Making Really Difficult Boss Fights for my Indie Game 

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It would be nice to see the final boss as the old tutorial guy

For the astronaut fight, it could be cool if the arena was within a large moon crater. This way the characters would be contained without needing the ropes.

The final boss could be a streetfight, a crowd surrounds the fight, making the arena very tight and the opponent can slip in and out of the crowd to attack you from unexpected angles, he could be hard to find but still followable in the crowd.

I feel like the final boss being mysterious at first, but then when you beat them, they will show themselves as the coach guide guy, would be really cool.

Quick suggestion: I think giving the puppet boss thinner and longer limbs would really help to sell that marionette feeling!

I feel like with how you made the astronaut suit "fatter", you should make the marionette's body thinner. I think it might give it a creepier vibe. I also think giving the champion boss a Belt would look cool.

What if you could unlock a secret boss by punching the old guy in the tutorial? Then he would start beating you up in a way that only really advanced players could counter. Although I think for a final boss you should mess around with size, that would be a really cool way to go about it

It would be pretty fun if some bosses gave you a small upgrade, like if hurrican gave you his gloves for slightly faster punches, etc. It would be sick, and maybe if u complete the game you can start again with every boss made harder and receive upgrades that are slightly better than on your last playthrough (like u would receive hurricans gloves on your first playthrough for extra 3% speed, and then extra 5% speed on your second playthrough) it would give some replayability, the game is looking incredible so far! Keep it up!

Maybe the puppet boss's big weakness is that its strings get tied with all the spinning its doing, and thats your opportunity to attack

For the marionette, i would suggest making it move slightly up and down to really make it seem like a hand is controlling it

Ngl the creativity of the designes of those bosses is insane. Nice work!

The Dummy. The Perfect Boxer. A Blender Character who is being edited during the fight to have different abilities at random times during the fight like the Astronauts lasers for example. The animations will also keep looping like the 3rd person character is making the animations step by step this could also work for the music as well where, you can hear someone talking or listening to the music and making changes.

It would be fun if the "skill-check-boss" was set in a big stadium with a lot of fireworks and things like that (considering that he is supposed to be a world champion)

Secret boss idea: The Janitor After losing enough, the janitor comes on stage and beats the boss you lost to & fights you himself

What you could do instead of proper gravity for the astronaut’s stage is give the boss a really powerful attack that it fires at the player whenever it gets launched in orbit. Maybe like a ton of rockets. That way, the player would have to balance dealing damage while also not being too tough and knocking the boss off the stage.

great progress man. Watching you since 2 years. In these two yearswhat great success you've made man.

It would be really cool for the puppet boss to perhaps fly up and then come out of the darkness instead of just poofing in front of you.

so for the astronaut level, you could have the corners of the ring as wrecked parts of a spaceship and then have the ropes be red, black, and yellow wires of the spacecraft.

I know I’m late, and it’s probably long done, but the last boss would be cool to be like a skull pirate, it’s a skeleton with a pirate costume that has a green glow on it like the Flying Dutchman, and it could have like an animation of him arriving on his ship and instead of the usual punch your way to victory, there’s stages. First stage, you hit cannonballs back at the ship as it floats in the air, then the same thing but instead of cannonballs you hit weak pirates back at the ship which makes it sink, and then when you think you won the dutchman rises from the water to attack you. He’s very fast, but throws out a lot of blockable attacks. Even tho he throws out a lot of blockable attacks, he has very short stun. He also has 3 special abilities- 1. He shoots you with his gun (locks on for like 2 seconds, then stops where the lock on last was for a second then shoots), 2. he summons 2 cannonballs that shoot at you, 3. he flies into the sky and summons 2 minions and all the while he heals, u have to kill the minions and throw them at him for him to return to the raft (btw u have to manually use a pick up button on the enemies to throw them at him during this stage and the boat stage). Once he’s defeated, you’ll get the Dutchman Badge (maybe not as the final boss but prob as a secret enemy)

there should be a merchant were you can buy and sell things, he uses the strongest items you didn't buy and the strongest items you sold to him, if you didn't sell everything or you bought everything, that he was selling, than he steals the best items you aren't using, gloves, hats, pants, and shirts, you can sometimes get items randomly throughout the matches, and with some of the items you would get small allies, give you a special ability, or buff one of your stats.

For the puppet special attack, there could be a music box melody that plays and when it stops, it means that the puppet will reappear and uppercut you.

The moon arena could be a crater perhaps, also some boss intro animations would be sick

I think it would be cool if during the final battle, a weaker version of some of the previous bosses show up to fight you for a short while

I just LOVE your videos, Ponty! I especially enjoy watching them as I make my own games :)

The final boss could be a mirror of the player character, with the 'stats' of Hurrican and the ability to temporarily turn into other bosses to use their special attacks.

Id love love to see the marionette being pulled into the darkness (like away from the player (while laughing would be terrifying)) and then appear from the right, left or behind the player to sort of jump scare them in a way. As for the final boss, I’d see the tutorial guy being all trained up and ready for his revenge. 🙂 I was gonna say a Rocky boss at first, but Murrican makes me think of him a lot already ahahah.

This game looks amazing, keep up the good work.

hey Ponty, big fan of you and the game, I followed the development and I've played a ton of Punch a Bunch and as a novice dev I come back to this video all the time because I ENVY your ropes. I'm making a wrestling game so obviously I'm trying to solve the same problem you were. Your will to just tinker until you figure it out motivates me. I WILL figure out how you accomplished that.

you should add entrances for all your bossses, the astronaut could come out of a rocket, the monk could simply be floating in meditation, and wehn you arrive he stops etc.

Ok I actually really like the original "flawed" version of the moon, punching them off only to have them orbit around is really cool

I'm not sure if it will work properly, but maybe have a boss fight against all the bosses all at once in a massive arena. Or make a shapeshifter that turns into the other bosses. I feel like the shapeshifter one would be pretty cool tbh. I've only just found your channel and I love it :) Subscribed right away. Wishlisted Punch A Bunch too! Very exited to play when its done. Also I've been trying to find something like Milanote for ages but could never find anything, it is very useful and I wish I found it sooner.

For the special attacks for the puppet, for that spin attack, you should have it spin the other way so the strings don’t get tangled. I was also thinking maybe the puppeteer could bring their hand in from off stage to attack instead of a teleporting attack which doesn’t make too much sense with a puppet

It would ve really cool to see the final boss be a puppeteer. It would play a small cut-seen of the previous fighters all laying on the ground ko'd, and then a hand pick them up and add strings to them. After that it would be the dark room but the tiles are cracked, and you would fight all of the bosses from the rest of the game but with less health and a few tweaks to make the attacks stronger. After defeating all of those you would see a cut-seen of a large old man (the one from the tutorial) put his hand onto the table in a stick figure form that would use the ring and middle finger as legs and the index and pinky as fists. It would have a special attack which is a thump. After you beat the hand, the old man would give you the winner's belt (or trophy whatever). P.S. This took a long time to type and I would appreciate if you liked this so he can see it.

I can't lie, I was a little skeptical about this game but it's starting to look hella fun! Nice work, keep it up! The astronaut is awesome

Hear me out with this final boss. The arena will be a big factory that makes a bunch of robots on conveyors. The mad scientist boss is a scientist inside a robot watching over the arena, there will be 2 phases, mini robots will come from conveyors (with low stats of course) when you defeat 15-25 of them the scientist will jump into the arena and fight you. Enter, the second phase. The scientist's design is kind of like a cyborg, which would make his stats maxed out, any ideas for a special I'll let you decide because you created the game. If you add this it will make me very happy, and I honestly think he would work as a final boss pretty well.

JUST GOT TO 9 MINUTES INTO THE VIDEO AND THOSE ROPES LOOK ABSOLUTELY AMAZING AND INCREDIBLE OHMYYYGOOOOOOOSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SO SATISFYINGGGG!!!!

Toby should be the final boss. He went through all the same training we did or something and now he's really good. That's just my idea!

I think that a great idea for the final boss would be you! Aka the game crater. The ability’s could be something like “you” the boss changing the rules or the way the game works mid fight, things like deactivating one of the players arms, making the player slow etc…

bro that orbit mechanic / mistake looked so funn just jumping of to go around and hit trickshots and stuff would be great

You should make a “challenge mode” where you can do things that you can’t include in the base mode, like the moon arena.

For the marionette I think you should make it so when he spins his strings get caught up in each other, and then it spins the other way really fast to untangle the strings, as it makes the string idea more realistic

I think for the final boss of the game, it should be the boss from the start of the game, but even better. There could be a bit of a cutscene where he says he improved since his last fight, and he’s going to win this one. After that, I think he should have a final stage where he gets really angry and grows 2 times his size, as kind of a final challenge. Anyway, great videos bro, I’m really enjoying the series and I’ll definitely be playing it when it comes out.

The stuff nobody will ever notice is my favorite stuff to do. Your ropes came out great

Amazing Work!

Tip for making the moon scenario easier: don’t try to have the players orbit, but rotate the environment! This way gravity doesn’t change in the game but the illusion is there :)

For the final boss, it could be a mafia boss who spawns two members behind him to attack you. It'll be easy until the boss reaches a certain health, which is when a limo would fall on him and the true mafia leader would step out. Perhaps the boss can have a gun to shoot and some members coming up to the ring for support. Feel free to use parts of the concept if you like :)

Game looks epic! Can't wait for it to release!

Final boss is a steampunker with a boiler on his back. Longer punch range with a pair of extending fists, sometimes pauses to build up some steam, but unleashes a double punch followed by a jump above you and forcing you to turn around and avoid where he lands. His punches deal significantly more damage, because his extendo fists are made of brass. If you bash him before he can do his double-punch, his fists hit himself in the face, stunning him briefly.

Every time you beat a boss, you'll see a mysterious character stealing their special attack. Final Boss is the mysterious character who stole every boss's special attack. So you'll pretty much face every boss all in one and not know what is coming. (With the addition of their special attack) Just like Shang Tsung in Mortal KombaT

Bro I loved 12:20 with the gravity it looked so funny. The small moon idea is so good because it’s so different from the rest of the game, that players would definitely not forget it.

You should make this game into vr, it would be awesome to have a physics boxing game in vr

So cool man keep going

How 'bout a boss who's a "slot machine", and periodically (or after being hit) he gives himself a spin, and whatever comes up on the slots dictates his strategy and stats. This way you can have a difficult boss that players can't just memorize the rhythm to, because he keeps on changing. As a bonus, whenever he gets a jackpot, his next punch is an instant KO if it lands.

Id love to see an "Oni" from Japanese Mythology With the ability to enter a rage mode or Executing you when either the fight goes on for too long or you Get hit too often resulting in less room for Error, The oni Being an ogre in a fantasy sense would also fit the 4 Arm attacks like another comment mentioned

"Friday Night at Freddy's" 💀

These videos are the best ad for a video game I’ve ever seen

Ponty. With the the astronaut. The way you orbitted around the moon is actually already a really cool mechanic. If you orbit back up the they don't need to stay on the moon and maybe the astronaut can even have a special attack for as he comes back from orbiting.

18:25 ‘Friday Night at Freddy’s’ lmao. What an amazing crossover! Also, I think that Hurrican should be the last boss, since he seems to be unbeatable

Love you progress

For the puppet boss it could help alot to give him a bit of bouncing and the strings to bounce a bit so when he bounces slightly up the strings folds a bit and then when he goes down it becomes straight

I think a dj rhythm based boos would be sick for the finale boss like an extremely hard boss but if u get the rhythm right it is a bit easier and then the final boss is unique and memorable

The totorial guy, who, as the fight progresses will slowly unleash its “true” godlike form. Perhaps a phase where it switches between all the fighters skins and attacks would be cool too. If you want to use this idea feel free to make any changes or take any creative liberties you would like.

12:40 tbh, that orbit after getting hit mechanic was kinda great! Incorporating that would have been cool.

Great video and awesome job with the ropes. 1 question: how did you "suspend" the spheres in the air so they bounce like that?

I feel like after you finish the story you should be able to do PvP. It will allow players to have more fun after the campaign and each boss power is an ability each player can use to really make it come together nicely. This will allow players to be able to have some fun instead of deleting the game right after they finish it.

“It’s bound by the same limitations as the player, so it’s a fair fight…” (*The astronaut after using his laser attack and rockets for the 8th time*) “KNEEL BEFORE ME, EARTH SCUM.”

Probably a bit late for suggestions but I might as well throw mine out there. I think a cool idea for a final boss could be an animated suit of armour that can separate parts of it's body to attack you from different angles. It could also separate into a tornado of armour bits and spin at you to stun you. When you beat him he'd fall apart. It's probably a bit ambitious of an idea though, I can imagine the nightmare that would probably be to program. Your game looks really fun though, definitely going to check it out when it releases.

Maybe a little option to have the ropes in the Astronaut boss would be a good idea since then you could choose if you want to stay in a area or if you wanna have fun with the chaos of the orbit

I think the orbit could be a fun feature, and could really sell the space theme.

Evil AI. An all white boxer, with a single camera as an "eye". It can mimic one special ability from any boss at random, and for its own special, it can bug (reverse) your controls momentarily.

Hey PontyPants, I’m a little late but I feel like one of the hardest fights could be a slime man where can swing his arm in a circle and hit you or he can split himself into two. His ultimate can be like a slime pool and you can’t move for a couple of seconds. I feel like a slime person in this game will really work. I can even explain the moves and demonstrate myself in a video

You should definitely give the final boss a brightly-colored ghost or apparition of sorts that performs attacks along with the boss in different ways! It'd be like fighting two opponents but you can't actually hit the ghost because, well, it's a ghost

“The AI doesn’t cheat” Astronaut who shoots rockets and lasers. Haha excellent video. Thanks for the update, can’t wait to play this.

Final boss: The first,easiest guy you fought after he’s gone through a training montage.

Mika it’s looks great for if you wanted to show dev notes to your players in the future

Great job!

A few ideas for the final boss 1. The old man 2.it’s Toby and he’s been trained by the old man maybe it’s a tag team who knows 3. It’s a mysterious boxer, after most fights you complete you get a newspaper article explaining that you beat that boxer, but off to the side it teases the world champ and he’s you opponent 3. It’s pontyTank 4. It’s the child who’s been playing with you 5. It’s, its, A GIANT TOUCAN cuz y not Will there be a rush mode where you fight all of them back to back Also please release this game on PS

what if the astronaut could hop around the ring? it would be pretty fitting for a moon stage, as the gravity is lower there. not sure what the advantage he'd have from doing it would be though

For the final boss, I think it should have the maxed out stats like Hurrican and its own special ability that has no counter method. I think there should also be a secret boss called the Glitch that can teleport around the arena, use any of the other bosses special attacks but not be stunned by them, and also have maxed out stats. His texture would be like the puppet with no strings or mask and gloves the same color as him. He would also have a glitch effect (idk how tho). Thanks for reading this! (If you did lol)

All of them combined into one, big boss

I think that the final boss should be a boxer that matches the clothing and looks of the player. And has an AI that learns your patterns and uses them against you. This might be way too hard to make but I think thematically it would be super cool, as well as really hard.

The final boss could be a shapeshifter, that changes his atacks over time

for the final boss i think a snowman sort could be a good idea, it could have a freeze attack which send out icicles in a line at you that do small damage and freezes you for a second or he could do a thing where he makes snowballs rain from the sky

Long Reach Randy can be one of them. He can wind up his arm in comical lengths for abilities that would force you to manage distance or direction of movement.

I've seen a lot of comments about having the training guy be the final boss - back for a *real* fight. What if you incorporated that idea with some sort of comeback system? My head canon was as the fight progressed or as rounds accumulated (if you went for a boxing "3 downs" system) they would begin incorporating different techniques the player has seen before, a sort of last hurrah to show they haven't given up quite yet. Maybe signify each phase with them performing a flash knockdown? (In boxing, when your glove hits the mat you're technically "down." This can be used to INTENTIONALLY down yourself to recuperate and strategize within the 10-count, and it would be cool to see the final boss utilize advanced boxing techniques such as this. I would recommend their next-to-last down be a traditional down, however, to mislead the player into thinking "That one's clean!" Only for the boss to gather their last breath and rise once more.)

What if one of them were three Wrestlers in a trench coat, so it’s like if he got he gets shorter the more he gets beaten! Him being tall could also make it so you had to watch what he is doing from a distance! (They could also wobble around as he walks.)

This looks awesome

This would make for a fun multiplayer game to play with friends

The final boss is… You. It will use the attacks you use the most and it will look like your character. The super attack for it is the attack that the boss you took the longest to beat uses. But it will have a faster cooldown from the attack. And it will have to look a bit different than your character of course… + (As a bonus): You can add that it has little minions with less health than normal that attack when the boss is at low health.

I think doing a secret boss would be epic, maybe you could add a fight against the devil himself after completing a certain set of tasks

for the final boss, you should have a boss that essentially keeps spawning lots of different bosses that the player has already faced but multiple at a time. this could work if say the boss releases 2 bosses at a time and then the player has to be more tactical with their decisions. I hope you consider my opinion and good luck with development, can't wait to play the game when it comes out.

The last boss can be a humanoid robot, like a terminator, or robot from living steel movie. It can have relatively slow but Powerfull attacks and can not be stunned. Also it can have missiles, which travel horizontally and tracking player, but have a limited turning speed. He also can have similar mechanics to other bosses, like leg/fist stomp, lasers, running etc.

Perhaps a solution to the astronaut boss without having a ring is that instead an asteroid would come and hit the player that is out so that it bounces back to the ring, sort of like a perpendicular motion from the player's perspective, tied directly to the camera and movement of the player, building the hitbox triggering it as a large cilinder around the planet, I feel like it would add an interesting and somewhat memorable mechanic to the game, plus a little bit more challenge for the boss, with some pretty interesting strats to beat it also.

The final boss could be a robot that Mimics your movements and adds it’s own moves, it’s basically you vs you + a hard ai

For what I've seen, every enemy has been a boxer, except for the astronaut, but he still uses the same basic code. Something that's always done on fighting games is that the final boss acts, reacts and fights in a way that kinda breaks the rules. Lot's of projectiles, inmune to knockback and hit stun, constantly floating, with weird attacks that don't resemble anything seen before on the game and sometimes more than 1 phase. Maybe the final boss can be some kind off legendary swordsman that teleports around the arena, using magic to slash from far away, doing a quick cutting combo with his sword and a lot more "legendary swordsman" bullshit. And as the big gimmick, he would parry your attacks, making him inmune to damage, you'd have to wait for his attacks, in order to counter attack and stun him, letting you get some free damage for a couple of seconds, repeating the pattern until he dies. And I know this is gonna sound a bit dumb, but what if, just to shake things up a bit more, he would get a second phase where he wouldn't parry you, but became extra aggresive, with new weird attacks and a cool ass powering-up animation

Maybe the final boss focus more on speed and technique over power? Wanting you to chase and close in, but has great footwork and defense? They could even have a quick lunge across the arena that goes through your block and follow's up with a quick haymaker to incentivize chasing the boss down? But if they miss the lunge they still follow-up so you have a chance to counter for some damage as well? Maybe a 4minute timer to incentivize a fast paced bout instead of waiting for lunges all day?

am I the only who loved the original moon idea? It seemed so fun

There should be some kind of dialogue system before fighting any boss, that would be cool lorewise ✌🏻

It would be cool to have a boss be a group of 3 smaller guys in a trench coach, when you get them low enough they split.