Hello!
Peter here, aka Demented Plant.

 In just 4 days the free Godstone demo will be released and im so exited for you all to try it out! For 3 years it has been in development, and multiple times the entire game has changed fundamentally. Including bossfights. 

Some bosses has even been removed from the game to lessen the amount of work, but will be reintroduced into the game in a much better way.  A boss that has existed since the very beginning is Otai, one of the four Vivian Guardians who controlled humanity during the reign of Virithian.

- Development -
Otai started out as a miniboss with 2 attacks, a slow moving fireball and a melee attack. Very simple, however the room was filled with spikes that forced the player to jump around the map instead of walking. That and a giant skeleton walking towards you became a too unbalanced challenge for players. And so over a long time he has been altered little by little, and i believe he has reached a point were im satisfied, and will hopefully give a good experience to you guys.

Here is a gif of his new ability: Instead of a single fireball, he causes a nova, calling for more strategic positioning than before!

What i have learned over time is to make bosses that motivate the player to move in all directions. This is surprisingly difficult to achieve as you want the boss to be a challenge, but not too much of a challenge and not too easy either. It has to be a boss the player will eventually figure out, preferably after 1 - 2 fights that does not become too easy once figured out. That last part is probably the hardest and is something I have been refining in Godstone over a long amount of time through the feedback i have recieved from all of you.

- Lore -
During the reign of Virithian, also known as the Vivian City, there were four guardians elected to safeguard the city and ensure the Vivian rule's survival. The threat; humans. Also known as the Embors.
One of these guardians were Otai, at the time a powerful fire sorcerer who viewed humanity as little more than objects. Residing in Eastcliff Spire, a great tower placed amongst the giant cliffs of the Kageran Desserts, Otai upheld absolute control of all humans in the East. 

However, their control only lasted for so long. The embors grew tired of the vivians control and formed what became the Emborian Rebellion. To begin with, the rebellion was crushed by the vivians as their elemental magicks were much more powerful than the humans. The First War ended at the dessert city of Rijiqad, what became known as the City of Redgate. Otai lead the final assault against Rijiqad and with his magicks, incinerated its people. It was told the battle outside the city gates was so brutal that the blood stained the sands for years to come, hence the name Redgate.

An old illustration in the Tale of Otai, one of the lorebooks that could be found in the game.
It will be reintroduced to the game in an update.

The emborian rebellion surrendered and the Vivians decided to let them live, only to a life way worse than before, as little more than slaves. However, some people eluded their grasp. They sought refuge within the ancient ruins of a people from another world, before the birth of the vivians themselves. From these underground iron cities, they forged machines that could withstand elemental magicks. 

With their new weapon, the fires of the Emborian Rebellion were ignited once again, and the war resumed. This time, the Vivians were almost destoyed. Almost.
For the Vivians had gained a new ruler; Zerathor, High King of Virithian, and he had found a new source of power that until now was unknown to mortal kind: The Godstone. An instrument containing the dark magicks of neferin energy that was beyond any power anyone had ever wielded. Zerathor summoned the four Guardians, including Otai, to recieve this power. Three of the Guardians accepted this gift, but Otai refused. He saw the madness within the High King's eyes and knew this new power was forbidden.
As punishment, Zerathor made a sample of the sorcerer and cursed him with the neferin magicks. His body twisted, rotted and withered before their eyes, his mind maddened and voice turned into ash and dust.  Zerathor grinned at the hallowed body before him and embraced this newfound power. The neferin magick was almost too much to contain for Zerathor and the pain unbearable. But the power it granted was beyond pain.

Stripped of almost all his strength, Otai's fire magick is but a spark of what once was. The madness unberable, the undying pain even more so. But he is immortal now. Cursed in undeath, trapped within a body that had withered away long ago.

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Thank you so much for reading! I hope you have an awesome day!
- Plant