Transcript from the page.
The last boss.
The controlling idea for my game concept is how a “last Boss” or prime villain of an average game gains as much power and control as they do.
Premise.
how does that main villain stay in power and why anyone in the games world would would follow him when he’s evil.
What ways does he use to do this and end the world.
Setting
A traditional fantasy setting in a medieval Europe style land.
Themes
Control and Leadership, The nature of good vs Evil and Interpretation of actions/deeds
Game Mechanics
2D Boss Battles, Dialogue choices and an evil rating.
The core of what a game is lies in it’s mechanics.
However, even even among “Simple” games describing games describing and designing can e as challenging as each new game presents a fresh start with potentially new challenges to meet to create a cohesive game play experience.
As no two games are truly alike some ingenuity is needed with each design.
Beginning the design process I started to research the Evil Overlord Trope and used that in order to define my idea around what it would be to play as a villain attempting world conquest.
From the Tv Tropes page on the subject;
The archetypal High Fantasy villain.
They usually lurk in an intimidating fortress in a near-uninhabitable landscape, plotting to Take Over the World (if they don’t already rule it), with hordes upon hordes of beastlike warriors (who must be none too bright, otherwise they would’ve overthrown him) at their beck and call.There are other, more bureaucratic versions of this character that fall under the “Lawful Evil” heading.
What separates an Evil Overlord from those is a near-total absence of politics. No senate recognizes their authority, no Pope elected them, they seldom have need for Royal Blood or a line of succession. He/She thinks nothing of resorting to terror, mind control, or selective breeding to corrupt and control their armies.
The dark realm exists solely to conquer their neighbors’ domains, and military service is non-negotiable. (Are you good with numbers? Tough titties.) They are, quite simply, a force of evil.This character is deployed as a Satanic figure — hence, generally male — and associated with eternal darkness, fire & brimstone, and Ominous Opera Capes.
There are a few, more interesting exceptions: C. S. Lewis‘ White Witch was draped in white, symbolic of joylessness, decay, and endless winter, and his Lady of the Green Kirtle was green, symbolic of snakes and venom. Odds are the Overlord will probably want to establish The Empire. In fact, The Emperor is at about the same score or higher in tropes on authority, and a single character is likely to be both.
However in order to create the game based on a “End Boss’s” assent to power I wanted to stray from this specific trope a bit as while no one does give the “overlord” his authority or permission to do what he does the goal of the player should be to act in a way that these activities aren’t obvious.
Since being blatantly evil will draw the attention of the true hero designing the overlord as a traditional overlord isn’t a good idea, Adding in elements of the Reasonable authority figure and a bit of Genre Savyness wrapped up as common sense would allow me to direct the players actions through the main characters attitude.
once this was put together I began to Research Lord Vetinari in Going Postal by Terry Pratchett.
His particular brand of despotism is that it is usualy informed by being needed to enble the daily running of his particular city and in only acting tyranicaly when he could gain support for acting in such a manner (or at least having the sense to have inwarranted tyranny hidden) and as such manages to keep a firm hold on his reign.
“Being an absolute ruler today was not as simple as people thought. At least, it was not simple if your ambitions included being an absolute ruler tomorrow. There were subtleties. Oh, you could order men to smash down doors and drag people off the dungeons without trial, but too much of that sort of thing lacked style and anyway was bad for business, habit-forming and very, very dangerous for your health. A thinking tyrant, it seemed to Vetinari, had a much harder job than a ruler raised to power by some idiot vote-yourself-rich system like democracy. At least they could tell the people he was their fault.”
Vetinari: “There is always a choice.”
Moist: “You mean I could choose certain death?”
Vetinari: “A choice nevertheless, or perhaps an alternative. You see I believe in freedom. Not many people do, although they will of course protest otherwise. And no practical definition of freedom would be complete without the freedom to take the consequences. Indeed, it is the freedom upon which all the others are based.”
kagrier 