Enemy Design
Making meaningful opposition
Enemy design creates opponents that challenge, teach, and engage players through behaviour patterns, visual communication, and balanced difficulty.
Overview
Good enemy design serves multiple purposes: challenge the player, teach mechanics, communicate clearly, and vary gameplay. The ghost behaviours in Pac-Man, the Goomba’s simple walk pattern, and Dark Souls’ telegraph-heavy combat all represent thoughtful enemy design. Bad enemies frustrate; good enemies create memorable encounters.
Fast facts
- Purpose: create meaningful gameplay opposition.
- Elements: behaviour, visual design, placement.
- Communication: attacks should telegraph clearly.
- Progression: enemy complexity increases with player skill.
- Variety: different enemies demand different strategies.
Design principles
What makes enemies work:
- Readable attacks: player can learn patterns.
- Appropriate challenge: difficulty matches context.
- Distinct roles: variety creates interest.
- Fair deaths: player understands what killed them.
Classic examples
Memorable enemy design:
- Pac-Man ghosts: each has personality through AI.
- Goomba: simplest enemy teaches basic mechanics.
- Metroids: titular enemies with distinctive behaviour.
- Dark Souls bosses: learnable patterns, high stakes.