Howdy, folks!  Traveling to Super MAGFest this weekend, so here's the new demo version that will be playable at the indie showcase!  Hope you enjoy all the improvements!

-Ghostly

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General

Input

-The Input library has been updated to v5.1.2.

UI and Menus

-The title screen has a few shiny particles.

-The main menu controls have been streamlined.  Hitting back will immediately go back to the previous menu.

-Chapter Select has new and improved visual elements.

-Levels that are locked are no longer selectable from Chapter Select (They can still be accessed in Debug Mode )

-Altered the score number formatting on the High Scores screen.

-The quit button on the pause/continue menus no longer include an option to quit to desktop.

-In showcase mode, the game will ask the player whether they want to continue the demo at the end of each demo level.

-Optimized the High Score screen so that it only renders the scores that are on-screen.

-Updated visuals for tutorial button icons.

-The player energy bar now has a bright center bar running through it when you have enough energy to deploy a Super Move.  In addition, lightning particles will appear around it when S-Break is ready to deploy.

-When S-Break Mode is in effect, the Synergy Bar will turn green and be surrounded in lightning particles.

Gameplay

-Enemies tilt a little when attacking.

-When an enemy gets hit while it has a shield up, a "BLOCKED!" message will appear.

-Fixed a bug where the score entry screen would not appear if the dying cutscene dialogue plays out.

-Gems now have a different sprite.

-Item pickups that spawn at the edges of the gameplay zone are pushed into the gameplay zone.

-Bosses now go back to their idle animation when not attacking.

-Fixed a bug where the S-Break Score would reset when a level transitioned to the next one in Story Mode.

-The player hitbox is now partially transparent when not in focus.  You can adjust the transparency in the Options Menu.

-Player hitbox is not displayed during Super Moves

Optimization

-Greatly reduced the CPU overhead of the sound fx system.

-Removed unnecessary/empty layers from level backgrounds.

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Player Characters

All Characters

-Terminology Change: Bomb is being renamed to Super in order to reflect its intended role in the game loop.

-When you use a continue, the player character will rise up from bottom screen instead of floating from the death position.

-Visuals for Super Move activate animation have been adjusted.  The character flash has been removed, and the zoom in is much snappier to bring the animation into focus.

-Trying to use character swap when its disabled will make the player character do a little shake.

Fia

-Adjusted background overlay for Temporal Warp.

-Fixed a bug where Fia is completely white for the duration of Temporal Warp.

-During the last 10 frames of Temporal Warp, Fia will flash.

-A ring of sparkles shrinks toward Fia to indicate how much time is left in Temporal Warp.

Casey

-Changed the aiming indicator graphic for Explosive Punch.

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Levels

Training Room

-Adjusted a few dialogue lines.

-Increased the size of instruction text and added animations to it.

-Added a couple animations to the movement targets.

-Replaced the Super Move segment at the end of Basic Training with explanations of each character's move in their sections.

-Button prompts show up during the tutorials.

-Fixed a bug that softlocks the basic training tutorial if you restart it while a single character is locked in.

-BGM: Break it Down for Me has a new arrangement. (Work-in-Progress)

Ch 1 - The Steel Butterfly Appears

BOSS: Prisma

PLANNED STAGE BOSS PATTERNS: 5

CURRENT PROGRESS: Fully Playable

-BGM: Plan of Attack has an updated mix.

-BGM: Lights Over Asteria has an updated mix.

-When Duel Lock activates, pickup items will move to the player.

-Trying to swap characters during Duel Lock will activate special dialogue.

Ch 2 - Pulling the Strings

BOSS: Maggie

PLANNED STAGE BOSS PATTERNS: 5

CURRENT PROGRESS: Fully Playable

-Added BGM: Rusting Away (placeholder/wip) for the intro dialogue.

-Fixed the background scrolling not halting during dying sequence.

-Added or adjusted some background assets.

-Changed some of the colors on bg elements during the stage.

-Casting Coven now features a full coven of 13 witches including Maggie herself.

Ch 3 - Echoes in the Waves

BOSS: Maya

PLANNED STAGE BOSS PATTERNS: 6

CURRENT PROGRESS: Fully Playable, but missing 1 boss pattern.

-Added BGM: Deep Blue(placeholder/wip) for the intro dialogue.

-Fixed the background scrolling not halting during dying sequence.

-Added or adjusted some background assets.

-Adjusted movement pattern of serpent enemies in the wave before the midboss.

-Moved the funny boat.

-BGM: Ocean Odyssey has been tweaked a bit.

-Maya's above water patterns start up faster.

-The player characters change animations during the boss phase transition.

Ch 4 - Metamorphosis

BOSS: Dr. Umbra

PLANNED STAGE BOSS PATTERNS: 6

CURRENT PROGRESS: Mostly Playable, needs more polish, boss is missing 1 pattern.

-NEW ENEMY TYPE: Revengers - These enemies will detonate into a bullet pattern on defeat.  If left alive for a certain amount of time, they will detonate on their own.

-The Dr. Umbra boss fight is now in prototype form, with 5 of the 6 planned patterns.

-BOSS GIMMICK: Disruption Field - Dr. Umbra can place area-of-effect circles that slow the player's movement and change the trajectory of hazardous bullets upon contact.

   *Yellow Bullets slow to half speed while in the bubble.

   *Purple Bullets aim for the bubble center on entry.

   *Red Bullets aim away from bubble center on entry.

-Dr. Umbra is not your final challenge...

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Known Issues

-Button prompts in-game do not change with control bindings. ( This will be fixed soon.)

-Overlapping textboxes during gameplay

-Bosses dont pause animations during time stop

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