THE FIGHT

A perspective view of the early prototype.

The boss introduction was to resemble action films of the late 80s/early 90s, with its over-the-top epicness and the general atmosphere. The train would arrive to the battlefield as the weapon of last resort, and you'd better get out of its way. It would destroy everything on its way, and if the player had blocked any tracks beforehand all the obstacles would be destroyed as well. Its initial point of entry was the tunnel track and it would begin the fight with a ballistic missile attack.

The entry and exit point schematics.

After all of the above, the train would start its routine of cruising along one of the tracks, launching an avalanche of attacks available from its current position, leave the map, choose a new entry point and do it all over again. The reason for limiting the number of available attacks on a track is twofold. First, you do not want to overwhelm the player. Second - the structure of the level, with all the height differences, overpasses, tunnels, would render some of the weapons useless in a couple of circumstances. You don't want to shoot rockets at a wall, after all.

In order for this fight to be fair, we had to put some limits in place. First of all, as you already know, the train would follow 6 tracks with a total of 12 entry points. The attacks used by the train were determined by the point of entry it used. This way it was entirely possible to learn the attack sets by heart and how to counter them. In addition to predictable attack patterns, the intercepted radio comms would also give the player a hint of what's to come. It would be up to the player, however, in what order they wanted to get rid of the carriages.

This mockup presents the overview of the level together 
with the train model to give the viewer a sense of scale.

The energy shield protecting the train engine disappeared only after all the other parts were destroyed. The wrecked carriages would still travel with the train, as the wheels and suspension system would not be destructible. Additionally, the train could move both forwards and backwards, thanks to the rocket engines mounted on the electromagnetic cannon carriage. All these elements were to result in a demanding, multi-layered boss fight. Sadly, the Chinese Dragon did not make it to the final release, but it is a design we're quite proud of.

CONCLUSION

While daunting in scope, the boss was not as complicated as it was complex. The sheer number of elements would take at least 3 months of work and we could not justify it. All the carriages, their elements, destruction levels - we are talking about hundreds of models here. Therefore, it was not about the lack of skill or tech. Resigning from the implementation of the Chinese Dragon Train was a decision dictated by reason. All that remains of the boss in the game today are the huge tunnels and multiple tracks on the China map. Perhaps someday the design will find its way to one of our releases.

That is only one of our sick, over-the-top ideas that we never found the time and resources to finish. And since we are already on the topic of insane bosses, the next time we will try to tell you the story of another one - a boss fight comprised of two boss fights. We hope you have a pleasant time this holiday season and that you will have the chance to spend it together with your friends and family.

EXOR Studios

译文：

水平设计

设计这种机器的一个限制因素是它只能在轨道上移动。这意味着，这一级别必须专门为满足这一需要而设计。我们决定在平地上铺设六条火车轨道。玩家看不到在X变形：防御中超越等级界限的东西。这反过来又给了我们一个自由的手，让我们可以把火车转回来，旋转它，然后把它放在一个完全不同于以前的轨道上。通过简单地传送boss实体，我们避免了创建一个多公里铁路网络的必要性，而仅仅是为了使这样大的火车掉头。这本应表明，铁路网非常复杂，要求球员总共防守12个切入点。

一个很早的水平设计模型。整个环境设计

以适应敌人的常规波以及老板的战斗。

火车轨道的布局不可能是随意的。如果我们简单地把交叉的轨道放在一个平面上，就不会让这场战斗变得更有趣，只是不必要的复杂。因此，我们没有选择平坦的沙漠环境，而是选择了一系列的隧道和立交桥。这个元素使它进入了最后的游戏，因为它引入了多种方式，玩家可以塑造敌人的道路，并采取的水平。

此外，为了一点戏剧性的天赋，火车轨道不会是空的开始水平。为了唤起人们对袭击感到惊讶的感觉，地图上到处都是定期的火车。就像我们游戏中的所有东西一样，玩家可以摧毁它们。然而，一个更为史诗般的假设是，玩家让他们独自一人，而龙之列车只会猛撞穿过所有的“常规”列车。它毕竟是来拯救人类的，你最好别挡它的道！

战斗

早期原型的透视图。

老板的介绍类似于80年代末90年代初的动作片，有着超乎寻常的震撼人心和大气。火车将作为最后的武器到达战场，你最好离开它。它会摧毁途中的一切，如果玩家事先封锁了任何轨道，所有障碍物也会被摧毁。它的初始进入点是隧道轨道，它将以弹道导弹攻击开始战斗。

入口和出口点示意图。

在以上所有这些之后，列车将开始沿着其中一条轨道巡航，从当前位置发动雪崩式的攻击，离开地图，选择一个新的入口点，然后重新开始。限制一条赛道上可用攻击次数的原因有两个。首先，你不想压倒玩家。第二，由于高度不同，天桥、隧道的结构会使一些武器在两种情况下失效。毕竟，你不想对着墙发射火箭。

为了使这场斗争公平，我们必须制定一些限制。首先，正如你已经知道的，火车将沿着6条轨道行驶，共有12个入口。火车使用的攻击是由它使用的入口点决定的。这样就完全有可能学习心脏病发作的过程以及如何应对它们。除了可预测的攻击模式外，截获的无线电通信也会给玩家一个提示。不过，这将取决于球员，他们想以什么样的顺序摆脱马车。

这个模型展示了这个级别的概述

用火车模型给观众一种尺度感。

保护火车引擎的能量防护罩在所有其他部件被摧毁后才消失。由于车轮和悬挂系统不会被破坏，受损的车厢仍将与火车一起行驶。此外，由于安装在电磁炮车厢上的火箭发动机，火车可以前后移动。所有这些因素都将导致一场要求很高的、多层次的老板之争。遗憾的是，中国龙并没有最终发布，但它是一个设计，我们相当自豪。

结论

虽然范围令人望而生畏，但老板并没有复杂得多。纯粹的要素数量将需要至少3个月的工作，我们无法证明这一点。所有的车厢，他们的元素，破坏程度-我们在这里谈论数百个模型。因此，这并不是因为缺乏技能或技术。辞职执行中国龙列车是一个由理性决定的决定。在今天的比赛中，老大留下的只有中国地图上的巨大隧道和多条赛道。也许有一天这个设计会找到它的方式，我们的一个版本。

这只是一个病态的，过分的想法，我们从来没有找到时间和资源来完成。既然我们已经讨论了疯狂老板的话题，下次会讨论的。