5 Minute Exercise: Boss Fight Ideas

[X Chris]

In case anyone is short on time but would like some help brainstorming (or fleshing out) ideas for their contest entry:

1. Set a timer for five minutes.
   
   
2. Write down as many ideas as possible.
   
   
3. When the timer stops, you are done.
   

Review your list and select your strongest ideas (if you don't like any, try again).

If you have one or two favorites that could use some fleshing out, set the timer for another five minutes and brainstorm about them.

If you’re on a roll, set the timer for another five minutes and let it rip. Repeat until you have enough to work with.

I’ll post my results below. Feel free to do the same.

[X Chris]

After five minutes, this is the list I came up with regarding a "boss fight":

• bosses fighting each other
• boss of the office vs angry employee(s)
• boss hog (meh)
• minibosses (the band)
• The Boss Coffee guy
• sweatshop boss vs kids revolting
• zelda kid vs boss
• SHADOW OF THE COLLOSSUS
• playground fight w/hulking bully
• pillow fight, but flinging bosses around instead of pillows
• Two mob bosses jello wrestling (in pinstripes)

Looking over the list, I felt the ones likely to lead to the strongest illustrations were:

• boss of the office vs angry employee(s)
• sweatshop boss vs kids revolting

I spent another minute quickly jotting down the elements of a potential scene for each idea:


boss of the office vs angry employee(s)

• boss in office (giving pink slips?)
• punched by angry employee
• security is rushing to the scene
• other ex-employees holding their stuff in boxes, looking on.

sweatshop boss vs kids revolting

• kids storming the factory rails
• swarming over overseers
• makeshift weapons and tools
• like ancient hunters taking down a mammoth
• broken chains? injured child? inciting incident?

I explored each idea with some tiny thumbnails of potential scenes and picture elements and decided that the sweatshop scenario was the stronger candidate.

BANG. Only 15 minutes in, and there is clear direction as to what I'm going to draw. Next comes some visual dev work (but that would be a separate exercise).

[Grieverjoe]

This. I like this. I like it a lot.
I had a couple ideas when I was deciding what to do, and I gotta say, Shadow of the Colossus was one that came up during brainstorming session. Great minds think alike, eh?
I didn't do it like you did, but I like the way you have it organized. I'm gonna keep this in mind for future projects. <3

[johnway]

WHAT? An excercise that isn't drawing? In 5 minutes? I could do this right now!

Ok not so sure if i can cook up anything in 5 minutes as i've previously mentioned, i am creatively bankrupt when it comes to ideas. In 5 minutes i came up with:


Man vs food
Pariah vs the betrayer
Man stuck in pipe versus collosual monster thing
man vs his own shadow persona style
soldier facing his dead comrades
amnesiac soldier facing his old imaginery evil self
Good and Evil joining forces to fight a greater evil
Grim reaper vs evil god.
2nd gen Grim reaper vs 1st grim reaper
Man vs god
silverback gorrila vs crocodile
dracula vs alucard
prototype 2
mass effect 2
mario vs sonic
man vs woman
adam vs eve
human vs alien
diver vs kraken thing
hacker vs massive robot
the student vs corrupted mentor
detective vs demonic entity
good vs evil
vengeful ghost vs demons.


Ok 5 MINUTES ARE UP! Plenty of stuff there. some of it Garbage. Lets sift through whats interesting:


Pariah vs the betrayer
Man stuck in pipe versus collosual monster thing
man vs his own shadow persona style
soldier facing his dead comrades
amnesiac soldier facing his old imaginery evil self
Good and Evil joining forces to fight a greater evil
Grim reaper vs evil god.
2nd gen Grim reaper vs 1st grim reaper
diver vs kraken thing
hacker vs massive robot
the student vs corrupted mentor
detective vs demonic entity
good vs evil
vengeful ghost vs demons.


Bullshit. too many of them and nothing in there that i would attempt without a certain unease. So FILTER and siphon what we want:

Pariah vs the betrayer -Far too difficult to show in one picture
Man stuck in pipe versus collosual monster thing -This looks do able.
man vs his own shadow persona style -Maybe....
soldier facing his dead comrades -Sounds interesting but really difficult to pull off
amnesiac soldier facing his old imaginery evil self - Another psychological one. Would make a more intersting graphic novel scene then a picture
Good and Evil joining forces to fight a greater evil -Not really boss fight. but i could see this in a marvel comic like xmen
Grim reaper vs evil god. -tough and generally tacky idea
2nd gen Grim reaper vs 1st grim reaper -again difficult to set up. all we have is 2 emo gothic characters having at it. Scrap
diver vs kraken thing -Do able i suppose in the right scene and if i could draw squid
hacker vs massive robot Possible, but this one is vague
the student vs corrupted mentor -Star wars. Tough to pull off in one picture
detective vs demonic entity -Another maybe. But it might be rather generic without a good action scene
good vs evil -that's not saying anything constructive. might as well have said Protagonist vs antagonist, A or B
vengeful ghost vs demons. -This would be knights in the nightmare - Tough to pull off unless we make the ghost angelic cutting through the darkness. But thats not a boss fight, that's ascension


Disappointingly very little to go on:

Man stuck in pipe versus collosual monster thing
hacker vs massive robot
diver vs kraken thing
detective vs demonic entity


Some very boring generic ideas. I'll try again another time. Your turn guys.

[Maat22]

here's my 5 min. list of boss fights.

karate kid vs gang leader
samurai warrior vs dragon serpent
amazon priestess vs undead legion
berserker animal vs. cage man
air water goddess vs earth fire demon

ok.... so what i like is, air water goddess vs earth fire demon and samurai warrior vs dragon serpent.

so.... setting ideas
water goddess vs fire demon
1. bottom of the ocean
2. on the coast line

samurai warrior vs dragon serpent
1. dojang sparring mat
2. bamboo forest

[Espresso]

1. Epic story of a sock / paper-bag puppet becoming the super mega universal defender of really cool justice and bagged lunches.
2. Coffee versus Cream & Sugar
3. Fork versus Spoon
4. PC versus Consoles
5. Terminal versus GUI
6. Hero versus Hero expectations in society
7. Sky Pirates versus Rock Mountain Monster
8. Mouse versus Cat
9. Bacteria Versus Macrophage
10. ?

[Dharc]

(I think) I've already got my idea picked out and started on, but I think I'm going to contribute a bit to flesh my idea out and see what else I can come up with. BAM!

1. Employee vs Employer/Boss (Daydreaming maybe)
2. Soldiers vs Monster
3. Monster vs Soldier
4. Technological force vs Natural Force (or vice versa)
5. Student vs Final Exam
6. Hero vs Mechanical Entity
7. Doppelganger Boss fight
8. Young Hero vs Older Former Hero/Instructor
9. Sword-Toting Character vs Gun-Toting Character

I'm working on something similar to number 9, but with a Super Sentai take on it. I really like the ideas I've seen on here, I hope to see a lot of submissions.

Originally Posted by Espresso 5. Terminal versus GUI

Any artwork of that would have kept me interested and awake through all of my System-Level Programming lectures

[clin]

I apologise, but, in my opinion, you are mistaken. Write to me in PM, we will talk.