Hi!
This is based in the same universe as Escape the Dark Legion, though is completely different in terms of gameplay.

The idea here was to create something in the style of games like Streets of Rage, where the game is 3d of a sort, but effectively still a sidescroller.
You can download this very rough ... alpha? here:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/fp9i51

There are definitely issues with it, which I will explain later in this post.
I think it is close enough to the standards I wanted to meet by today to warrant release (see the Jeqocon 2012-2013 schedule).
That said, I didn't strip out any of the incomplete stuff, so if you try to explore the menus and stuff you'll find a lot of error messages.

The easiest way to get use to the controls is in versus mode (select "fight against the computer", and I recommend you pick Suzuki or Kaiasaki as your opponent due to their *cough* taunts making them easy to hear when they aren't moving).
I'll tell you a flaw in the AI, because it's helpful for practice here: If you run directly toward an enemy, it retreats. Start the match by running to the right, and your opponent will wind up helplessly against the edge of the arena, leaving you to use them as a training dummy.
They do not just stand still/retreat if you move away or turn your back, however.

The controls are as follows. There is a configuration option in the game, but it doesn't work, so my appologies if your keyboard lacks a right control key (I have a couple that do):
Arrow keys = movement
spacebar = jump (press in air for flight, in the case of Suzuki).
Control = attack (Specifically right control; left control almost definitely won't work)
alt = special (right alt)
Escape = Pause / cancel (for some reason the quit option doesn't seem to work from a vs match, so you're better off winning or losing and pressing escape from the character select).

Only five of the ten selectable characters are currently playable (of those, only two have working specials). The only arena that works is the village road.

And in arcade mode, you can only play as Isuzu, and the sample stage there is far from complete. I hope it's enough to give something of an idea of what I'm going for, at least.
Oh, and you may notice that you can't use all the special attacks in arcade mode that Isuzu has access to in Versus mode. This was intentional; the idea is that you'll gain abilities as you advance through the game, but they're already available in versus mode because why not?

known issues

• There are times where AI is insufferably stupid, and times where it is insufferably effective. For an example of stupid, see how I suggested you practice. For an example of effective... well, get past the first section of the Arcade mode sample. The latter is an issue only because I tried to have the AI be capable of something enemies do in Streets of Rage 2, although it needs tweaking to work here.

• If you die in Arcade mode, you cannot respawn, so the game just continues with enemies dancing about uselessly until you quit.

• Lots and lots of people falling on each other. It's bad enough that this seems to be the real meat of the fighting if you actually get an agressive opponent. While this... umm... is realistic enough for street fighting, it's pretty annoying for this style of game.

• And people get sent flying to ridiculous heights too easily.

• There's a problem with the second section of the sample arcade stage that prevents it from ending.

• I suspect something's wrong with flight, but I'm not really sure yet.

• There's something funky with the camera, especially in arcade mode.

• Oh, I'm sure I've forgotten something.

One more thing: since the full version will allow you to set the controls however you like, I didn't build in single-button controls for checking your health and position and things. Instead, I let you check them by holding f2 and then pressing button s(c for your coordinates, h for health). You can check the first not-you person in an area (all enemies for now) by holding f3 and using c / h (you'll get no response if you are the only one left).

Game play summary

Ok, so enough of that technical crap. Time to describe the engine in more detail:

- Attacking rapidly allows you to combo attacks. Each character has different stats regarding their attack speed, recovery, strength, and max combo length, etc. For instance, Toyota is on the weaker end strength-wise, but she can use longer combos.
- You cannot use combos in air (I don't think you can while flying, either), but aerial attacks are stronger and typically have a bigger hit area.
- Dashing attacks are currently a wimpy version of what I want them to be, but they exist.
- Dashing! You tap left or right twice to run faster (and hold it to keep going!).
- If you get close enough, you will grab people (assuming they don't grab you). You can attack them, or you can jump over them (spacebar), or you can throw them (direction + attack, or jump+attack if you want to just slam them to the ground where they stand). Grabs can be broken (if you find yourself being grabbed, try tapping the spacebar to break free). Throws are the most common way for people to fall into each other, which does damage based on their size. Watch out for this.
- Specials cost health to use, but often have useful effects, such as range, hitting in different areas, providing a quick way to escape abuse, or doing extra damage. Generally speaking, the more buttons you have to press to use a special, the more health it will cost you.
- I haven't actually tested weapons yet, but the foundation for their use is in there. You can't use combos with weapons, but they often provide range and damage advantages.
- There are breakable objects in there (just attack them; they will eventually be breakable by specials or throwing people into them, but not right now).
- Attack while standing over an item to pick it up (the only one in the demo is food, which restores 25% of your health).
- Pitch is used to indicate the z-position of the origin of a sound. I think you can change this in the options menu (I've been focusing on gameplay and not the menus for a while now... :oops: ).

Eventually, I plan to add multiplayer (co op for arcade, competitive for vs).
I'm hoping that the flawed AI and questionable sound quality do not get in the way of demonstrating the concepts, at least.

If you checked the schedule I linked to, you would have found that I don't plan to update this game for at least a month, so I can finish the major content stuff in Sengoku Jidai. Hopefully there will be time in there to fix some of the bugs in this one so that by the next EC-related deadline, it will be a lot nicer.

But please, go forth and beat people unconscious*!

* Not in real life. That's usually illegal.