Mini Ram
Design document for NRR Mini Ram Enemy
Info
General
The Mini-Ram is a new enemy introduced in Level Two, designed based on the Ramhead Boss (Referenced in doc) to serve as a minion for the level two big bad. This enemy acts as an annoying, imp-like foe that teleports around the map, firing fast projectiles and expertly dodging bullets.
The Mini-Ram was designed to function as a primary level enemy, but it's especially effective in the Level Two boss fight, where it will be spawned in frequently to aid the boss (Referenced in doc). Since the boss is a stationary turret, these enemies work perfectly by forcing the player to concentrate on them as they teleport around the map. This enemy was also designed to work well with the level two main weapons, as its projectiles can easily be deflected back at the enemy or, when timed well, launched into a wall with a pincer bolt (Referenced in doc). This enemy boasts speed and agility; however, its weakness is its extremely low health.
Character Aspects
The Mini-Ram floats above the ground, propelled by two small rocket particle effects attached to its underside. A small wind particle effect on the floor beneath it gives the impression that it's generating a powerful miniature whirlwind to stay airborne. This design is very similar to the Ramhead boss (Referenced in doc), just appropriately scaled down with fewer rockets for this smaller enemy.
It also uses 3D spatial audio attached to its body, which sounds like rockets flaring away to keep it airborne, along with a mechanical hum. This audio is controlled by its movement speed and paired with its simple idle animation.
Attacks
Projectiles
Eye Projectile
Once the player is within range, the Mini-Ram can unleash two projectiles from its eyes towards them. These projectiles are extremely quick and can inflict a high amount of damage on impact. When fired, a white muzzle particle effect spawns, and a 3D audio effect with randomised firing sounds is attached to the eyes, giving the impression that it's catapulting these projectiles from within. The angle of these projectiles is always the same; however, the Mini-Ram possesses fast rotation and can consistently turn towards the player, making its projectiles extremely tough to dodge. The angle of the eye projectiles is perfectly placed for the distance the player would cover if they run either left or right, so using normal dodging tactics with this enemy won't work.
These projectiles have a similar look to the Ramhead boss projectiles (Referenced in doc), creating a cohesive appearance that reinforces their role as minions, especially during the boss fight. However, these projectiles are much faster than the Ramhead Boss's projectiles. Instead of using an arcing movement, they move straight forward towards the player.
Melee Attack
Activating
If the player gets too close to the Mini-Ram, it can strike the ground below it, attacking with a devastating slam. Similar to other enemies with melee attacks, this is triggered by a collision sphere around the Mini-Ram, allowing it to cancel current attacks and quickly melee the player if they're nearby. It uses the same animation as the Ramhead Boss (Referenced in doc), but it's sped up significantly to quickly knockback the player away while still giving them time to dodge.
Attacking
This melee attack uses its animation to trigger the nearby collision check, ensuring perfect accuracy every time. The melee animation is one smooth motion that, upon colliding with the ground, sends rocks and sparks flying into the air with a small explosion particle effect that clears everything in its path. The damage from this attack isn't particularly high; however, the knockback is more dangerous. It pushes the player into a position where the Mini-Ram can easily hit them with its eye projectiles.
Defences
Teleporting
This enemy is the first to introduce teleporting, a new method of jumping around the local area to avoid player attacks and confuse them about where it will appear and strike next. This design choice adds more difficulty to the Ramhead boss fight (Referenced in doc) and general room encounters. Since other enemies currently lack effective ways to dodge player attacks, this is a step towards implementing more intelligent AI within our enemies.
The Mini-Rams follow one main behaviour for their teleportation, which also incorporates their eye projectile firing. This keeps the enemy's attack sequence simple, allowing players to learn and try to avoid the fast eye projectiles. In this behaviour, once the player is located, the Mini-Ram will teleport away and immediately fire two shots at the player. This quick sequence also means it can teleport again shortly after its initial warp.
Exit
When the Mini-Ram has the player in its sights, it initiates its teleport behaviour by vanishing into thin air with an exit particle effect, making it appear as though it's warped away, leaving only a pulsing white orb where it once floated. A 3D spatial audio effect plays at that location and fades out, reinforcing the sensation of its departure.
While in this teleportation phase, the Mini-Ram uses its AI controller to calculate a nearby spot it can float on. This is similar to how we direct enemies to randomly walk to locations when they can't see the player, but it's specialised to find a perfect teleportation spot.
Entrance
To further confuse the player, the Mini-Ram waits between two and three seconds before appearing in its next location. However, an entrance particle effect and a 3D spatial audio effect spawn at that new location extremely shortly before the Mini-Ram itself appears, making it look and feel like it just materialised from another glowing white orb particle effect. This also gives the player about half a second to turn towards this effect and start attacking the enemy, or to prepare for its barrage of eye projectiles.
Enemy Type
The Mini-Ram functions as a tricky but weak foe, primarily assisting other enemies by launching projectiles at the player. It can operate effectively in close environments with its melee attack or as a long-range sniper. While other enemies might focus on special actions like closing off sections of a room or excelling in close-quarters combat, the Mini-Ram can be the glue between them all, working in groups to overwhelm the player.
The Mini-Ram is also an excellent match-up with the Sword weapon (Referenced in doc), especially since this enemy is fast-firing and uses the player's speed to its advantage. When the player utilises the valor system and boosts their speed, the Mini-Ram's eye projectiles can be dodged more easily. It also works well with the Pincer weapon (Referenced in doc) as a sort of shooting duck target. Since this enemy teleports around and the Pincer is a slower-firing weapon, the player has to be very accurate with their Pincer bolts. However, a fully charged bolt can kill the Mini-Ram in one hit.
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