Building an Epic Boss Fight in Defeat the Demon Lord!

Nothing tops a great adventure like an epic boss fight, and you’ll find just that in the new Defeat the Demon Lord game mode built by Workshop creator CactusPuppy. This new mode features a 1v4 asymmetrical fight, where four brave adventurers stand up to the Demon Lord Reinhardt as they work to stop his monstrous rampage throughout Overland.

We spent a little time with CactusPuppy to find out more about his approach to creating the game mode and what it took to bring it to life.

What were your first thoughts when the Overwatch team approached you about building the mode?

CA: It was a sense of shock at first, but I was happy for the opportunity because it was a wonderful chance to show everyone what cool things you can do with the Workshop.

Who came up with the mode, and how did you and the Overwatch team build on the concept?

CA: I came up with three concepts for possible Workshop modes, and the Overwatch team and I settled on an asymmetrical boss fight. I was really inspired by the former Yeti Hunt mode, where a boss picks up power-ups to become more powerful. However, I wanted to make sure the boss could always be threatening to all players. For example, in adventure survival games I love to play, enemies are always threatening, so I wanted to make sure the Demon Lord could always be a serious threat to the other team.

Did any parts of the new season theme help inspire you for the new mode?

CA: When I saw the new concepts of Demon Lord Reinhardt, I knew I immediately wanted to create a mode where players fight a powerful boss like that. At the time I didn’t know the overall theme of the Questwatch event was similar, but I’m glad I could help tell the same story in Defeat the Demon Lord.

What was the hardest part of building the new mode?

CA: Any game devs can speak to this--it’s easy to build all of the different parts, but the hardest challenge was getting all of the pieces of the mode to work together to make a cohesive experience. For example, it was challenging to stage each of the power-ups in the right place to make sure Reinhardt wouldn’t run away with the match. It was my goal to augment the Eichenwalde map design and encourage everyone to explore different parts of the map.

How hard was it to balance the Demon Lord and the adventurers who fight him?

CA: It was a challenge to balance the mode to make sure neither the Demon Lord nor the adventurers were able to win easily. I was always asking questions about whether it was just unlucky that one side would get stuck, gatekept, or spawn camped. Also, there were times when the Demon Lord was nearly unkillable. It added to the complexity of how I tweaked everyone’s kits and where I placed power-ups throughout the map.

What top three tips would you tell aspiring Workshop creators who want to create their own modes?

CA: First, don’t be afraid to reach out for help and check for great community resources, you don’t have to learn everything on your own. Then remember to start simple. It can be really frustrating if you are tackling something really big, and it can feel overwhelming. Finally, breaking things down into simpler tasks can really help.

What are your goals for the Workshop community?

CA: I strongly encourage the rest of the community to engage with workshoppers. I think there are a lot of opportunities for content creators, pro players, and coaches to come up with methods to improve their ways of playing Overwatch 2 and become better as players.

What mode do you want to make next? 

CA: Honestly, I want to expand on the idea of Defeat the Demon Lord in future creations. I love playing games that have powerful boss fights, so I want to make boss fight modes where it can take multiple phases and create a really satisfying experience where both sides feel good while also creating a constant source of tension throughout the fight.

Join your friends and stand up to the Demon Lord today in Overwatch 2 Season 5. Defeat the Demon Lord is available to play in the Arcade, and you can load up the game mode whenever you want in custom games by importing the Workshop game code YAR3X. You can also play this mode as one of the available key quests that will help unlock a treasure load of Battle Pass XP and Overwatch Credits in the Questwatch event running through July 3.