Assault Shell

Developer:	Team Overloaded & Tyler Howard (Someguy009)
Music:	A2B
Release date:	August 28 2020 (itch.io), March 19 2021 (STEAM).

Assault Shell (アサルトシェル) is a shmup by Team Overloaded and Tyler Howard (Someguy009) made in GameMaker Studio. It is inspired in CAVE shmups and Crimzon Clover for the Break inspired system called Stands.

Gameplay Overview

The player has the normal attack attack and focus laser attack. The game does not have bombs, but the player is equipped with an SP weapon capable of cancelling bullets. SP charge can reach up to 2 levels. Destroying enemies will increase the multiplier. Collecting blue crystal items will fill up the Stand gauge. The stands are Hyper and Blank. When activating Hyper Stand, the firepower increases, and the multiplier increases. If Stand gauge is full when on Hyper Stand, the Blank Stand will be ready for activation. Blank Stand increases firepower and multiplier even further, in exchange of making enemy patterns more agressive. When a shield bar is lost, it can recover slowly. They can also be recovered by defeating midbosses and bosses.

Controls

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• A (Press): Shot
• A (Hold): Focus laser
• B: SP attack
• C: Stand activation
• D: Full-auto shot

Scoring

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Scoring consists of a multiplier, which increases when destroying enemies. On normal state, multipliers are 1x, 2x, 4x, 32x and 64x. On Hyper Stand state, 128x multiplier is added. On Blank Stand state, multiplier can reach up to x256. When defeating midbosses and bosses, the remaining time will multiply the score value from the defeated boss. If the player manages to No-Miss an entire stage, a No-Miss bonus is awarded.

Modes

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• Original Single: A game mode that has only the first loop.
• Original Full: A mode that has both loops. 2nd loop disables continiues and introduces suicide bullets.
• Light: A modified version of Original Single, in which SP weapon recharges fast and shield recoveries take a little less time.
• Void Arrange: A special version of the game that has a rank system, power-up carriers that release Shot and Focus power-ups, and a new Void Stand, which increases firepower and multiplier reaches up to 512x. It also features a playable version of Sigma exclusive to this mode.

Ships and Psycho Frames

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• Vian (PF-201A Alpha):

An offensive type ship that has a forward shot.
SP weapon variants:
SP1: Wide Interception Shot.
SP2: Frontal Blocking Bullet.

• Alice (PF-204B Beta):

A ranged type ship that has a wide shot type.
SP weapon variants:
SP1: Burst Defense Shot.
SP2: Random Cancel Array.

• Suzy (PF-202G Gamma):

A defensive type ship that has a auto-aim shot type.
SP weapon variants:
SP1: Frontal Defensive Option.
SP2: Rolling Guardian Option.

• Etia (PF-203D Delta):

A technical type ship that has a trace shot type.
SP weapon variants:
SP1: High Energy Sword.
SP2: Counter Matrix Shield

• Suzy? (PF-205SX Sigma):

A special type ship that has a variable shot type. It´s exclusive to Void Arrange mode.
SP weapon variants:
SP1: High Temperature Flamethrower.
SP2: Offensive Lancer Option.

Upon clearing a stage, the player can interact with the Psycho Frame by choosing different speech options.

Rank

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Rank system is exclusive to Void Arrange mode. It increases when collecting items in Blank Stand or Void Stand. It decreases when taking damage or when Blank Stand is not used yet to collect medals. When rank is at a high level, some patterns will get buffed and suicide bullets will start to come out.

Items

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	Blue crystal: These blue crystals appear when destroying enemies and cancelling bullets.
	Yellow crystal: These yellow crystals appear when cancelling bullets with the SP attack in Blank Stand. In Void Arrange, the yellow crystals fill up the Void Stand gauge.
	Platinum crystal: These yellow crystals appear when cancelling bullets with the SP attack in Void Stand (Void Arrange only).
	Gold medal: Appears when activating Hyper Stand with bullets around, destroying enemies or cancelling bullets in Blank Stand. In Void Arrange, gold medals fill the Void Stand gauge
	Platinum medal: Appears when destroying enemies or cancelling bullets in Void Stand (Void Arrange only).
	Extend: Appears when all grey panels of the Stage 3 Midboss are destroyed before destroying it`s core.

True Last Boss / TLB

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In order to fight Sigma (the TLB) in Original Full, the player must 1cc 1st loop and survive the whole 2nd loop until defeating the Stage 2-5 Boss. To fight it in Original Single, Light and Void Arrange, the player must 1cc until defeating the Stage 5 Boss. An important thing to know is that upon reaching this boss, continiues are disabled. Sigma´s last attack emits insta-kill beam walls

Story

Amber Black, a military faction based in the Asian Continent, has their influence all across the southern hemisphere, and has begun taking over other private military companies and factions. However, their rival JOKER will not stand for this. After a gap in their jumpgate defensive system due to the Enemy Black operation, JOKER begins their mission to take down Amber Black once and for all.

Database

• Prolouge:

Amber Black, a military faction based on the Asian continent has their influence all across the hemisphere, and has begun taking over other private military companies and 
factions. However, we, JOKER, will not stand for this.
After a gap in their jump gate defensive system due to the success of the "Enemy Black" operation, we will now take action in order to take down Amber Black once and for all.
Take to the skies, Joker unit no. 233487, and destroy Amber Black`s ambition.

• The world now:

After the failure of a lard worldwide coup d`etat conducted by most of the world`s militaries, The Earth Peackeeping Initiative rolled out the Military Disposal Order 198 NE (New 
Era). This split the military from the goverment as a whole and instead issued a new way of handling the military power
This would be the Faction system, which allowed PMC`s from around the world to obtain military power so that the corrup goverment won`t conduct another activity similar to the 
coup. This would in turn create an era of constant war and coflict, known as the Faction era, and would become the darkest times in Earth`s history.

Trivia

• The Stand system is inspired by Crimzon Clover.
• The Reaper (the Stage 4 Boss) is a reference to Black Heart from Battle Garegga.
• The commander of JOKER has a similar appearance to Schwarlitz Longhener (from DoDonPachi 1997) and Godwin Longhener (from DoDonPachi DaiFukkatsu)
• The final attack of Sigma (TLB) is a shameless reference to Celestia´s Magma Diving attack from eXceed 3rd.

Replay Index

Replays from players
Player	Mode	Ship	Score	Area	Link	Date
2A03	Void Arrange	B-2	10376520425	TLB ALL	YouTube	2021 April 14th
QuakedoomNukem	Void Arrange	S-2	2882964850	TLB ALL	YouTube	2021 August 31st
Jaimers	Original Full	B-2	3702204825	2-ALL	YouTube	2021 September 8th
froebom	Original Full	A-2	1036384150	1-ALL (2-3)	YouTube	2023 April 26th
weakboson	Original Full	B-2	1442867450	2-ALL	YouTube	2023 July 4th
JulianSeph 842 Gamez	Light	A-2	1406249300	TLB ALL	YouTube	2023 October 9th
JulianSeph 842 Gamez	Void Arrange	A-2	3968937600	TLB ALL	YouTube	2023 October 9th