AJS's Projects *UPDATED!* [Now with downloads!]

[AJS]

I've been working on a little project with my friend lately, and our ultimate goal is to create a full six-stage game, plus an extra stage (but since I'm lazy, each "stage" is simply going to consist of a boss battle.....so it'll be more like a boss rush :V ).  She's doing character art and sprites, we're co-writing the in-game dialogue and story, and I'm doing all the heavy-lifting with the scripting. BV

No downloads yet, as this is still very much a work in progress (Though I will most likely start putting up downloads once I actually finish one of the boss fights), but here are some screenshots of what I've got so far (I'm still learning, so my patterns aren't terribly complex yet :3c .  But make no mistake, they are still quite hard):
See below for downloads

Utsuho Opening Nonspell
Atomic Sign "Nuclear Fallout"
Nuclear Fusion "Miniature Star"

We start with the lovely opening nonspell of the Stage 2 boss, Utsuho. (No it's not a joke.  Those are all "bubble" bullets, and can easily be grazed if you watch the pattern closely as Utsuho starts shooting)

Then move onto her first spell card, Atomic Sign "Nuclear Fallout", in which a "sun" spawns on your location (with delay of course), then disperses into randomly-scattered small bullets, all while Utsuho is periodically firing rings of larger bullets to keep you occupied.

Still got a few more patterns to make for her, but I already have her final spell card: Nuclear Fusion "Miniature Star".
Utsuho fires out an array of lasers that slowly revolve around her clockwise, while random tiny bullets rain down upon you.  After a while, the lasers stop, then reappear a second later to go counter-clockwise.  Rinse and repeat.  Halfway through her health bar, the "sun" expands, and the lasers and bullets speed up.

For Stage 3, I've taken inspiration from the Seiga and Yoshika battle and made a double boss fight, starring two OCs (one made by me, and the other made by my friend who's helping me with this project--their abilities are "Manipulation of emotions" and "Manipulation of imagionation", respectively).
My OC, who I've named Soh, takes Seiga's role in the battle as the "master" who sits back and fires simple patterns, while my friend's OC, named Tsumiki, does most of the work.  Plot-wise, this battle actually takes place because Soh manipulates Tsumiki into fighting, since she's too nice to initiate a fight herself. :V  Throughout the battle, you see him firing LAZAHS at her to "control" her.

Soh and Tsumiki Opening Nonspell
"Manipulation of Anger" -- Mind Manifestation "Thunderstorm"
"Manipulation of Fear" -- "Fear Manifestation" (Summon the Fear)
"Manipulation of Fear" -- "Fear Manifestation" (FIRE THE LAZAH!)
"Manipulation of Fear" -- "Fear Manifestation" (Chased by the unknown)

For their opening nonspell, we have Tsumiki in the middle, firing randomly scattering bullets that curve in different directions, while Soh is sitting up top, periodically firing simple rings of large bullets while keeping vertically aligned with the player.

In their first spell card(s), "Manipulation of Anger" -- Mind Manifestation "Thunderstorm" (I've given each spell card a "dual name"--one for Soh, and one for Tsumiki), Soh fires a red laser, signifying anger, at Tsumiki, getting her riled up to manifest a thunderstorm using her imagination.  Meanwhile, Soh himself occasionally fires out large bullets that reflect off the walls.

For their second spell card (which is all I'm up to so far), "Manipulation of Fear" -- "Fear Manifestation", Soh harnesses the fear in you (in the form of a cute little photoshopped Divine Spirit) and brings it to the center, where Tsumiki FIRES HER LAZAH at it, giving the fear a physical manifestation.  However, it's pretty much an ominous green cloud, so I guess you could say that it represents fear itself. :derp:  This cloud chases after you while leaving behind a trail of slow-moving bullets, Suika-style, while the glowing center where the "fear" was manifested from occasionally fires out spiraling rings of bullets.

For the final boss, we have......MILES EDGEWORTH!

Yell Sign "OBJECTION!"
Yell Sign "OBJECTION!" (aftermath)
Lawyer Sign "HOLD IT!"
Lawyer Sign "HOLD IT!" (It is held)
Lock on the Heart "PSYCHE LOCKS"
Logic Sign "Logic Chess" (pawns)
Logic Sign "Logic Chess" (knights)
Logic Sign "Logic Chess" (queens)

First spell card -- Yell Sign "OBJECTION!"  Edgeworth fires a gigantic laser at you (though there is a huge delay, so you have plenty of time to get out of the way), and a massive explosion of large and medium bullets erupts from him, killing you if you happen to be too close, all while he yells "OBJECTION!" at the top of his lungs.  The medium bullets come after you immediately, while the large bullets shrink down in the aftermath, then come after you in a spiraling pattern, while an array of thinner lasers restricts movement.

Second spell card -- Lawyer Sign "HOLD IT!"  The pattern starts off with very fast aimed green bullets, and aimed rings of red bullets that travel at various speeds.  As the slowest of the aimed rings begin to pass you by, Edgeworth moves a little in your direction and shouts "HOLD IT!"  BAM, you're surrounded by bullets.  You have but a moment to plot your move before the bullets start to slowly close in around you.  After you escape the closing bullet trap, you'll be greeted by the first part of the spell card--the fast aimed bullets--once again, as the pattern loops.

Survival card (undetermined order assignment) -- Lock on the Heart "PSYCHE LOCKS".  A spell card designed to recreate the process of breaking Psyche Locks in the original games.  Lasers close in around you to represent the chains, while the locks themselves will appear, then shatter shortly afterward into rings of bullets.  As the spell progresses, the number of chains and locks increases, until you reach five, after which the card ends.

(Undetermined order assignment as well) -- Logic Sign "Logic Chess".  Edgeworth alternates between launching pawns, which are aimed around you (which leave behind dense trails of tiny bullets and explode into more tiny bullets upon impact with the edge of the screen) and knights, which don't leave bullet trails, but rather, shoot lasers in all directions upon impact with the edge of the screen.  When half of the spell's health is down, the music speeds up, and the time between the launching of pawns and knights is decreased, and Edgeworth even throws in queens, which are aimed in the opposite direction from you, but create explosions of large bullets upon impact with the edge of the screen.

I have plenty more spell cards for Edgeworth, but I'm currently in the process of remaking/revising them.  I'll post them when they're finished.


For the Extra Boss......well, I just had to make it Yukari. xDDD  I've already got 4 nonspells and 6 spell cards finished for her, but I'll post those up later.  In the near-future, I may make an impromptu video of all the spells and non-spells that I just posted about.
UPDATE (1-2-2012):
This folder contains the following:
-One nonspell and one spell card from Utsuho [This boss fight is still very much a work in progress, but these two are ready for judgment]
-Three spell cards from Flandre [PLEAAASE help me come up with spell card names.  The names you'll see here are just BS ones I made up :V ]
-A plural file for Yukari containing seven nonspells and seven spell cards [I'd like as much criticism for this as needed.  I've put most of my time into this recently]
-One spell card from Mamizou
-An experimental project I've put some time into in which you fight ZUN, who summons all the Extra Bosses to fight you [Still incomplete.  Nothing will happen after Nue is summoned, so feel free to stop the script at any time after that point.  Also, I'm still waiting on a ZUN sprite, so for now, I have Yukari as a placeholder :3c )

So without further ado, here it is!

Work-In-Progress "Snapshot" (1-2-12)

UPDATE (1-23-2012):
This download contains the following:
-Yukari Yakumo Extra Boss [Complete (for now)-->Please give any and all feedback]
-Mamizou Futatsuiwa Extra Midboss [Complete-->Awaiting feedback]

http://www.mediafire.com/?kg676b868ivvoi8

UPDATE (1-30-2012):
This download contains the following:
-Fixes to several patterns in the aforementioned Yukari boss battle in response to feedback/complaints ***Refer to Page 2 of thread for the comprehensive list***
http://www.mediafire.com/?359c3uup8rab8ca

[Shockman]

Uhhhhhh, could you please organize this a bit. It's hard for me to find every link in all of those words (even though they are highlighted) :wat:

[AJS]

Uhhhhhh, could you please organize this a bit. It's hard for me to find every link in all of those words (even though they are highlighted) :wat:

Ahh, no problem.

EDIT: Done.  Hopefully that's easier on the eyes now. :3

[Shockman]

Ahh, no problem.

EDIT: Done.  Hopefully that's easier on the eyes now. :3

Thanks, that's a lot easier. :]

Now on-topic, for your first project in danmakufu, these spells look pretty good.

[Supreme Gamesmaster]

Downloads pl0x? It'd be nice to see how it plays. The whole thing looks good so far... so my curiosity has been whetted. I also wonder vaguely how the fights can be in progress if you already have these screenshots.

OBJECTION! is scary. ._.

[Rosen]

I'd like to see a video of this.

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

A lot of these spellcards look like they are just for pretty showcaseness, such as OBJECTION!
I like how all of them look, but are some of them possible?
Perhaps the reason why there are only screenshots is because they are pretty but not possible. Such as Utsuho Opening Nonspell.


Actually, for the ones that do look possible, very good job on this one. I'd like to play these.

[Foremoster]

For the final boss, we have......MILES EDGEWORTH!

[AJS]

A lot of these spellcards look like they are just for pretty showcaseness, such as OBJECTION!
I like how all of them look, but are some of them possible?
Perhaps the reason why there are only screenshots is because they are pretty but not possible. Such as Utsuho Opening Nonspell.


Actually, for the ones that do look possible, very good job on this one. I'd like to play these.

They are indeed possible, believe me.  I playtest them relentlessly while scripting.  The only thing is that I tend to get carried away, so most of these spell cards are probably somewhere around Lunatic-level.  I'm getting to toning a few of them down, including Utsuho's first nonspell.  It was totally possible, but it required ridiculous reflexes, and I probably had an advantage since I designed the pattern myself. 

Yell Sign "OBJECTION!" is also very difficult, but entirely possible.  I may leave it as is, though I think "HOLD IT" is a bit too crazy....

And the reason why I only put up screenshots is because I'm lazy. :V  I'll put up a video when I get around to it.

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

I playtest them relentlessly while scripting.

I probably had an advantage since I designed the pattern myself.

[Schezo]

Theoretically it should be playable and captureable the first time you see a pattern and not be "lolwhat?" is what he's trying to say.

[AJS]

Theoretically it should be playable and captureable the first time you see a pattern and not be "lolwhat?" is what he's trying to say.

Fair enough.  I've actually downgraded many spell cards because they were too gimmicky--as in you'll go "lolwut" the first time you see it.

I'll try to put up a download soon with the spell cards I've already completed.  I'm currently working on remaking some of them.

[AJS]

Ahhh, it's been too long.  Schoolwork's been a bitch. :V  But now that I'm on vacation, I've had more time to actually get some work done. 

I finally have a small little collection of work ready for testing by anyone who's willing. :derp: The rest of the stuff I have is still incomplete, or unsatisfactory to me.

This folder contains the following:
-One nonspell and one spell card from Utsuho [This boss fight is still very much a work in progress, but these two are ready for judgment]
-Three spell cards from Flandre [PLEAAASE help me come up with spell card names.  The names you'll see here are just BS ones I made up :V]
-A plural file for Yukari containing seven nonspells and seven spell cards [I'd like as much criticism for this as needed.  I've put most of my time into this recently]
-One spell card from Mamizou
-An experimental project I've put some time into in which you fight ZUN, who summons all the Extra Bosses to fight you [Still incomplete.  Nothing will happen after Nue is summoned, so feel free to stop the script at any time after that point.  Also, I'm still waiting on a ZUN sprite, so for now, I have Yukari as a placeholder :3)

So without further ado, here it is!

Work-In-Progress "Snapshot" (1-2-12)

[ExPorygon]

First off, I have to say I am, in general, loving your patterns. They're really original and varied and a lot of them are probably a lot more inspired than a lot of mine. However, (also in general) they are REALLY hard. Now I know I'm far from the best player, but the first impression I feel from almost all of your attacks is that it's way too hard. What difficulty are you aiming for? Because if it's normal, then I can tell you for sure that these attacks for Utsuho and Flandre are way too hard for their respective stages on normal. That's just my opinion though.

Alright, now that that's out of the way......well I don't have a lot of time right now, so I'll give a detailed review tomorrow sometime (hopefully). In the meantime, I'd just like to say that I'm really excited about your ZUN fight, I think it's an awesome idea and you execute it well (although like everything else I found the attack too difficult for me after Mokou showed up, but given that this is ZUN and you give the player a bunch of lives perhaps you may want it that way). I'll get back to this tomorrow, then.

[AJS]

First off, I have to say I am, in general, loving your patterns. They're really original and varied and a lot of them are probably a lot more inspired than a lot of mine. However, (also in general) they are REALLY hard. Now I know I'm far from the best player, but the first impression I feel from almost all of your attacks is that it's way too hard. What difficulty are you aiming for? Because if it's normal, then I can tell you for sure that these attacks for Utsuho and Flandre are way too hard for their respective stages on normal. That's just my opinion though.

Alright, now that that's out of the way......well I don't have a lot of time right now, so I'll give a detailed review tomorrow sometime (hopefully). In the meantime, I'd just like to say that I'm really excited about your ZUN fight, I think it's an awesome idea and you execute it well (although like everything else I found the attack too difficult for me after Mokou showed up, but given that this is ZUN and you give the player a bunch of lives perhaps you may want it that way). I'll get back to this tomorrow, then.

Thanks for the feedback!  In general, I'm aiming to make everything around Hard/Lunatic level, with Yukari being a big step beyond Phantasm, but once I finish, I plan to tweak everything and make an easier version somewhere around Easy/Normal (mostly for my friends who I recently sucked into Touhou :3)

As for the ZUN fight, I was just messing around when I first got the idea for it, and it's kinda like my sandbox for playing with Danmakufu concepts (and I get to copy patterns :]).  I don't really intend for the player to survive/capture anything--It's just for the fun of getting beaten up by ZUN to synced music. :V  I do agree, though, that once Mokou comes in, things get really tough.  I might nerf everyone's attacks a bit so it's not as overwhelming when they all team up. 

[ExPorygon]

Ok, full review time!

Utsuho:
Nonspell: Decent, though REALLY tight.
Spell: Cool concept, perhaps a bit long since it's hard to get a lot of firing time on the boss.

Flandre:
1st Spell: Like the concept, it's simple but challenging. Life seems a bit high for the same reason as the Utsuho spell. Also this is a spell that I have no hope of capturing, the lasers simply move too fast. I would slow them down a bit, that will give you more firing time on Flan in addition to making it somewhat easier.
2nd Spell: Feels a little like Cranberry Trap on steroids, but that's probably what you were going for (given the name). I feel like this one would be lot more doable with the speed of the bouncing bullets slightly decreased, but it's really your call. I have had the most success shooting from the exact bottom of the screen and just avoiding the red sideways bullets and the incoming blues.
3rd Spell: Like a lot! Like the others I feel that it could use some toning down, primarily in the amount of red bullets but I dont feel that it's in dire need of it (though is it me, or does it get harder as it goes on?). I does feel slightly long for straight shot types, but probably not very (I was dying too much to really tell). Anyway, I've always liked the idea of Flan's counterclocks so good job on this.

Sorry, but I really can't help you with the names, I'm not much good at it myself. However, my friend is. In fact, he comes up with half the names of my spells. I'll ask if he can come up with some names for these the next time I see him.

Mamizou:
Hahahahaha. I see what you did there.

Spoiler:

Actually I really don't think I do cause I can't quite understand what's being said.

Yukari:
Oh god, now that is a hard boss. I don't think I have chance in hell of capturing anything beyond the first 2 spellcards. Geez, I don't know if I can properly critique this boss if all of the attacks completely roflstomp me.

However, I can point out some parts that I consider to be so hard that it's a little unfair:
2nd Spell: There is no warning of the size increase, new players can very easily be caught off guard by the attack and killed instantly. I suggest adding a sound cue before the dots change to bubbles and perhaps give some sort of a demonstration of what they're going to do before the attack really starts. Moreover, it seems like the dot/bubbles are shot out at random positions. This has the uncanny tendency to create impassible walls if the player is unlucky enough. It happened a few times to me. Also I would really like the initial speed of the bullets to be toned down, but that's not entirely necessary.
3rd Nonspell: SPEED! SPEED! There is too much SPEED! I had to have tried a dozen times to dodge even one wave of this attack, it's just too fast. I really like the concept but just slow it down. The number of times this attack requires you to dodge that incredibly fast wave is ridiculous.
4th Nonspell: Not as big an offender as the others, but I feel that I should mention that the number of aqua color knives combined with the randomness they have can cause walls, but other than that, this attack is fine.
6th Nonspell: Ok this one isn't that bad, I'll admit, but I just think it would be so much better if the red knives weren't so close together, or perhaps a bit faster. As it is right now, it's practically an auto-bomb for me.
4th Spell: Ok I'm only going to complain about this one because I love the concept so much and really want this one to not be as ridiculous!! The only thing I'll as is to give the player just a little bit more time between waves so that the player can finish dodging the last wave before the next arrives.
5th Spell: I'm only going to ask that the life be lowered a little bit, since keeping under Yukari for this one is quite difficult.
6th Spell: Again, this one has a bit too much life IMO. Although I finally found an effective way to do this one. It's actually quite fun, now that I've found that.
8th Spell: The green walls make me RAGE. Yukari also does a poor time staying on top of you. I think just making her move to your position faster would greatly help. Also I think the green walls are ridiculous, but I already mentioned that.
10th Spell: The spell is fine until the bubbles are combined with the purple oval bullet walls. The purple walls are simply not spaced out enough, the bubbles combined with everything else can make walls very easily. I suggest either getting rid of the bubbles or the purple ovals, or just spacing out the oval walls more. I'd personally prefer the latter.

Ok I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm just bashing your boss. In fact, I didn't think that I'd end up complaining about this many attacks. Please realize that I found nearly all of the attacks to be very fun to dodge. This is easily one of the better scripts I've played lately, you've done a great job with it! In fact, since I started writing this, I feel that I've gotten better at some of your spells, making what seemed impossible to me before possible. I only warn you about the possible overuse of randomness in your attacks, as it can make some attacks more dependent on luck than skill in some cases.

Anyway, you've got quite a lineup of nice scripts, I should probably play the rest of them at some point.

[AJS]

Again, thanks for the feedback!

Utsuho:
Nonspell: Decent, though REALLY tight.
Spell: Cool concept, perhaps a bit long since it's hard to get a lot of firing time on the boss.

I'm aware that it's a bit difficult to fire on Utsuho, but since I intend for the player to use the entire screen to their advantage to dodge the suns, having a moving boss would run the risk of derp-deaths by running into her (I had that problem before when I made her move around randomly).  So I'll probably keep it this way.

Flandre:
1st Spell: Like the concept, it's simple but challenging. Life seems a bit high for the same reason as the Utsuho spell. Also this is a spell that I have no hope of capturing, the lasers simply move too fast. I would slow them down a bit, that will give you more firing time on Flan in addition to making it somewhat easier.

Balancing this one made me raaaaaaaaaaage so hard! :V It's been tough for me to find a good balance between laser and bullet speed.  Sometimes I'd make them far too easy, and sometimes too hard.  I had hoped that this would be a good combo between the two, since surviving the bullets while avoiding the lasers requires a bit of focused AND unfocused movement.

2nd Spell: Feels a little like Cranberry Trap on steroids, but that's probably what you were going for (given the name). I feel like this one would be lot more doable with the speed of the bouncing bullets slightly decreased, but it's really your call. I have had the most success shooting from the exact bottom of the screen and just avoiding the red sideways bullets and the incoming blues.

Good, that IS what I'm going for.  As you've probably noticed, I'm trying to keep all the spells true to their characters' themes.  I've felt that this was a bit overwhelming myself, and I'm planning to remedy this by spreading out the blue bullets a bit wider so they're not as dense when they turn red.

Mamizou:
Hahahahaha. I see what you did there.

Spoiler:

Actually I really don't think I do cause I can't quite understand what's being said.

Mamizou's spell card is a reference to this, in case you don't know.

Spoiler:

It's actually just a joke card, and will be replaced when I get around to making actual spell cards for her.

Yukari:
Oh god, now that is a hard boss.

GOOD!

2nd Spell: There is no warning of the size increase, new players can very easily be caught off guard by the attack and killed instantly. I suggest adding a sound cue before the dots change to bubbles and perhaps give some sort of a demonstration of what they're going to do before the attack really starts. Moreover, it seems like the dot/bubbles are shot out at random positions. This has the uncanny tendency to create impassible walls if the player is unlucky enough. It happened a few times to me. Also I would really like the initial speed of the bullets to be toned down, but that's not entirely necessary.

I actually toned down the initial speed of the bullets right before putting up the download.  Perhaps it needs just a TINY bit more tweaking. :3

As for the warning of size increase, I just came up with two possible solutions -- 1) Have her "demonstration" be a static wave of regular and size-changing bullets, and/or 2) Have the bullets increase in size progressively, from tiny-->small-->normal-->large-->huge in a small time frame.  What do you think?

3rd Nonspell: SPEED! SPEED! There is too much SPEED! I had to have tried a dozen times to dodge even one wave of this attack, it's just too fast. I really like the concept but just slow it down. The number of times this attack requires you to dodge that incredibly fast wave is ridiculous.
4th Nonspell: Not as big an offender as the others, but I feel that I should mention that the number of aqua color knives combined with the randomness they have can cause walls, but other than that, this attack is fine.

Duly noted.   I was blinded by the fact that the attacks became really easy for me since I play-tested them so much, but I'll see if I can slow them down a tad, or if I could make the cyan bullets in the third nonspell a little less dense.

4th Spell: Ok I'm only going to complain about this one because I love the concept so much and really want this one to not be as ridiculous!! The only thing I'll as is to give the player just a little bit more time between waves so that the player can finish dodging the last wave before the next arrives.

My intention is actually for the waves to overlap with each other, because they're not supposed to be that bad individually.  I think I'll tone down the first, second-to-last, and last phase.

8th Spell: The green walls make me RAGE. Yukari also does a poor time staying on top of you. I think just making her move to your position faster would greatly help. Also I think the green walls are ridiculous, but I already mentioned that.

I based Yukari's movement off of Utsuho's during "Heaven and Hell Meltdown"/"Hell's Tokamak" in SA, where she generally tries to stick in front of you, but not precisely.  I don't want it to be TOO easy for you to stay in front of her, but perhaps I'll improve her speed a little bit.

As for the green walls, I've been tweaking those lately as well.  I might make the pause between their firing a TINY bit longer, but for now, I think it's alright. (I actually managed to time-out this spell the other day without too much difficulty :3)

10th Spell: The spell is fine until the bubbles are combined with the purple oval bullet walls. The purple walls are simply not spaced out enough, the bubbles combined with everything else can make walls very easily. I suggest either getting rid of the bubbles or the purple ovals, or just spacing out the oval walls more. I'd personally prefer the latter.

Ahhh, glad to hear that's the only complaint.  I was worried that it was a bit too intense, and I've been toning it down lately.  Actually, not long before I posted this, there was an ADDITIONAL phase where she fired a spiral of green knives, but that wave was ANNOYING, so I removed it.  I shall space the oval walls out a little...I was actually just beginning to think that they were too close for effective dodging of the bubbles to be effective.

[AJS]

I've been working on modifying Yukari's second spell card, "Boundary of Miniscule and Massive", but I'm not sure exactly which direction to go, so I'd like a little feedback on my ideas.  Below is a folder containing the four versions that I've come up with for this spell card.
http://www.mediafire.com/?8jv11djctl0lmtd

1st - The original with one modification ~ There is a preliminary "demonstration" wave in which Yukari fires a static wave of size-changing bullets.  During this wave, Yukari is invincible.

2nd - Alternative 1 ~ Like the one above, only there is a brief charging sound effect right before the bullets change size.

3rd - Alternative 2 ~ Like Alternative 1, except the bullets now change in phases.  One and a half seconds after being fired, the red bullets will become medium-sized, and one second after that, they will become bubbles.  Since this gives the player more time to gather his/her bearings, density for both bullet types has been slightly increased.

4th - Alternative 3 ~ A totally different strategy.  The red bullets are fired in a static ring without stopping and transform in phases, just like Alternative 2.  After the second transformation, they will form a nigh-impassable wall of bullets, so the player must dive through before this happens.  There will be a demonstration wave prior to this where the ring of bullets will actually be passable after the second transformation.  Since the blue pellets are now your main obstacle, their density has been increased considerably.

[ExPorygon]

Ah yes, I like what you did with Alt 4. That one was my favorite. The only gripe I had was the amount of time you are given to pass through the gap. It seems a little short. My second favorite would have to be Alt 3. I realize that my biggest problem with the old version was never expecting the sudden change, even with the sound effect added. I would be perfectly happy with either of these, so it's up to you (not that everything isn't truly up to you).

[AJS]

Ah yes, I like what you did with Alt 4. That one was my favorite. The only gripe I had was the amount of time you are given to pass through the gap. It seems a little short. My second favorite would have to be Alt 3. I realize that my biggest problem with the old version was never expecting the sudden change, even with the sound effect added. I would be perfectly happy with either of these, so it's up to you (not that everything isn't truly up to you).

Yeah, it's not very much time to get through the gap, I admit. x)  It's also a bit tricky to try to convey to the player that after the demonstration wave, all subsequent waves are impassable (I was hoping that a drastic increase in tiny bullet density would do the trick).  Of course, I just threw these scripts together just to show off concepts.  Once I settle on an idea, I'll probably get to balancing it a bit more.  Though in all honesty, I kinda like the third one the most because it stays true to my original idea for the spell card, but is a bit more fair.  I found that with the bullets going through a transition state before becoming massive, you have a bit more time to figure out a path through and prepare yourself, and also pretty much eliminates the possibility of getting blind-sided by a tiny bullet landing right next to you and suddenly enlarging.

In other news, I'm about 2/3rds done with one of Yukari's two planned survival cards, and am about to remake the other one because I hate the idea I had for it.  Also, for "Boundary of the Cardinal Directions", I'm thinking of just having Yukari stick to the top of the screen while moving in front of you, and have the sides of the screen simply glow before firing instead of having Yukari fire the lasers.  Don't know if anyone figured this out yet, but Yukari herself doesn't actually have a collision hitbox during that spell. :derp:  Still, it's unfair to think that the player could figure that out except by chance, and with so much stuff flying around, you barely have any time to sit down in front of her to do some damage unless you have a homing shot type.  So yeah...top of the screen for you, Yukari!

[ExPorygon]

Yeah, it's not very much time to get through the gap, I admit. x)  It's also a bit tricky to try to convey to the player that after the demonstration wave, all subsequent waves are impassable (I was hoping that a drastic increase in tiny bullet density would do the trick). 

Yeah, I can see where you are coming from with that. Alt 3 is probably the best choice.

Also, for "Boundary of the Cardinal Directions", I'm thinking of just having Yukari stick to the top of the screen while moving in front of you, and have the sides of the screen simply glow before firing instead of having Yukari fire the lasers.  Don't know if anyone figured this out yet, but Yukari herself doesn't actually have a collision hitbox during that spell. :derp:  Still, it's unfair to think that the player could figure that out except by chance, and with so much stuff flying around, you barely have any time to sit down in front of her to do some damage unless you have a homing shot type.  So yeah...top of the screen for you, Yukari!

I support this revision. And no, just like Parsee in Green-Eyed Monster, I had no idea that the boss had no collision hitbox until someone told me. Hell, I initially assumed that the delayed lasers Yukari fires were somehow dangerous.

[AJS]

I'm back again with another download!

Jokes aside, I actually got a Mamizou fight going now.  And after much work, I've FINALLY completed my Yukari boss battle, and am ready to show it off now.  I still have one more surprise planned for it though, which I'm working on now (ufufufufu~), but for now, enjoy!

Included are:
-Yukari Yakumo Extra Boss (8 nonspells and 10 spell cards, quite a few of which have never been seen before)
-Mamizou Futatsuiwa Extra Midboss (1 unbombable nonspell --for music syncing purposes-- and 2 spell cards)

http://www.mediafire.com/?kg676b868ivvoi8

[I have no name]

Mamizou:
that nonspell is pretty BS, although I did manage to avoid the final wave.
Also, since it appears to be a survival noncard, I'd suggest making bombs allowed for it but having them deal no damage-it's annoying having death death death because you forgot which side to start on or messed up the precise movements.  It's doable but not that fun-I tihnk it'd be fun if the gap between 'lanes' was a little bigger, but that might just be me.
Hunter Becomes Hunted: Impossible until you figure out you need to stop shooting, then kind of fun.  Pretty balanced I'd say.
Circle of Life: Doable with some luck until the second phase, at which point I was suddenly getting clipped a bunch.  I'll blame that on the different hitboxes in danmakufu than Ten Desires.  Pretty cool idea, although some warning on what the frogs do would be nice to have at the start.  Also the second phase the wave overlap, you probably knew that but it's pretty hard to deal any damage because dodging in the center is almost certain death.  and the red phase...the bullet ring is way too fast to dodge while tracking everything else.  Feels like Stage 5 lunatic MoF without all the bombs overall to me, instead of an extra (or Phantasm) midboss.

I'll play Yukari later.

[AJS]

Mamizou:
that nonspell is pretty BS, although I did manage to avoid the final wave.
Also, since it appears to be a survival noncard, I'd suggest making bombs allowed for it but having them deal no damage-it's annoying having death death death because you forgot which side to start on or messed up the precise movements. 

The whole point of disallowing bombs is because when you use them, gameplay stops for a split second while the music continues, and as you may have noticed, the beginning of the first spell card is synced to the music.  Thus, I'll probably go with the alternative of making the lanes bigger.  I was struggling to try to find a way to keep Mamizou's typical style of nonspells, while making it reasonably challenging, but if it's too hard I might ease up a bit.

Circle of Life: Doable with some luck until the second phase, at which point I was suddenly getting clipped a bunch.  I'll blame that on the different hitboxes in danmakufu than Ten Desires.  Pretty cool idea, although some warning on what the frogs do would be nice to have at the start.  Also the second phase the wave overlap, you probably knew that but it's pretty hard to deal any damage because dodging in the center is almost certain death.  and the red phase...the bullet ring is way too fast to dodge while tracking everything else.  Feels like Stage 5 lunatic MoF without all the bombs overall to me, instead of an extra (or Phantasm) midboss.

As opposed to the discussion I was having earlier about one of Yukari's spells, I'm not sure how I could give a "demonstration" for the frogs without breaking up the flow of the spell, or how I could demonstrate their ability at all in a way that doesn't harm the player.  Perhaps I can just slow the bullets down a bit so they don't come up so fast?  As for the red phase, perhaps I'll just tone it down a bit, since making it the fastest of all the phases is probably good enough (right now it ups the speed AND density, so perhaps I'll change the latter).

And for the difficulty, to be honest, I kinda forgot that I was making an Extra Midboss when programming this. :derp:  But in general, I like to make my bosses fairly challenging as individuals (also, since I'm kinda too lazy to make an ACTUAL Extra STAGE, Mamizou is probably just going to end up being the Boss before the Boss--Yukari).

I'll play Yukari later.

Have fun!  But keep in mind that I specifically designed her to be extremely difficult.  I've actually been considering having her drop 1ups after certain spells to alleviate the difficulty of 1CC-ing it without compromising the patterns. :wat:

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

Let's just try Yukari .

Nonspell 1:
Blah, blah, blah. Kunai rings.
(7/10)

Spell 1:
Uh... unfitting name much? Or I could just be missing something very important.
Not very Yukari-like but could fit a spell for a fairy or something...
(5/10)

Nonspell 2:
Yay item.
The spiral degenerates into this... semi-random spam thing. I don't really see the spiral at first but you gotta look hard for it.
(6/10)

Spell 2:
Uh... random spam much? Also, it sometimes walls you in like Jack the Ludo Bile.
Lotsa cheapshots here.
(4/10)

Nonspell 3:
Ok, this is a really really cheap noncard. Have a warning or something before the bullets turn around.
(5/10)

Spell 3:
- First phase: oh god. It's worse than Nazrin's first boss card. Perhaps have them be rings instead of random?
- Second: Uh... ok. Good.
- Third: Oh look, regular bullet walls. Boring.
- Fourth: Oh look, CtC!Reimu. Boring.
(2/10)

Nonspell 4:
I can't shoot Yukari half the time, she's pushing me away from her with those green kunai.....
(4/10)

Spell 4:
Bullets with aimed lasers. Would work much better as a fighting game card.
There's literally no room for turning around, so... yeah. Needs lots of toning down.
(1/10)

Nonspell 5:
Double Border of Wave and Particle. Never do this. Such were the words of Ginko.
(1/10)

Spell 5:
Other than having gotten cheapshotted at the second laser in the card (dude give some delay at least)...
Well, it's ok. Just be less random.
(6/10)

Spell 6:
Oh look, Ran.
Bullets... oh god fast rings. Uh... reflective butterflies?...
Oh god got walled.
Very bad. I should be able to shoot Ran from the center bottom of the screen.
(3/10)

Nonspell 7:
Uh... sine wave sine wave sine wave.
Boring, moving on.
(5/10)

Spell 7:
Oh look, laser... WAIT WHAT.
... Fairly easy card. I like it. Apart from the cheapshot of course...
((8-3)/10 = 5/10)

Nonspell 8:
Cool.
(9/10)

Spell 8:
Gah. Those walls of purple bullets. They even spawn on the player. Uh... Unless you know exactly where the bullets will spawn, good luck.
(4/10)

Nonspell 9:
Hi there Tojiko. Ok nonspell, but shouldn't it be really hard by this part of the boss fight?
(6/10)

Spell 9:
Boo, so little room to micrododge. You can't even micrododge sometimes. Bomb it.
Also, only purple is really... eyerape.
(6/10)

Spell 10:
Why are you so mean. You wait like until the entire pattern has finished spawning before being able to damage Yukari.
On top of that it's nothing far from Border of Life and Death. Gaaaah.
((6-4)/10 = 2/10)


Total:
81/180
(45%, F)

Overall:
Really really really cheap. It's not hard on the second try, but... This gives a first impression of bullshit.
Tone this down. Make it less... cheap. It's the only word that enters my mind now.

[AJS]

Nonspell 2:
Yay item.
The spiral degenerates into this... semi-random spam thing. I don't really see the spiral at first but you gotta look hard for it.
(6/10)

Product of laziness...I was fiddling around with numbers to try to get a pretty-looking pattern and got this one day.  I liked how it worked out in gameplay, though, so I ended up keeping it.  But I suppose a remake of it is called for.

Spell 2:
Uh... random spam much? Also, it sometimes walls you in like Jack the Ludo Bile.
Lotsa cheapshots here.
(4/10)

Any suggestions on how to make it less cheapshot-y without changing the concept?  I've actually been toying around with this a lot to find a good balance, and I can't get it quite right.

Spell 3:
- First phase: oh god. It's worse than Nazrin's first boss card. Perhaps have them be rings instead of random?
- Second: Uh... ok. Good.
- Third: Oh look, regular bullet walls. Boring.
- Fourth: Oh look, CtC!Reimu. Boring.
(2/10)

My original concept was actually to have the waves overlap with each other so you wouldn't be dodging one thing at a time, but I wound up going so overboard on each wave that I spaced them out...I'll work on nerfing each individual wave so they complement each other better.

EDIT: How about this?  Remove the 3rd phase entirely, then have the first phase be rings like you suggested, and have the second and third waves follow shortly afterward (nerfed, of course), so you got pretty much everything coming at once?

Spell 4:
Bullets with aimed lasers. Would work much better as a fighting game card.
There's literally no room for turning around, so... yeah. Needs lots of toning down.
(1/10)

I actually had no problem with this myself...it just takes really good "jerks" to turn around and get through the lasers.  Still though, it is a bit intense, so I might turn it down a bit.

Nonspell 5:
Double Border of Wave and Particle. Never do this. Such were the words of Ginko.
(1/10)

I apologize for the cheap cop-out. OTL  But I was running out of ideas... :colonveeplusalpha: (P.S. who is this Ginko?)

Spell 5:
Other than having gotten cheapshotted at the second laser in the card (dude give some delay at least)...
Well, it's ok. Just be less random.
(6/10)

The lasers were actually meant to be indicators, rather than actual threats...I suppose I could push them back a bit so the player can't touch them.

Spell 6:
Oh look, Ran.
Bullets... oh god fast rings. Uh... reflective butterflies?...
Oh god got walled.
Very bad. I should be able to shoot Ran from the center bottom of the screen.
(3/10)

I had hoped it would be clear enough, but this was meant to be a survival.  You don't need to shoot Ran. :V

Spell 7:
Oh look, laser... WAIT WHAT.
... Fairly easy card. I like it. Apart from the cheapshot of course...
((8-3)/10 = 5/10)

I was afraid this would happen. :ohdear:  Well, I already have a fix in mind, so I'll get to it once I get the chance.

Spell 8:
Gah. Those walls of purple bullets. They even spawn on the player. Uh... Unless you know exactly where the bullets will spawn, good luck.
(4/10)

I think I'm gonna make the paths of the (invisible) familiars a bit more predictable, so you can avoid having them spawn bullets on top of you, but I was also thinking of toning the bullets density down a bit.

Nonspell 9:
Hi there Tojiko. Ok nonspell, but shouldn't it be really hard by this part of the boss fight?
(6/10)

It actually used to be harder, but I wounded up toning it down a bit.  You want it harder then? :3

Spoiler:

(that's what she said)

Also, Tojiko? o.O  I had no idea...this idea came to me out of the blue, I swear. :derp:

Wait, I'm confused....I only had eight nonspells...

Spell 9:
Boo, so little room to micrododge. You can't even micrododge sometimes. Bomb it.
Also, only purple is really... eyerape.
(6/10)

Again, another spell I've been struggling with...do one thing, it's too easy...do another thing, it's too hard...also, colors?  You want it?  It's yours my friend!

Spell 10:
Why are you so mean. You wait like until the entire pattern has finished spawning before being able to damage Yukari.
On top of that it's nothing far from Border of Life and Death. Gaaaah.
((6-4)/10 = 2/10)

Well, Kaguya did it, and I tried to make it easier by making her health bar really weak once she became vulnerable.  Also, as her final spell, it was meant to be an homage to BoLaD without being too much of a ripoff, but I guess I failed there.  Any suggestions on how I could do this?

Anyway, thanks for the criticism.  A bit harsh on my ego considering all the work I put into it, but I need it.   That's the only way I can improve, right?   Like I said in my comments, please give any suggestions on how to improve some patterns, because I've really been fiddling with balancing some of them.  I want to make this boss battle really hard, while being fair at the same time.

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

Any suggestions on how to make it less cheapshot-y without changing the concept?  I've actually been toying around with this a lot to find a good balance, and I can't get it quite right.

Perhaps the bullets should spray out constantly instead of all at once and in such density.
Of course, those growy bullets can stay. They seem ok, I guess?

(P.S. who is this Ginko?)

The guy who teases me a lot. He also hates the Concealed the Conclusion shotsheet for "ugliness". And he loves to hate on BoWaP.

The lasers were actually meant to be indicators, rather than actual threats...I suppose I could push them back a bit so the player can't touch them.

How about those lasers, all four of them, rotate around Yukari all at once, and only one of them are active at a time. The active laser is the one that sprays the bullets.

I had hoped it would be clear enough, but this was meant to be a survival.  You don't need to shoot Ran.

wat :X

Again, another spell I've been struggling with...do one thing, it's too easy...do another thing, it's too hard...also, colors?  You want it?  It's yours my friend!

I'm assuming... Purple, red, green, and blue?

Also, uh... heh. I tend to be a bit too harsh sometimes. Sorry about that. But yeah, there's always a line between cheap and hard. Sometimes the borderline is a bit fuzzy, so get a few playtesters on #danmakufu.

[I have no name]

Yukari:
1st nonspell: A bit denser than I'd like, but doable.  The purple kunai should probably have more vertical space between them.
"Fast and Slow": I like the idea, but I can't see how you're supposed to dodge it without a lot of luck.
2nd nonspell: After the 2 colors overlap I couldn't figure it out.  Cool, but auto-bomb.
"Miniscule and massive": Really really awesome idea, pretty fun too.  3 complaints though: the bubbles can cause walls, the waves can overlap and dodging the initial assault  (beginning of wave) is a bit hard.  I'd suggest less red dots, more time between waves (by only a half a second even) and the initial spawn to not extend as far.
3rd nonspell: Oh hi DS EX-9.  Cool idea, although dodging through the blue kunai is a bit difficult unfocused to evade the comebacks.  It is possible to do though.
Lasers and Bullets: blues should have more warning, less bullets, purples are fine, greens are fine, reds are HOW
4th nonspell: The purple kunai can get unavoidably dense, aside from that I really liked this nonspell, although I'd give more chances to shoot Yukari by adjusting the starting orientation of the lanes.
"High Velocity Projectiles": I usually hate laser spells.  This is fun though, so major props for that.  It takes way too long normally though.
5th nonspell: double lunatic BoWaP???  at least tone it down to the hard difficulty (going off of SA), preferably normal.
"Cardinal Directions": This.  Is.  So.  FUN.  Watching someone else play it though it seems to speed up with time, and gets pretty wall-y near the end.  If so, cap the speed a little sooner.  I captured this btw, first pattern yet.
"Shikigami's Wrath": First phase, too fast.  Second phase, pretty fun, red cards are too first though. Chen phase, too dense, although it's pretty doable.  Were you going for ultra density butterflies?  Phase with Phoenix Wright character:  More space to dodge things between lasers please?  This is easily the most fun phase of the spell.
6th nonspell: Doable, but ridiculously brutal.  3 waves of kunai is probably enough, and 'ultra' red rings are pushing it.  I'd prefer all the rings to be going the same speed, even if twice as often.  4th wave is impossible.
Earth and Sky: The blue stars hide behind the green walls.  I like this though.
7th nonspell: captured it, but it's a bit hard for an extra/phantasm boss.
Expansion and Recession: WAY too dense.  Dodgable, but there's not enough time to position yourself right.
8th nonspell: captured it too.  Good as a final nonspell.
Here and There: tight streaming and praying you don't get clipped, then Last Word final phase only too fast.
Beginning and End: VERY reminiscent of BoLaD.  Good as a final spell, although very dense.

Overall this fight seems kind of cheap, overly fast and overly dense.  I know you wanted it to be difficult, but humanly possible would be a nice touch.

In response to 'nonspell 9', there are 2 spells in a row at Ran's entry, and then 2 in a row at the end.


Did some more testing in singles, and ended up coming to the conclusion that a few of these patterns are completely impossible.  I'm attaching a replay folder containing captures of each of the patterns I deemed doable for me.  Possible ones not included are Earth and Sky (too long), the last one (too derpable, although I 1DNB'd it), Mamizou's nonspell (those last 2 waves are pretty much impossible without memorization and a fast enough player script), the survival (too long, if it's even possible), Lasers and Bullets (doable with some luck and not screwing up, I dodged every phase overlap once though so it's possible), Here and There (impossible due to card/stream overlap) and the 6th nonspell (impossible)

[rogus247]

I reviewed the Yukari script, its up on YouTube if you wanna see!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mWfbsoR4Jc

(Also, if you watch AVGN, you can see how I express my rage! :V)

[AJS]

I reviewed the Yukari script, its up on YouTube if you wanna see!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mWfbsoR4Jc

(Also, if you watch AVGN, you can see how I express my rage! :V)

I feel honored that someone actually took the time to make a Youtube video about something I made. :blush:  I don't have time to watch it now (classes resume tomorrow morning and it's late at night wooo!), but when I watch it, since you liken yourself to AVGN, I expect lots of cursing and shoutings of "AAAASSSSSSSSSSSS" :V
(Don't call it "bad" :3  It's sort of the trial of my very first serious danmakufu project....perhaps you can make a response to the video after I do some massive tweaking to compare the differences. :derp:  Since my only playtesters prior to this were my friends --easy modo players-- and since I obviously practiced the hell out of my patterns as the creator, I didn't have a very good idea of what was good or bad.  I promise great improvements later on though )

As for random thoughts I've been having on how to make improvements:

1) The reason why I had the purple kunai go so far before turning back was because I didn't want someone to cheese through the pattern by squatting down in the corner...but I realize now that I could just have the kunai stop before leaving the screen, and then split--half going inward like normal, and the other half going outward.  This oughta prevent cheesing, and allow the player to see the incoming turning kunai
2) I think the first phase of Shikigami's wrath definitely needs a bit of nerfing...I actually think that the pellets and butterflies are fine, but repeated practice runs have shown that the combination of these two gives pretty much no time to prepare for the falling glowing bullets, so if you're unlucky enough to get a wall, you're screwed....I'm thinking of removing the glowing bullets and shortening the time between the firing of pellets and butterflies.
3) Expansion and Recession, I think I was too blinded by how great I felt my idea came to fruition when I first created this to see how blisteringly difficult it was.  I'm planning on reducing bullet density, obviously, but now I'm stuck at another decision....should I have the bullet-spawning familiars stop just short of reaching the bottom of the screen, or have them do what they're doing now, but just move outward more quickly so they don't curve so much and come back to bite the player?
4) 4th nonspell, I'm thinking of reducing the density of the green bullets just a bit so it's actually possible to dive through the lanes if you end up getting trapped in an unsavory position
5) I like the speed of Mamizou's nonspell, but I think I'll just widen the lanes so you can actually see where you're supposed to go earlier than half a second before death. XD

Earth and Sky: The blue stars hide behind the green walls.  I like this though.

I just investigated this real quick, cuz I never noticed that myself, and I found that some of the bullets hide behind the walls, while the others go in front....weird