Demo update! (v0.1.7)

Hi everyone! It's been a while since the last update.

Following the Steam Next Fest, I received tons of feedback and suggestions, so I've been busy tweaking the game and have added many new features. This update includes a massive amount of content, so please try it out even if you've played the demo before! (and let me know what you think about these changes!)

Also, this will be the last major update to the demo before the Early Access launch. I'm working super hard to finish all the new features, and I'll share more news when it's ready for the launch!

New Features

• New Tower: Lightning Ball Tower - Shoots lightning ball in a straight line.
  (This is a new type of tower so I’d love to get more feedback on it!)
• Path Preview: You can now see changes to paths immediately while building blocks.
• Block Runes: After acquiring a new block, you can enhance it with runes that offer various abilities.
• Treasure Chests: Monsters will randomly drop treasure chests in battles, which you can open to choose from getting coins, healing, or various buff cards!
• Skill Button: The "Overcharge” ability has been changed to a special button instead of providing an buff card every turn.
• Faster Game Speed: There are now four speed settings (Slow/Normal/Fast/Ultra Fast), corresponding to the Z, X, C, V keys on the keyboard. (I know 1, 2, 3, 4 would be easier to press, but those are already used for the tower buttons.)
• Tower Statistics: By clicking on a tower in-game, you can view the total damage and kill count it has achieved.
• Photo Mode(?): At the end of a level, clicking the "View Map" button will temporarily hide the UI, allowing you to take photos of your completed mazes.
• Talent Page Rework: Most damage-related talents have been removed, and some talents now have multiple levels.
  - Note: Due to these talent adjustments, all talents will be reset and all experience points refunded after the update.
• Added game accessibility/customization options:
  - Remove countdown timer: Once activated, there will be no countdown timers in the levels, nor will time-related items appear.
  - Black fog: When enabled, the fog at the map edges will be set to black.
  - Reduce flashing effects: This can reduce the flickering effects of monsters and some special effects. (Honestly, I'm not sure what's the intensity threshold for people to start feeling unconfortable. If you still experience uncomfortable flashing effects in the game after enabling this, please fill out a report to let me know!)
  - Block recall button: Allows changing the block recall button to “right mouse click”

Gameplay Improvements

• Maps:
  - Slightly reduced the complexity of map paths.
  - Adjusted the rewards for regular levels, some of which now include "Tower + Artifact"
  - A tooltip appears when the mouse hovers over a special map cell, informing players of its function.
• Academy:
  - Now ensures that the same tower combinations do not appear.
  - Allows you to preview artifact options when selecting tower.
• Shop:
  - Added more items for sale and a reroll function, plus new talents that can apply discounts to shop items.
  - Added healing items for sale.
  - When you leave the shop on the map page, you can return to it as long as you haven't moved on to the next location.
• Barracks:
  - "Do not use ___ tower" type missions will now fail only if the tower is still present on the field during battle, or if it’s built during the battle.
  (So you don’t fail the quest if you accidently build it, as long as it’s not in battle.)
• Altar:
  - The STRENGTHEN option now also restores 5 health points in addition to increasing the maximum health.
• Gameplay:
  - Now you can see what monsters are coming in the next wave.
  - Clicking on a monster in the field will display its health and attack power.
  - Elite monsters reaching the fire source will now deal 5 damage.
  - Hold mouse button to recall blocks is now faster, and you can now switch to using the right mouse button to recall instantly in the game options.
  - Added new indication for the Drone tower detection range.
  - Added a new menu for changing tower’s default priorities.
  - Pressing spacebar in battle will now switch game speed between current speed and slowest speed.
  - Redesigned poison damage. Now the tick damage increases with each attack, and deals full damage much faster.
  - Changed the visual effects for corrupted monsters.
• Sound Effects:
  - Now the default volume for the game is 50%
  - Adjusted the sound effects of the snowball tower.

Balance Adjustments

• Flame Tower: The flame tower will now continuously attack passing enemies without cooldown. The damage is lowered to maintain the same damage output.
• Chaos Transmuter: After transformation, the sell price of towers is slightly lower.
• Giant Dice Tower sell price adjustment: Lowered sell price for lower rolls.
• Snowball Tower: attack range slightly reduced.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where minecart animations in boss levels were not moving smoothly.
• Corrected the Japanese translation of the "Time-Saving Device."
• Fixed a problem that prevent player to build wall block near some wooden fences.
• Resolved issues where some towers could not be built using keyboard shortcuts.
• Fixed a problem where some sounds would disappear when there were too many simultaneous sound effects.
• Corrected an issue where the wrong numbers were displayed on the Giant Dice Tower when affected by the Chaos Transmuter.