Bosses should be easier now

[Misery]

So yeah, I just finished with the boss revisions, they're now split among 2 levels of difficulty; the game's default difficulty should be much easier with these guys than in the game's previous version (once this new version is released that is).

Patterns are slower, spacing is wider, intervals (fire rate) are longer, some patterns just outright have less bullets, and so on.  Heck, I can now do all of these with the freaking keyboard (I'm terrible at keyboard controls) and not get hit.  By any of them.  Sure wasnt doable in the previous version, indeed not.

The boss that was missing in the previous version, which is the "millions of purple beams" guy known as "Battleswarm" has been fixed and is no longer made entirely of crazy.  It's been reintroduced.  That guy is drastically easier and no longer causes tons of slowdown at times.

On the other hand, one of the other bosses is temporarily removed.  Had a nasty exploit in it that I hadnt at all noticed, so that guy is out while I figure out what to do about it.  Thanks to Ptarth for pointing out the problem!  I really wouldnt have caught it otherwise, I think.


So, the whole thing should be alot less aggravating once the new version is out today.   With all of those changes though, any feedback about these that you might have would be very much appreciated.  There's always the possibility that I still left a mistake or two in there, so the quicker those can be found, the better.

Just remember the cardinal rule for dealing with all of these bosses:  Take it SLOWLY.  If you're zooming around alot... you're doing it wrong and will probably get hit much more often.

Anyway, hope that helps a bit.

[ptarth]

Is there any easy way to just fight against the bosses? I know they have those testing room options...

[TheVampire100]

With the Dark Knight, Bosses are actually pretty easy. The bigger damage is ridiculous.
However, I have to say, the spacing between bullet patters was really too narrow. The player ships are just too big to make dodging easier.
I I can suggest something, make the sprute and hitbox a little smaller.

[mrhanman]

Which boss was taken out?  Was it the one with the refracting shots off the walls?  That was the only one I killed by hiding in the bottom left corner where a significant number of beams could not reach.

[Misery]

Is there any easy way to just fight against the bosses? I know they have those testing room options...

I sent you a message about this just now.

Which boss was taken out?  Was it the one with the refracting shots off the walls?  That was the only one I killed by hiding in the bottom left corner where a significant number of beams could not reach.

ARGH argh argh argh argh.  So there's another one with an exploit, then.  No, it's not the reflection guy that got taken out, but I guess the reflection guy is next to get the "repair" treatment after the "Backfire" boss is fixed.   How I didn't spot this while testing it myself, I dont know.  I must pay more attention....

With the Dark Knight, Bosses are actually pretty easy. The bigger damage is ridiculous.
However, I have to say, the spacing between bullet patters was really too narrow. The player ships are just too big to make dodging easier.
I I can suggest something, make the sprute and hitbox a little smaller.

Yeah, when talking to Chris I'd mentioned that the hitbox might need to be smaller, but I wasnt ENTIRELY sure yet at the time.  He seemed fine with the idea though.  We werent quite sure of what the exact size of it should be from the beginning, but you're right, I think it needs to be smaller.  Not just for the bosses, but also for dealing with more cramped situations with normal enemies.  Less irritation that way.   As for the actual SPRITE, I've no idea if that'll get shrunk, it might.

As for the damage thing, can you go stick that into Mantis?  I havent tried it yet myself but it doesnt surprise me that the damage levels are all over the place.  How about the other ships?  Have you tried more of them to see if they kill the heck outta things fast, or if they take too long?  Definitely something important to check.

[Cinth]

I play keyboard and mouse and can confirm being able to dodge shots! 

Wallmaster:  Once I got over the whole OMG SPAMMMMMM thing (I love you Misery, need company?),  was fairly easy to dodge and get shots in.  This one I faced before realizing I had a secondary weapons system    Failed because I face tanked one to many shots (dodge fail).

Battleswarm: First real go at a boss once comfortable with the controls.  Fun! 

Mirror:  How is this a boss?  Compared to the previous two,  way to easy.

[TheVampire100]

Mirror is really easy because his pattern is to obvious (even his name tells you what he does) however I like him the most at the moment just because the pattern looks so damn awesome.
I would give his mirrored pellets (not the normal ones he shoots constantly at you) a speed buff so you have less time to react. It would also look more awesome this way.

[Cinth]

Mirror is really easy because his pattern is to obvious (even his name tells you what he does) however I like him the most at the moment just because the pattern looks so damn awesome.
I would give his mirrored pellets (not the normal ones he shoots constantly at you) a speed buff so you have less time to react. It would also look more awesome this way.

I pretty much sat in the middle of the room the entire fight.  Just at weapons range.  I hardly moved at all.  His beams never crossed the center line.  I dunno.

Wallmaster killed me again though.  Trying to stay at weapons range here and give myself escape room and room to dodge.  I'm a bit greedy I guess.

[ptarth]

Wallmaster - the sweet spot in his pattern is too far away to get regular damage with the default ship.
CrystalMother - 2nd pattern is too easy, first is good, 3rd is a little tough
Battleswarm - 2nd pattern takes too long to start
Backfire - Still has the sweet spot at the bottom (probably one at the top too)
Mirror - Much too easy, barely have to dodge.

[Misery]

I normally never, ever say this, but if they're all easy or easy-ish right now, then they're mostly as intended. 

I'd kinda figured these would be a little TOO easy, I could do them with the freaking keyboard without ever getting touched.   Heck, I could sit right in front of the Wallmaster guy and not get hit, though I'm aware he's still the toughest.

But still, that's good!  All that stuff done yesterday actually worked, then

I now have the ability to create patterns defined very much by the difficulty selected, so THAT should get interesting.   Right now, these "easy" version bosses are appearing on every difficulty, I believe.  Which is totally fine for the time being.  The "hard" versions of each, as in, the patterns that were apprantly wrecking you before, are still fully intact, and just need to be re-integrated for higher difficulty levels.

Now let's see.... as for each individual boss:

Wallmaster:  You know, this guy's pattern is actually partially based on "The Road" used by the Obscura Disc in TLF.  I really hated that damn thing.  This guy.... ugh.  A real pain to alter.  Dont quite hate him yet, but still, sometimes I make something and then really, really wonder why...   This guy though, is meant to be a tough one.  I suspect that even on lower difficulties, he'll be a late-game boss.  So, theoretically, when you fight him in the real full game, you'll have all sorts of items and things with you.  So that might change the challenge.

Crystal Mother: Designed to be a fairly early boss.  This one is intended to not offer all that much challenge.  If this one starts to get too wonky, let me know.  Even in the "hard" settings, this, I think, is still possibly the easiest one to beat.

Battleswarm:  Yeah, I'm aware of that screwy issue with this one.  It's something I need to mention to Chris actually as there's a funky thing happening with it that has to do with the firing interval.  The Wallmaster has the same issue though I dont know if it's apparent.   For the time being, this boss is stuck with that problem.  If you DO fight against the second pattern.... like, just wait and dont fire until it does begin.... how is it?  Is that pattern hard, or not so much?

Backfire:  I thought I turned this guy off.  This one has received no changes.   I think I know what I'm going to do with him though to fix the exploit.

Mirror:  Sounds like this guy needs an upgrade overall.  I'm not sure just how yet.  BUT, he's the one with the OTHER exploit.... consider this boss "broken" for the time being and just sorta ignore him.   I want to figure out what to do about that problem before I further balance it.  Though at the same time I think I know why he's too easy when fought normally.


Thanks for all the feedback though!  Based on everything here, this first blob of changes went well.

[Cinth]

As annoying as it is to  be 0-2 on Wallmaster, it's not that bad.  I just with I had a grid more weapons range to reach him from a safe zone (area I can dodge in).  Right now I'm dancing around to create windows inside my range and overstaying my welcome

Mirror:  I think if you can find a way to get the player to move more than few pix in the center area, it would be good.  As it is, the spam in this fight looks worse than it is.

The others I've faced don't stand out as overly easy or annoying.  Note: I'm using the Standard Blue.

[Misery]

As annoying as it is to  be 0-2 on Wallmaster, it's not that bad.  I just with I had a grid more weapons range to reach him from a safe zone (area I can dodge in).  Right now I'm dancing around to create windows inside my range and overstaying my welcome

Mirror:  I think if you can find a way to get the player to move more than few pix in the center area, it would be good.  As it is, the spam in this fight looks worse than it is.

The others I've faced don't stand out as overly easy or annoying.  Note: I'm using the Standard Blue.

Yeah, I think I know what I'm going to do about the Mirror boss.  Not too hard to force the player away, I just have to launch a special type of pain at them



On a totally seperate note, I've gone and given all of the bosses massive bullet-clearing shockwaves that fire off on either form-change or death.  No more getting killed by bullets from the boss when the boss is already dead!   

Had intended that from the start, forgot. 

[Misery]

Okay!  I was going to stick the "hard mode" bosses back in today, but some problems happened!

So, I'm happy/sorry/not-actually-sorry to say that I've added 2 new ones to the mix instead that.... are probably not ready for Normal mode.  "Shrapnel" and "Staccato".

I promise these are dodgeable.  Just try not to panic.


Any feedback is appreciated, just again, please remember that their current form is not intended for Normal mode.  A normal-mode version of each will come later.  Mostly, I just want to see what happens when you guys meet them.

[TheVampire100]

I can already imaging what "Shrapnel" does but I have no idea what "Staccato" could do.

[Misery]

I can already imaging what "Shrapnel" does but I have no idea what "Staccato" could do.

It does pain, is what it does.

It uses your own movements against you.  That's not why I called it that though.