Hiii everyone! Released a new patch! It's mostly bug fixes and balance changes, but there's also a new stage, I had to add it because of a fight that happens in the story mode. As well, there's one new alternate color for every character, wow! So exciting! 

 I am also releasing a demo on steam in the next few days. If you are reading this, you probably already own the game, so it doesn't matter much to you, but I thought I'd mention it. It won't have anything new, just 5 playable characters, Training, Versus, and Arcade mode. 

As for progress when it comes to story mode/ the 1.0 update, I'm very close to being finished with it. I am currently working on the final story mode chapter, and after that it's all just making sure the new characters are balanced/ not buggy, maybe some small features, like more art in the gallery, and doing lots and lots of testing and QA. I'm planning on getting the game feature complete by the end of June, and then spending all of July testing and making changes. I hope you all are excited! I am! 

[The full list of changes in this patch are detailed below]

[New Features!]

-A new stage!

-New win quotes for some characters.

-Each character now has 1 more alternate color.

-Added a way to force the night/afternoon versions of stages, by holding "START" while the stage loads (while the game transitions to the battle screen, after the versus screen, or straight from character select in training mode) (Only available in Versus, Training, and Combo Trial game modes)

[Bug fixes]

-Fixed a bug where certain projectiles would persist long after they should, if they never crossed a horizontal wall.

-Fixed an issue where grounded attacks could be done in the air, if input on the same frame as a valid superjump/shorthop/homingjump while in a grounded dash state.

-Fixed a graphical issue where the assist meter wouldn't show up visually when using a certain secret character as a partner in team mode(the assist could still be called, the meter just wasn't visible)

-Fixed a graphical issue where when landing from an attack, characters would still use their attack sprite for the first frame of the idle state.

-Fixed an oversight that caused the wrong outcome to sometimes occur in specific team compositions when resolving player/assist/partner color conflicts.

-Fixed an issue where the active frames for Unit-01's burst attack in team mode were happening too early in the animation.

-Removed the option to "Change assists" from the training mode menu, when you are using Team mode.

-Fixed a graphical oversight where characters that were "tagging out" in team mode wouldn't show up in shadows or reflections (they were all vampires lol)

-Fixed a typo that led to a CPU controlled unit-01+ using her 236x when she was way too far away. (The CPU will still miss on purpose sometimes though)

-Fixed an issue where Mai would say the wrong win quote when fighting herself.

-Fixed an issue where arcade scores might have been being saved to the wrong place?

-Fixed a bug that caused all trap attacks created by the partner to have no hitboxes when switching to Unit-01, or Hawke, in team mode.

-Fixed an issue that caused wallbounces to sometimes happen in the wrong direction, if the attacking player switched sides during the attack animation.

-Fixed a graphical bug where assists on the player 2 side of the character select screen would be facing the wrong direction while sliding up or down when selecting them.

-Fixed a bug where the list of buttons on the control rebind screen would be cut off if you scrolled past the top or bottom (lol) of the list and wrapped back around to the bottom or top.

-Fixed a bug that caused projectiles reflected by Ares' [4]6C to not be the correct colors.

[Art Changes/Misc changes]

-Made edits to the "Garden of souls" stage so it looks more like how I envisioned that area in my head when I was writing the story mode.

-Slightly edited Setsuna+'s character portrait to remove a pixel that was bugging me.

-Certain objects will now have ripple effects on water stages.

-Added new ui animations on the name-entry screen in arcade mode.

-Mai's rival in Arcade mode is different now.

-Setsuna's rival in Arcade mode is different now.

-Rain's default partner in arcade/survival mode is now Leaf.

-The default screen shake setting is now "Decreased" (only affects new save files)

-Removed the "PS" button view option.

-The name you enter at the end of arcade mode will now be remembered.

-Changed some of the initial arcade mode scores that were already in the game. (only affects new save files)

[Balance Changes]

{Sparrow}

-Reduced the horizontal knockback on Sparrow's 5C, j.A, and j.B.

-Changed Sparrow's S4, and P2 combo trials.

{Robin}

-Robin has a new attack, 4B.

-Robin's 5B now has a neutral amount of vertical knockback.

-Robin's 6B no longer causes a knockdown. (6[B] still does)

-Increased the vertical knockback of the last hit of Robin's 236B.

-The last hit of Robin's j.236A no longer causes a knockdown.

-Increased the downwards speed of Robin's j.236B to be the same as their j.236A

-Increased vertical knockback on Robin's 22A.

-Decreased vertical knockback on Robin's 22B.

-Decreased hitstop for all but the last hit of Robin's 214D (Ultra), which had its hitstop slightly increased.

{Mai}

-Reduced guardstun on Mai's 236D super.

-Mai's j.2C now cancels its animation on landing.

-Added a small amount of upwards motion at the start of Mai's j.2C.

-Increased the forward movement during Mai's 6B.

-Increased the vertical knockback of Mai's 236C.

{Setsuna}

-Changed Setsuna's S4 combo trial.

{V}

-Changed V's P3 combo trial.

{Clay}

-Changed the hit effect on Clay's throw to be more appropriate for the animation.

{April}

-Changed April's P3 Combo Trial.

{Crow}

-Crow's 6B now changes properties when the button is held down (6[B])

-Crow's 6B is no longer an unblockable, unless the button is held down.

-Crow's 6[B] causes a knockdown on hit.

-Reduced startup on Crow's 6B.

-Reduced hitstun on Crow's 6B (and 6[B])

-Reduced damage on Crow's 6B (and 6[B])

-Changed Crow's S3, and S4 combo trials.

{Mona}

-Reduced guardstun on Mona's 236D super.

-Changed Mona's S2, S3, P2, P3, P4 and  Combo trials.

{Hawke (And Apollo)}

-Changed Hawke's S4 combo trial.

{Rain}

-Reduced the horizontal knockback on Rain's (j.)214A.

-Rain's (j.)214A no longer causes a wallbounce.

-Rain's (j.)214A now causes a wallstick.

-Rain's j.2C no longer stops her horizontal momentum on startup.

-Rain's j.2C now cancels it's animation if she lands during it.

-Changed Rain's S3 Combo Trial.

{Basil}

-Increased the vertical knockback on Basil's [4]6C.

-Increased hitstun on Basil's J.A and 4C.

-Changed Basil's S1 and P5 Combo Trials.

{Leaf}

-Changed Leaf's S3 and P4 Combo Trials.

{Unit-01}

-Unit-01's 22A no longer has I-frames.

-Slightly increased the vertical knockback on Unit-01's 22A.

-Decreased the vertical knockback on Unit-01's 22B.

-Slightly increased the horizontal knockback on Unit-01's 22B.

-Changed Unit-01's S5 Combo Trial.

{Unit-01+}

-Increased Hitstun on Unit-01+'s J.A.

-Slightly increased the vertical knockback on Unit-01+'s 6C.

-Unit-01+'s 22A no longer has I-frames.

-Slightly increased the vertical knockback on Unit-01+'s 22A.

-Decreased the vertical knockback on Unit-01+'s 22B.

-Slightly increased the horizontal knockback on Unit-01+'s 22B.

-Changed Unit-01+'s P3 and P5 Combo trials.

{Setsuna+}

-Increased the vertical knockback on Setsuna+'s A+D throw.

-Increased the vertical knockback on Setsuna+'s 2C.

-Changed  Setsuna+'s S5 Combo Trial.

{Unit-00}

-Decreased guardstun on Unit-00's 236D super.

-Changed Unit-00's S4 Combo Trial.

{Goose}

-Slightly decreased the horizontal knockback on Goose's 2B.

-Changed Goose's P2 Combo trial.

{System}

-Universal throws (A+D) now add to the scaling counters when used to start a combo.

-Power mode characters now take 20% more damage when in the overdrive state.

-Decreased the damage bonus that EX mode gives characters, from +30% to +25%

-Added a crossup protection system, when a player passes to the other side of the other player, both players gain a 4 frame window, where attacks can be blocked in either direction.

-Changed certain values pertaining to how CPU controlled opponents decide whether to play defensively or offensively.

-Reduced the rate at which CPU controlled opponents will attempt to anti-air you on all difficulties.

-Increased the rate at which CPU controlled opponents will use projectile or other long range attacks, when far away from the player.

-Made wallsticks able to happen lower to the ground.

NOTICE: I had to update my version of gamemaker to a more modern version to continue being able to even log in, this introduced certain bugs to the game that I did my best to fix, however, things may have changed that I have yet to discover, for better or for worse.