The scoring system in Deathsmiles fairly complex and must be fully understood in order to be able to earn the most difficult score-based achievements, specifically Double Hundred Millionaire and Triple Hundred Millionaire.
There are three different kinds of attacks: Shot (
/
), Laser (
/
), and Lockshot (
). Players also have Bombs (
), which, when used, wipe out all bullets and do heavy damage to all enemies on screen. You get three bombs per life in Xbox 360/Arcade mode (and one bomb per life in Version 1.1).
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This image is from the iOS version of the game but illustrates some scoring concepts.
There are three different kinds of point items: Skull Rings, Tiaras, and Crowns. Enemies drop different types and amounts of point items based on the attacks used to kill them. Remember- killing enemies as to maximize point items is only necessary when working on the difficult score achievements.
When point items are created, they will fall to the ground, break up, and eventually disappear (provided there is a solid surface below them). Each Tiara will break into two Skull Rings and each Crown will break into two Tiaras (which will then break into Skull Rings).
For basic scoring, enemies are worth a small point value. Skull Rings are worth 100 points, Tiaras are worth 800 points, and Crowns are worth 2000 points.
Point items also add to your +item counter (generally shown in the bottom-left corner of the screen): Skull Rings give +1, Tiaras give +5, and Crowns give +10.
When the +item counter reaches 1000, all enemies produce Crowns when killed (even enemies that do not usually produce point items). Point items will now start adding to a second counter, called +value. This counter is seen on screen whenever a point item is picked up and will increase up to 10,000, at which point the on-screen scoring numbers (which will each display as 10,000) turn bright orange. When +value reaches 10,000, you enter "fever" mode, causing all enemies to produce only Crowns when killed. The +value is a score bonus for each point item picked up, adding up to 10,000 points to the value of each. If you lose a life, your +item counter is reduced by about 30% and your +value counter resets.
When the +item counter is at 1000, you can enter power-up mode by holding . In power-up mode, enemies drop more point items , your attacks are stronger, and you can move through enemies without taking damage. Also, Laser causes many enemies to release a stream of Skull Rings as your familiar's projectiles travel through their bodies.
Entering power-up mode turns all bullets on screen into point items and leaving power-up mode wipes out all bullets on screen.
While in power-up mode, the +item counter steadily decreases. Using Shot, Laser, and Lockshot causes the +item counter to decrease more rapidly. Using a Bomb causes the +item counter to decrease incredibly fast. Power-up mode ends when the +item counter reaches zero or if you lose a life.
An important strategy for maximizing score is getting an "instant refill." These are hard to execute and require lots of practice and very precise timing. Essentially, you need to kill enemies and produce a large amount of point items just as the +item counter reaches 0, then pick up all the point items to fill the +item counter back to 1000, allowing you to immediately power-up again. Like this: http://i.imgur.com/kSCbWEW.gifv
In this example, I use a bomb when my +item counter gets to around 300, which causes the +item counter to drain very quickly. The bomb kills the eyebats just before the counter reaches zero, producing a lot of Crowns (because I'm still in fever mode at that moment), which I pick up to fill the +item counter and then immediately power-up again. Timing, familiar positioning, and the direction your character is facing must all be precise for this to work.
As mentioned previously, enemies drop different amounts of point items based on the attacks used to kill them.
These enemies drop no point items normally:
These enemies produce maximum point items when killed with Shot:
These enemies produce maximum point items when killed with Laser:
These enemies produce maximum point items when killed with Lockshot:
The game cares what button is physically held when an enemy dies, so if you briefly fire Laser, which results in slow moving familiar projectiles, and those projectiles kill an enemy even though you've let go of the Laser button, it doesn't count as a Laser kill for producing point items. But for enemies that produce more point items when killed with Lockshot, you can fire Laser and have the familiar projectiles kill an enemy while holding down the Lockshot button to result in a Lockshot kill.
In summary:
When not powered-up, you want to use the best attack on each enemy to maximize point items and pick them up before they break for maximum value.
When powered-up, you want to use the best attack on each enemy to maximize point items and then allow the point items to bounce and break up as much as possible before picking them up for maximum point value. Get into fever mode as quickly as possible for the highest possible scores. Each individual point item gets the +value bonus, which is a potential extra +10,000 points per Skull Ring.
5. Version 1.1, MBL, and MBL Version 1.1
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