"Boss Fight" Ideas

[ApeCake]

So my map is near completion, but I want the end to be special. I want to implement some sort of boss fight. Let's just say it right off at the start, Abductions boss fight was amazing. Fun challenge and greatly executed. The particle effects made it complete. However, the story in my map doesn't have a "bad guy". So a direct boss fight like in Abduction wouldn't work. The monsters are mentioned though, so I want it to be about the monsters. My first thought would be some kind of tower defense (yes, I am trying a lot of custom weird puzzles in my map). Although it wouldn't be impossible, it would be really hard to pull it off. My thoughts were things like this: There is a hallway with the sewerspinthing in the middle of it. If you pull a lever, the sewerthing will start spinning. If a monster spawns (it would spawn based on time) (it will spawn on the opposite side), it will walk towards the player and will walk into it. The monster will be set inactive, and blood particles appear. That is just one idea of the "towerdefense" kill machines. However, I do not think this will be fun or hard at all, mostly confusing. I have no idea what else I could create at the end of my map. I do not want it to be "click on the level door that says "outside" and the credits start", but I want the end to be new and challenging. Any ideas?
No ideas are crazy enough, any ideas are good. Notice that I will be using Amnesias models and entities only and won't be using custom-made ones.

Sorry if there already was a thread like this posted before.

[ApeCake]

...Is anyone there? Or are generic endings preferred?

[RawkBandMan]

It's only been four hours since the Original Post, no need to post again.

I have no ideas, sadly. I ain't a very creative person, hence why I suck at making things

[Adny]

Boss fights will completely pull the player out of whatever immersion you have, so I'd advise against it. Also, the one from Abduction was only acceptable because it played Zelda fighting music.

[Prelauncher]

If there's no antagonist, why have a boss battle?

[ApeCake]

If there's no antagonist, why have a boss battle?

Because I do not want to have a bland ending. I can imagine a boss battle would be out of the question, but I can't think of another good way to end the map.

[Kman]

Basically what Andy said. One of my problem with so many current custom stories is they're so caught up in being "new and inovative" that they end up losing a lot of quality. Just as an example, Tenebris Lake. It's not a bad mod, not great or anything in my opinion, but it's still good. One of its major downfalls is it focuses too much on stuff. What I mean by this is they seemed more focused on being able to say they added new stuff than what purpose that stuff actually served. Like the save points, those honestly served no purpose and just kind of pull you out of immersion. I could list more examples, but you get the idea. A boss fight (especially if there's no actual boss) would just come off as extra stuff that was just thrown on for the purpose of being able to say you made a boss fight. Now I'm not saying you should just have the player walk outside and have the credits role (that would be just as bad) but you should definitely think of a more meaningful ending.

[Zaari]

Because I do not want to have a bland ending. I can imagine a boss battle would be out of the question, but I can't think of another good way to end the map.

You could make some sort of "rush" to the ending, like in Justine with the final suitor chase.

EDIT: Also, be sure that you have a well written story and try to make it strong in the end. That always makes for great endings.

[Kein]

Boss fights will completely pull the player out of whatever immersion you have, so I'd advise against it. Also, the one from Abduction was only acceptable because it played Zelda fighting music.

Well, actually, such kind of "boss fight" are possible, even without ruining the immersion/atmosphere. For example, if you encounter some powerful enemy in the location (which is, of course, justified by the story), who haunts you in this location without giving you a rest, you could use the tools and aspects/features this location provide to kill/get rid of him. Like locking him somewhere, or pushing into the pit or luring into some kind of mechanism to crush later. I can see how it could be consistent within the gameplay. Conception is not a problem , the execution/realization is. It is hard, despite the fact it sounds so easy.

[Adny]

Well, actually, such kind of "boss fight" are possible, even without ruining the immersion/atmosphere. For example, if you encounter some powerful enemy in the location (which is, of course, justified by the story), who haunts you in this location without giving you a rest, you could use the tools and aspects/features this location provide to kill/get rid of him. Like locking him somewhere, or pushing into the pit or luring into some kind of mechanism to crush later. I can see how it could be consistent within the gameplay. Conception is not a problem , the execution/realization is. It is hard, despite the fact it sounds so easy.

I see what you're saying, but IMO, giving the player any way to fight back against an antagonist just takes away from the horror. Sorta like Penumbra: Overture; once the player figured out they could kill the enemies, it was no longer scary, it just became a (to quote the developers) "hack n' slash". If a boss fight were implemented, the players focus will undoubtedly get pulled away from the environment and becomes centered on that one goal, thus reducing the horror experience.

@OP:
You shouldn't rely on gimmicks like a boss fight to try to make your story unique; Believe it or not, just the story alone can be powerful enough to provoke a wide array of emotions in the end. For example, the ending events to Justine: If they had no story behind them at all, it would of been a lot less immersive. It is because the unexpected ending, and all of the events+story leading up to it, that it was so powerful.