In this update I just wanted to showcase some of the  progress being made on the various menus, hubs, and transitional screens for the game.

Personally I really think it helps block out the story arcs and illustrate to the player where they are in the plot.

Admittedly it also adds a bit of cinematic flair as well, which allows me to flex my illustration skills.

Maybe it's a waste of rom space but games are an experience, so I feel there is value in that if I can fit it in.
Right now the game is about 1 MB without music, so maybe I can cram everything in within 2 MB.

Also, please note that for these set of images I chose to use the emulator BGB, as it's the most accurate both in color representation, and in what is graphically possible on a Game Boy. I even went as far as to get a flash cart just to test how this game runs and looks on a non back lit Game Boy Advanced, and it looks pretty much identical to what I see on my back lit DS (first gen / DS fat.)

From time to time I may use the SameBoy emulator to capture footage, but just be aware that the colors are not exactly correct. (Can't seem to record video footage from BGB.)

That out out of the way, here are some fancy screen shots with light commentary from me! As usual, noting shown here is final.

Here is "Load Game," screen.

It's the typical 3 save slots with various stats and progress identifiers detailed in each.
For example, the first slot shows that the player is still on chapter 1, but has cleared 2 stages already.
Why is this significant? Well the idea is that after a certain point the game will open up and you will be able to revisit past stages.
That's the plan anyway, I may change this if it's too overambitious for me to do (if I'm too lazy basically).

I think it looks pretty cool, but I'm really not sure if my game really needs 3 save slots. Fortunately what I have developed is pretty scalable so I can easily reduce this to a "Continue / New Game," option on the main menu if I feel 1 save slot is enough.

Oh, well hi there!

This is the seedy factory town knows as "Axle Town," a den of gear heads, Colosseum combatants, and mercenaries! Not the kind of place to bring grandma, that's for sure!

Players will visit this location from time to time to earn money so that they can upgrade their load out for missions.

How you will go about earning the money will be discussed in a future post, but just know that the girl in the image is not window dressing (fetching as she may be), and you will become very familiar with her as the story progresses. She may even surprise you so I hope you will look forward to that!



This looks familiar huh?
Well yeah! This was the hub that was featured in a previous update, however here it is in all it's glory.

What is this place, and what sort of business do you think happens here?
What I can say is that you will be introduced to one of the many operators that will assist you on your missions.

Speaking of which, you briefly saw them in that previous update using this scene.
It was the blond girl named Sera.

Here is a closer look at her via a chapter title card!



Well there she is! Sera with more pixels! (The amount of revisions to the face probably gave me an ulcer!)

Judging by the elements in this title card, you may have realized already that the office hub in the previous image will be central to chapter 1 of the story.  Title cards will display each time a save slot has been loaded for a chapter, however they will also show once for every new chapter the player has reached during gameplay. 

Hopefully this will make it easy for players to recall where they are in the story after being away from the game for a bit. 



Hmm am I showing too much?
Ah to heck with it, here is another hub I made.
I wonder where this could be? Looks very clean. The janitor must love their job!

As the plot progresses the player will end up in a hidden base where other SHELLs beyond the spotless windows can be seen... Seriously what are they paying that janitor?

I admit I am being deliberately light on details, so lets say that there may be a future post about this location in the future, including the various characters the player will meet here.

Well that's it for some of the game hubs. Those that remain are for the end game, and honestly do not add much more to the game besides story, so I think I will save that for you to discover should this game ever be released haha!

Lastly I want to give a preview of the "Upgrade Shop," menu:

Earlier you may have noticed that some of icons in the save slot had numbers next to them. These numbers indicate the upgrade level for the attribute or weapon. 

Attributes are associated with the body of the SHELL, and are per-equipped, with exception to the optional "Knuckle," attribute.
This attribute as already been demonstrated in the previous update where there was a video showing that players can execute a dash punch that does minimal damage, but stuns an enemy.

If this attribute has not been purchased then the player will only be able to dash.

The weapon section allows you to buy new weapons, upgrade them, and equip them for missions.
While money will be necessary to buy the weapon, there will be other requirements that need to be met before you can buy them.
More on this in a future update, but lets just say that the weapons vendor is a bit shady and had peculiar needs.

Well I hope this will hold you over until the next update, but until then see you later!

-Nigel