He's still a fairly new writer and if you like to see how writers grow and refine their writing skill, I definitely recommend checking out this book series as this is his start in published work.
Firestar is actually a 6 book fantasy series, of which there are two published so far.
Firestar: Deloran
Firestar: Advent
His writing writing style has evolved a lot between the first two books, so I'm interested in where he goes with his third book, which is currently being written. The books are pretty detailed, the first being close to 500 pages, and the second going a bit over that.
DT3 Stuff
It's not a DT post without a bit of DT information... right? I guess sometimes posts go by without it. A whole Maverick stage has been finished! These are a lot more in-depth than the levels in DT1's Metropolis. Here's a screenshot as well!
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| Vroom vroom?? |
The screenshot above is a testing ground for the bike to make sure all its little nuances are working correctly.
14 comments:
Dis lUcs lIke d'A b3st ting evaaa!
No, seriously, it is awesome. :) Will it be as hard as the infamous Minecart levels of DKC?
Probably not in the main story, but this will definitely show up in optional content so... sure. :3
I remember that damn level too.
Hey, is the email you have in your profile still correct? ZephyrBurst@yahoo.com?
The question above still applies. But also...
I've been trying to figure out the equations used in DT1. I believe I've cracked the one for Jerry doing damage, but I'm having trouble with the one for Jerry taking damage. Here's what I've got for the former:
((B * M) - D) * (1 - R) * (1 + S)
B = Base Damage
M = 3.5 while in Rave Mode, 1 otherwise
D = Armor stat if the attack is Physical, Spirit Resistance of the attack is Spiritual
R = Resistance stat as shown in the info window, not applicable to non-elemental normal attacks
S = Additive percentage gain from Skill Points, 3 sets of 3% for normal attacks, 2 sets of 2% for physical techniques, not applicable to elemental spells
So far, I'm led to believe that all of those are represented as floating points numbers, and then rounded (not truncated) to an int at the very end.
For the latter, I've got:
((B - D) * (1 - R) * (1 + S) + 1
B = Base Damage
D = Armor stat if the attack is Physical, Spirit Resistance of the attack is Spiritual
R = Resistance stat as shown in the profile window
S = *Multiplicative* percentage gain from Skill Points, 3 sets of 3% for physical attacks, 3 sets of 3% for spiritual attacks
My numbers were all 1-2 off, and I guessed that you added a flat 1 at the end in order to remove the edge case of taking 0 damage without branching. Still, with that equation I'm still getting weird end points like "rounding up with .4" and such. There's definitely something off.
Also, I can't for the life of me figure out how to calculate the base damage of Mental Insurrection (or any spell, but I'm starting with that). It doesn't seem to be a straight scale off of your physical damage stat.
That's the correct email. I've got a somewhat busier life these days and I tend to forget to check that email. I'll check that after this message.
So here's a ton of stuff!
You're right on Jerry dealing damage.
The 3rd swing adds: (P * 0.5)
P = Physical Power stat
For Jerry taking damage, that's also correct aside from the +1 at the end. It simply checks if damage has gone below 1 at the end. You might be off a bit due to order of operation.
Physical skills
Base Damage is your Physical Power stat.
(((B * 1.1) * M) + K - D) * (1 - R) * (1 + S)
Same as yours, except...
K = Base Skill Power (You can find the skill power in the Technique submenu.)
Spirit skills
Base Damage is your Spirit Power stat.
(((B * 1.2) * M) + K - D) * (1 - R) * (1 + S)
They're all rounded. As for it rounding up with .4 I'm not sure what's going on there.
There's a few extra things going on with Physical hits from Jerry.
(Hit Combo / 3) is added as well as Air Dash damage. Which is 15 (18 with the skill) per air-dash, and resets on touching the ground. This is all added on to the base damage before multipliers, which is why air dash chaining can get pretty sweet on damage. (Beads are also added to base damage.)
The jump attack... let's not go there, it's really really weird and based on velocity... so here's how it's done.
((yVel/3.5)+(xVel/2.25))+M
M = Skill Mod
0 if not applied, 0.33 if applied.
The above is added to the jump power every frame after the jump attack is started.
For extra fun, the invulnerability time starts when the power reaches 50 and when you land...
(jumpSlashPower/6) is added to your invulnerability time.
Kudeku adds (Hit Combo * 3) to your base damage.
Muchas gracias for the info.
One last thing, is there something bizarre about trap damage? Maybe just in Distorted Difficulty?
I take my maxed out Jerry back to the Distorted Torso boss fight. There's the spike block there.
Unequipped with full skill point allocation: 350 damage
Same, but with the Trap Bead equipped: 332 damage
I don't think I understand what "20%" means.
That's because I derped on a number, a problem which will be fixed whenever the game is updated again.
Wait, does that skill damage formula also apply to Wave of Awesome? I've noticed Wave of Awesome's damage actually becoming lower the higher Jerry's Hit combo becomes, rather than higher. This is most notable when you suddenly start dealing 0s to the slimes in the Shady Caves (and then it randomly jumps back up, what?), but you don't need any absurd 4000+ Hit combos for it to occur - I've noticed it happening even after just 50 or 100 hits.
Zephyr can give the exact equation, but I believe that WoA works specially in that enemies gain "WoA resistence" while they're being hit by WoA. This means it's on a per enemy basis, and not per shot of the skill.
WoA is still affected by combo, though, which is why you get the weird sort of equilibrium with the slimes trick.
I believe this was done because WoA was just too exploitable (even now, it still is).
What I'm not sure about is how long that WoA resistance lasts. For example, if you fight the second-to-last boss and stand inside of him as high as you can go, you can infinitely hit him with 100% power horizonal-WoAs, even though they seem to seamlessly hit him sequentially.
WoA deteriorates based on how many projectiles of it are on screen, no matter the type. It's as Hawk said, it's to make it a bit less exploitable.
In DT3, there's simply a MM style limit to pew pew style weapons.
Okay, I just had another round of Shroud Lord funtimes. Let's talk about the last transition attack, because I feel like there are some things I'm just flat out misunderstanding.
You start the attack on a platform. You ride it under the floor-covering laser is gone. Then you jump to the floor just as the laser-go-round starts up.
This is where I'm a bit lost. You need to make it up onto a platform, but that may end up being impossible since the positions of the platforms are based on when you start the attack. As far as I can tell, it's unfeasible to go for the right platform since the laser-go-round spins clockwise. I feel like I'm at rand()'s mercy for that part.
Assuming you successfully make it on the platform, you then wait a bit until the "fill in the gaps" portion starts. The issue here is that there are exactly as many lasers as there are gaps. Do you intend for the player to misdirect a laser during a dash?
And then we get to the final phase.
:<
I honestly don't feel like there's really any skill involved with that part. Spam water barrier and hope to God you can kill the hands before you die. Also, the laser obscures the mouth a bit, so it's more difficult to tell when a GAME OVER PILL is on its way.
In summary, I feel like the Shroud Lord fight is awesome--truly--except for the final bit. Bosses, I think, are supposed to be learnable (which doesn't necessarily mean micro-memorization a la Imperishable Night Apollo 13), and this doesn't really feel learnable. Maybe part of it is that I don't get there very often, so I have less practice on it, but my this-is-bullshit-o-meter is flaring up.
I dunno, I'll keep plugging away at him. I can get to the third transition attack pretty consistently now, in fairly good condition to boot.
For the 'fill in the gaps' part, yes, you'll need to misdirect one. You can technically have two lasers in one gap, but that's super hard and precise. The intended method is to dash right as a laser comes down, which will cause the next one to aim between a gap.
For the final phase, Water Barrier is okay, but it drains Spirit Energy too fast. Well timed Blast Shields and dashes are more efficient for the hand bullet spam. As for the gravity bombs that the head has, you can either keep Zephyr on to blow them to the side, Blast Shield them, or use Hurricane to make them a non-issue, though the latter is a bit more costly on Spirit Energy.
As for that moment in the final transition phase just before filling the gaps. Another method is to dash through the spinning lasers one time and then follow them, using either a hurricane dash or the latch crystal to get across. I recommend the latch crystal because it's either to stall your air movement with that.
Huh. Those Gravity Bombs you're talking about are the HP draining shots, right? The ones that replenish the Shroud Lord's health if they hit you?
I never knew those could be blown away with Zephyr. I just had to rely on that glitch that lets you skip a phase is you do enough damage in a transition.
(Guilty admission time: I intentionally didn't update at one point because I figured that particular glitch got fixed. I waited until after beating the Shroud Lord.)
It's all good, if it's there, exploit it. Nothing anyone can do to stop you. :P
As for the gravity bombs, not the one he uses to recover HP, but the rotating diamonds that scatter in the final phase are what can be blown away.
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