Lava Throne

My goal for this project was to design a boss throne which would be a major set piece in a boss arena.  It would play an integral part in the game mechanics for the boss fight.

My Process:  First I thought about what kind of functions a throne had. A throne is really just an ordinary chair which gives symbolic power to those who sit upon it. But what if the power it gave to the boss was real, physical power? The throne was like a docking station for the boss.

So who's throne is it? The Iron Golem from Dark Souls. He is a hugely powerful giant boss, but without his core he is only a pile of heavy armor. When you defeat him, you take his core. Wouldn't it be cool if you could see how he powers up his core to activate himself? What if he could charge up during the fight to regenerate health? Yeah awesome!

I wondered what could power up such a powerful boss? the answer? Lava. I studied the shapes of lava flows and formations and derived my main shape languages from these as I worked through my development thumbnails and refinements.

So let's get a closer look at those final proposals!

^ For my first design, the throne is integrated into lava conduit.  The throne is hot and lava flows out across it to heat the Golem.  If you can freeze the flow of lava, the boss will be prevented from recharging.

^ This design for a throne is also an elevator, activated by the boss's weapon.  This would be cool to see in a pre-fight cut scene.  As the Golem lowers into the arena, he gets heated up and when he steps out at the bottom he is fully primed for battle.   Better summon your friends this is going to be a tough boss!