Stats

Stats are a core part of Ray Quest. They represent the power or attributes the ship has.

Overview

Stats at the start of the game start at 0, with each able to be increased when a level in the game is gained. Each stat can be increased by one point when a level is gained, the highest amount a stat can be increased being 8 points. When enough red particles are collected to fill up the bar on the right side of the screen, the game will be paused and a box will come up on to the screen with three sections: Attack, Health, and Speed.

The player is prompted to select one to upgrade, how much a stat already upgraded indicated by the amount of holes with blue in them. An upgraded stat will perform what it does better. Once a stat is upgraded, the player cannot withdraw the choice of picking that stat to upgrade, and are unable to withdraw points from an upgraded stat.

Stats on the stat selection screen are arranged from highest priority: attack being the most useful of all the stats, as a high attack allows the player to destroy enemies, a destroyed enemy leaving behind a cluster of green and red particles, red particles beneficial for the further upgrading of other stats. Health is the second from the top, the second most useful.

High health allows for the player to withstand multiple blows of enemy attacks and still make it through the level, or at least far into it. Speed is a stat the pares well with attack as it increase the speed in which the Ship shoots bullets which can be very useful.

Stat freeze

If the player constantly upgrades two stats while neglecting one stat, or constantly upgrades one stat while neglecting the two others, upon a stat(s) reaching a certain amount of points, when the player gains another level they will find those/that periodically upgraded stat(s) darkened and unable to be selected, "frozen". The player will be forced to upgrade the other two stats (the other one stat if they always upgrade two stats) until that previously neglected stat reaches a certain amount of points.

This is to provide balance with other stats, so the player does not gain a disadvantage when entering a new world. If the "stat freeze" was nonexistent in Ray Quest, the player would easily make the game harder, or maybe impossible to complete due to the player's selection of what stats to upgrade. For example, if the player were to only upgrades health and speed, the player would find themselves fighting very lengthy boss battles due to their attack being at 0 points, all shots dealing very little damage, as the player would be unable to destroy enemies in the previous levels as the screen would move to fast for the player to destroy them.

Likewise, if the player upgrades only attack and health, the game would become difficult as it would be hard to avoid oncoming streaks bullets.

Stats

Below are a description of the three stats.

Attack

Attack is the most important stat, as mentioned in one of the previous paragraphs. Attack is how much damage the player inflicts and how much bullets they fire at once. A higher Attack inflicts more damage and allows the ship to fire more bullets.

At first, the player will fire a single shot, but upon fully upgrading their attack, they will fire two white medium-length bullets, and two small small bullets diagonally left and right. More bullets allows for the player to shoot more enemies and inflict more damage.

Health

Health is the second most important stat, again as mentioned in one of the previous paragraphs. Health measures how much damage the player can take before exploding. It is represented as a green gauge that slowly drops when damage is taken. There is also a numerical indication of how much health the player has, represented by remaining health/max health.

The player gains more health when health is upgraded, but this health does not decrease the damage they receive from enemy attacks. The player starts out with 23 health at the start of the game, and can upgrade it to 99. Health can be replenished by obtaining green particles, a single particle replenishing 1 health.

Speed

Speed is the third most important stat, as mentioned in one of the previous paragraphs. Speed measures how fast the player can shoot bullets and is often pares well with high attack. Speed is measured by a long cylindercle bar found next to the health bar that constantly raises and drops. Once the bar completely fills up a shot will be fired and by increasing the speed stat, the bar will fill up more quickly. At level 25 or if the speed stat is increased to the max, bullets will be shot in about one second.

Stats in enemies and bosses

Enemies and bosses also have stats, only they cannot be seen. Enemies have speed, attack, and health, only they cannot be upgraded at all, and remain with those enemies for the entire game. Enemies of higher class will have probably have higher attack stats.