Sharpshot/Soulsoother Back and Forth

Only the first of each row changes, this allows for really fast changes (10~20 second changes when accounting for JA/Menu delays) when doing things where you might just need buffs or pinch curing and the damage dealing of Sharpshot.

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That said for now I’ll be diving into the free version as I want to get more familiar with the engine before I dust off all my 2D game ideas I’ve had in the past and even some new ones I’m already coming up with just from beginning to play with GameMaker: Studio.

I picked up a copy of The Game Maker’s Apprentice as it’s a book written for game development using the GameMaker engine, specifically version 6.1 as the book was written in 2006.  Considering the book is now 7~ years old it has so far held up quite nicely.  I dove into the book and within 30 minutes of reading it I already had a game up and running.

It’s a fairly simple game, stay alive as long as possible to boost your score by destroying demons and collecting baby dragons.  At the end of the chapter you do get a fully functioning game with the exception of the scoreboard as that has been deprecated since the book was written.  However I found a solution online fairly quickly.  After finishing the book’s version my game tester side took over and I started writing up issues I found with the game.  I then began polishing the game, eventually I’ll get through all the issues I had with the game and I’ll have a what I feel will be a simple yet professional looking game.  How far I’ll go into polishing I’m not sure but here’s what I have so far:

If you’re watching video and have gone through the book and made this game you’ll see at first glance it looks the similar (I don’t mean the art assets).  However there are some subtle differences:

• The Dragon can’t go off screen
• The fireballs disappear upon hitting something besides the Demon boss
• Score screen (not visible in the video) is a pop up box asking the player to input their name and then shows a high score list.  The hiccups in the video are where the score screen shows up.

Like I said already a lot more I want to add but that’s on the back burner.  GameMaker: Studio so far even without reading through the book seems like a good engine for 2D games.  I’m going to keep on digging into the engine, the book I picked up as well as it’s follow up book The Game Maker’s Companion.  Definitely a lot of potential!

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I opted to go COR/DNC because I was going to be using regain roll to try and replace the regain from Embrava.  The first run I paired that with Regen from Dancer Roll which seemed awesome I didn’t have to cure most of the time except for the annoying custard that takes reduced physical damage.  I also threw in a random trash roll (well once was Refresh from Evoker’s Roll for our SCH) to be able to reset rolls without having them wear off.  This was the “Safe” way to roll with our new setup (ah, so punny…) the second and third runs we opted for a slightly more aggressive roll setup which I’m not sure is the best option for the DDs which was Regain (Tactician’s Roll) and Attack (Chaos Roll), while I don’t think this was the best for the DDs it certainly pushed my damage up on Last Stands I was firing off when I deemed it safe to spend my TP on damage over Waltzs.

The way I played it was Regain roll on the first floor Double Up only if 1 or 2 was what I got.  I would run around fire off 1 Quick Draw for extra TP if I was at 2 leaving 1 for a Light Shot (Sleep) if it was needed.  I would use Curing Waltz I/II/III, Divine Waltz, or Healing Waltz as needed, only Healing Waltz ever became taxing to use which sucked on ice spike mobs I didn’t dispel fast enough.  After the first jump was the Regen/Attack roll, and mid run I would hang back a little bit and toss on a “trash” roll on myself.  after 2 jumps (with merits and Navarch’s Gnats +2 that seemed the safest gap of time to restart cycle) I would refresh my roll cycle.

Oh on a relevant note every jump our SCH was applying or reapplying a buff or 2 to us.  We found that trying to get 2 buffs every jump or every other jump was taxing on Strategems and a few times even on MP though they never had to use Convert.

As I said earlier I’m not completely convinced on COR as the second support, it was nice to see for the most part Curing Waltz III was enough to keep people alive while I was running around (except when I was sloppy enough to get hit by Sleepga then it got a bit scary).  Next run I’m going to be going /SCH for more status removal options but with only 180 MP without MP gear I’m slightly worried.  I’m opting for /SCH or /WHM mainly because a refresh cycle would take time from buffs at jumps and also the Sublimation usage can help reduce the risk of getting hit by a Sleep/ga/II and someone dying due to me being unable to cure.  While I do lose Cure IV the healing skill should be enough to push Cure 3 to what I would have from /WHM.  I didn’t find Stona to be needed but that could have just been luck which might lead back to /WHM.

A part of me still looks to BRD/WHM as the better option but I’m not sure how that would play out due to the fact I don’t have Daurdabla, Gjallarhorn, or Langeleik among other gear I’m missing.  I could run around giving each member Marches similar how I used to give Hastes on SCH but I might be undervaluing the Regain during running around time.

Oh well lots more testing to be done and more gear to be acquired while trying to get to 15/15 NNI gear.  I’m just glad we were able to clear 2/3 80 attempts overall this might lead to more 100 gear than our 100 attempts did before the Embrava nerf.

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