[IDEA] (ENEMY) Loot Ghoul Thread - Zombie Grinder

Hi there, I recently donated toward your funding for Zombie Grinder and my friend and I have been loving what you've come up with so far.

One of my favorite modes is the Random Dungeon mode. Before I say anything regarding the suggestion, I would like to say that I am really glad you decided to add this to the game. The random dungeon is entertaining and I can tell that a good amount of thought must have went into it already with survival rooms, an enemy type I haven't seen elsewhere in the game, the loot rooms, healing stations, secret passages, and treasure chests. I am assuming that there will be a good variety of enemies once this game is complete and I commend your team for coming up with this much already because it is very entertaining.

My idea:

The idea I have is somewhat of a rare boss. The chests, at least right now, seem to have any kind of item in them from the shop. I assume that chests will eventually be tiered and that locked chests will come out in the future. The purpose of the Loot Ghoul would be to drop some of the more sought-after, rarer, or more expensive items in the came if it can be beaten.

The way I envision it:

Since this is nothing more than an idea, you obviously have no obligation to use it or anything of the sort. As such, even if you do think it's a good idea you don't need to try to hit on every point I make here because a lot of it is context and feel for the Loot Ghoul's introduction. Since you have a few loot rooms in the random dungeon I thought it would be great to see them sometimes not be a "safe zone" -- perhaps raided by or home to a Loot Ghoul. If the Loot Ghoul is in the room, then I would say make sure there are no power-ups or weapons in the room because chances are the Loot Ghoul will have supposedly consumed them or horded them. I think the enemy would start in the center of the room and possibly be chewing on something random (just for flavor, like an introduction to a boss fight) until an exclamation mark goes above its head or some indication that it notices the players have entered the room. From there, the Loot Ghoul would attack and would be much more than a regular enemy since the reward for beating it is good loot.

Boss Design:

Now, depending on the design that is used some of the descriptions I used earlier may or may not be as relevant. One idea is that it's a bloated zombie (moreso than the ones you currently have) and that, every now and again, it spits out things like half-digested flame and rocket turrets. I would assume that damage and HP of the turrets would be scaled to a level that makes it manageable yet difficult to deal with this zombie, especially if he starts spewing out multiple turrets in a short amount of time.

Another idea is more like a tentacle-monster that utilizes the zombie heads that you already have programmed. Perhaps there is a burrowing creature that jabs spiked tentacles through the floor to try to harm the players. It will sink under the ground once it is spotted, spinning heads will be summoned (like 2-3 or so), and it will jab from the ground in spots your characters are walking. This is where I think it gets interesting -- you already have it so that if the spinning heads hit the wall they get dazed, so perhaps the tentacles will sometimes stay out of the ground for a while and you need to guide the spinning heads to hit the tentacles. This will stun the heads and maybe make a noise from the monster (a yelp or a growl or whatever). Rinse and repeat a couple of times to have the monster's head or body resurface, thus allowing you to shoot at it. I would say the lower the HP, harder the tentacles hit, or the more spinning heads there are, or all of the above.

When the Loot Ghoul dies it should have a death animation that spews out an item that it devoured.

I know it's a lot to read through, I just felt the need to share that. Keep up the great work!