and surprise the player (see the ninja ladies in Half Life).
ld
You need a truly evil-annoying-cocky bastard for the player to really hate. If you''ve got a Playstation, track down a copy of Lunar: Silver Side Story (and then you''ll want to play Eternal Blue, it''s sequel). The main bad guy in that game is something else entirely. He''s--you will hate him.
