When developing levels or scenarios in a game, we usually have to give the player a challenge. If we do not want to rack the player’s brains too much, then we go for the archetypal enemy whom the player has to neutralise for one reason or another. The player, then, usually has to battle enemies over some space and the closeness of the enemies to the player can determine the difficulty of a certain gaming scene. In this post, I am going to discuss what I consider to be four main categories of enemy arrangement in game design.
Non-Stationary Surrounding Enemies
The enemies are located at a moderate distance from the player providing him with some time to react. The scenario usually has some boundaries or restrictions (in this case, water) that prevents the enemies from getting to the player too soon or too easily. The boundaries, at the same time, provide a challenge for the player. Namely, the player has to avoid getting cornered by the enemy and/or falling into the water. This enemy arrangement creates more dynamism in gameplay as the player has to be constantly on their feet, especially if the enemies start running in the direction of the player at the start of the scene.
Non-Stationary Concentrated Enemies
The enemies tend to be concentrated in one spot in a space which reduces the difficulty of the scene. The player still has to be alert but to a lesser degree in this case, as while the enemies can catch up to the player, the player can still easily outrun them. Such an arrangement would perhaps be good for providing some relief to the player after a difficult previous stage.
Stationary Surrounding Enemies
The enemies surround the player again, but, this time, they are stationary. Depending on whether the enemies have ranged weapons or projectiles to hurl at players, this can still create a difficulty that can be just as hard, or more so, than in the Non-Stationary arrangement. For such scenes weapons or items essential to the player’s progress are placed close to the enemies to create some tension and to keep the player on their feet (especially if the enemies have moderate- or long-ranging attacks).
Stationary Concentrated Enemies
The enemies are stationary but they are concentrated in one spot on the map. This arrangement is usually utilised in boss fights where you have one powerful enemy in the centre of a treacherous map which throws projectiles at the player, forcing the player to be on their feet. Depending on the boundaries of the space, they can either hinder and/or help the player. However, we can come to the conclusion that concentrated enemies tend to be easier foes to handle than enemies that are placed, more or less, at equal distances to each other in a space.