Howdy, folks!  Been a while since the last update, but I've been working on a bunch of stuff behind the scenes.  (Including things that will become relevant once the full game releases sometime next year.)  This new build includes a bunch of quality of life and polish updates to bring it more up to date with what I've been developing.  Enjoy!

-Ghostly

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GENERAL CHANGES

UI and Menus

-Menu controls are now fully horizontal at the bottom of the screen.

-Main menu visuals and music have been updated.

-Added an option to turn off audio when the game is unfocused.

-Added analog stick deadzones to input options menu.

-Description box has been moved down on the Chapter Select menu.

-In the demo version, you now type in your name upon selecting a game mode from the main menu.  The full version will have save files with a name associated.

-Fixed a bug where the on-screen keyboard would lag the game.

-Added controls display on the on-screen keyboard.

-The on-screen keyboard now reflects the real keyboard when typing in a name.

-The player hud has been redesigned as an action bar.  Each move of the current lead character is displayed, as well as meters for cooldown/charges where applicable.

-Player characters now have alternate hud portraits for different states.

-Added an attack power meter below the hud player portrait, which changes appearance based on Synergy Boost/Synergy Break.

-The gameplay hud is replaced with letterbox bars during cutscenes where the player is inactive.

-Major bosses now have a title card at the beginning of the fight.

-Results screen has reworked visuals and sound effects.

Gameplay

-Story Mode no longer preserves resources between stages.  Each chapter starts fresh.

-As a result of the above, there is no longer a Story Mode high score table.

-Ranking System - Each stage has 3 rank categories and a final rank that averages them together.

    *SCORE - Achieve a certain amount of points to meet the threshold.

    *EVASION - Avoid taking damage to keep your evasion score high.

    *COMBO - Rack up large synergy combos to meet the threshold.

    *FINAL RANK - An average of the three.  If you achieve S rank on all three categories in the same run, you will earn an S+.

-New item type: Heart Piece

    *Picking up 3 will give 1 life back.

    *If you have full health, you can store up to 2.

-Enemy shields now have better contrast.

-Fixed a bug where the same enemy spawns multiple times.

-Fixed a bug where the end of a super move could cancel dialogue from other cutscenes.

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PLAYER CHARACTERS

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All Characters

-Passive charge multiplier when bombs are empty has increased from 1.5x to 2.0x.

-Decreased the spell cooldown debuff for characters not in the lead.

-Removed cooldown time from character swap.

-Direct character swaps now immediately transition into that character's special move, even if the button is no longer held.

-Fixed a bug where holding down a direct swap button while the spell is on cooldown causes the character to repeatedly vibrate.

-If a spell is about to come off cooldown, the direct swap will delay up to 10 frames until it's ready.

Synergy Boost/Synergy Break

-Minimum Synergy Boost damage buff increased from 8% to 10%.

-Maximum Synergy Boost damage buff increased from 40% to 50%.

-Synergy Break damage buff increased from 20% to 25%.

-Upon S-Break ending, a health pickup can spawn if

    *You earn 1,000,000+ and let the S-Break run the whole timer. (Heart piece)

    *You earn 10,000,000+, but use up your S-Break armor. (Heart piece)

    *You earn 10,000,000+ and let the S-Break run the whole timer. (Full heart)

Gale

-Spread Shot (Normal Shot)

    *Shot cooldown decreased from 8 to 6 frames.

    *Bullet damage decreased from 2 to 1.5.

    *Bullet spawn position has been moved to better match the animation.

    *Bullets now do 20% more damage at point blank and fall back to normal at mid range.

-Chaingun (S-Break Shot)

    *Shot cooldown decreased from 6 to 3 frames.

    *Shot spread angle increased from 15 to 20 degrees.

    *Shot spread now has a subtle sweeping motion.

    *Bullets per burst increased from 6 to 8.

    *Bullet damage decreased from 1.5 to 0.55.

-Flash Burst (Super Ability)

    *Reduced stun time from 180 to 140

Fia

-Orbit Ring(S-Break Shot)

    *Spark bullets now appear around the beam target to deal damage to nearby enemies.

Casey

-Scorching Fireball(Normal Shot)

    *The tap fastball has been disabled.  Tapping or holding the button will launch charge fireballs.

    *Bullet spawn position has been moved to better match the animation.

    *Shoot charge time decreased from 15 frames to 5 frames.

    *Charge damage decreased from 4.8 to 3.5.

    *Uncharge damage decreased from 3.2 to 3.0.

-Inferno Breath(S-Break Shot)

    *Fireballs are rapidly fired from Casey's mouth, bursting immediately on impact.

    *Inferno fireballs have shield-breaking properties.

-Explosive Punch

    *Attack destroys all on-screen shields for the duration of the follow-through after impact.

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LEVELS

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Training Room

BOSS: N/A

PLANNED STAGE BOSS PATTERNS: N/A

CURRENT PROGRESS: Fully Playable

-Made the Focus Movement section easier.

-Abridged Synergy Boost tutorial added to the end of Basic Training.

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Ch 1 - The Steel Butterfly Appears

BOSS: Prisma

PLANNED STAGE BOSS PATTERNS: 5

CURRENT PROGRESS: Fully Playable

-An introductory cutscene has been added to Story Mode.  It is still a work-in-progress.

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Ch 2 - Pulling the Strings

BOSS: Maggie

PLANNED STAGE BOSS PATTERNS: 5

CURRENT PROGRESS: Fully Playable

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Ch 3 - Echoes in the Waves

BOSS: Maya

PLANNED STAGE BOSS PATTERNS: 6

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

-Modified some dialogue.

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Ch 4 - Metamorphosis

BOSS(ES): Dr. Umbra and Metamorphosis Prisma

PLANNED STAGE BOSS PATTERNS: 6 + 1 Extra

CURRENT PROGRESS: Fully Playable, but could use a little extra refinement.  Umbra is missing 1 boss pattern.

-Modified some dialogue

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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

-The Story Mode intro cutscene sometimes bugs out and repeats.  Hold the skip dialogue button to continue if this happens.