Problem is that I have some experience in bashing lines of text together to make semifunctional programs (college coursework). I know how it is supposed to work and I understood a lot of what was on the wiki. I just can't functionally write it in a time efficient manner (I'm 4x as slow as my classmates on average).
I'm actually a better debugger than a coder and a better troubleshooter than an engineer (not saying I'm an engineer).
One thing that helps ALOT is to understand how systems work. Not everything requires a hyper-complicated blob of text that directly controls the bullets.
Something like Vestige, for example. If I recall correctly, it actually has no bullet code. Partway through development, I found ways to create complicated effects via system settings alone, and it's MUCH more efficient to do that when possible. Even Centrifuge is almost entirely system-controlled (though, for that one, it's still convoluted). As opposed to the hideous mess that is the structure and patterns for the earliest bosses such as Battleswarm.
Of course this doesnt work for everything; the Warden for example, I would have had a very hard time making that second pattern via that method. And you cant make curving or scaled bullets that way. But lots and lots of complicated-as-hell things can be done that way, if you can figure it out. That each system is controlled by a very small amount of text helps a ton.
Of course, that's all for the actual bullet stuff. I cant vouch for things like the mechs themselves or items. I've not seen the code for any of that.
