Starting Note

This will be a bit different than the previous dev logs, but I had a bunch of smaller stuff I wanted to bundle up into a single dev log.

I don't have much else to say here without getting right into it, so without further ado...

Tower Skins

Starting off this devlog, I'm bringing back tower skins! As mentioned in the plans for v0.3, towers can now go up to rank 5, and rank 5 is required to purchase and use tower skins.

Similar to the original, once available, you can purchase tower skins in the tower tab of the main menu, in a small submenu that will pop up at tower rank 5:

A list of available tower skins will show up in this small subtab. All skins, besides the tower's default, will be locked, and need to be purchased with 1000 stones.

As you can see in the screenshot, the only tower skin available in v0.3 will just be Crossbow's Bow skin.

The only other things to note are that, while Crossbow may be the only one with a skin at the moment, all towers can reach tower rank 5 in this update. Also, upgrade icons, names, and descriptions also change with skins as well!

New Returning Enemy - Magic Crusher

And now, onto the enemies.

This update will be adding the first of the returning enemies that aren't present in the base roundset. Starting with the Magic Crusher!

If you've gone into Freeplay in the original, or played Stronger Rounds or anything in Champion's Mode, you might know what this crusher type is: A medium-tier boss that has 700 HP, immunity to magic attacks, moves at the speed of an Easy Crusher, and bursts into 4 Purples on defeat.

While it's similar in this remake, it actually has some distinct differences! For one, it only has 400 HP instead of 700, but still moves at the same speed. And while the on-defeat children are the same for the time being, that may change in the future with the new modifiers.

Magic Crushers are only available in Sandbox at the moment, once you beat Round 100 for the first time. But in the future, they might make their way into the base game once I start working on the new round set, which is currently planned for v0.5, but I'm not certain at the moment.

New Enemy Modifiers

Now, to add more variety to enemies in this game, I decided that enemies require some more modifiers! While Hollow and Shielded are good basic modifiers to cover some ground, we can always go a step further!

So with the v0.3 update, 3 new enemy modifiers are being added! These modifiers, similar to the Magic Crusher, will only be available in Sandbox for the time being, but may become available in the new round set.

Regenerative

The first of the new modifiers - Regenerative! Enemies with this modifier will slowly recover lost health over time, and can even restore lost layers!

If you've played BTD5 or onwards, you'll know exactly what this is. There are some important differences, however! If an enemy has regenerated up to a previous layer, they won't split into multiple children, just whatever they were prior to regenerating. Additionally, if an enemy regenerates into a different enemy that has more than 1 max health, they'll start that layer with only 1 health, and slowly heal up back towards max health.

As of this update, bosses can't receive the regenerative modifier. Additionally, regenerated layers can't gain lost modifiers back, whether they be lost from external sources or from the children not being able to carry said modifier.

Packed

The next modifier in the list is Packed! Enemies with this modifier will burst into 3 of their standard counterparts on defeat, but will move 20% slower.

If enemies have any other modifiers with them, they'll be inherited when the Packed enemy splits, so be careful if it's Reinforced Shelleds, for example!

Similar to regenerative, bosses can't receive the packed modifier. Additionally, Regenerative enemies can't regenerate back into their Packed form.

Shielded

For the final new modifier - Shielded! Not to be confused with the old Shielded modifier - which is now called Reinforced. Enemies with this modifier gain a protective shield around them, providing an extra layer of health, immunity to magical and energy attacks, and preventing slowing debuffs from having any effect.

This modifier's magical resistance overrides any other immunities an enemy might have. For example, if a Black enemy has a Shield, their shield will take damage from explosive attacks but not magical attacks, while the enemy itself will take damage from magical attacks but not explosive attacks, once the shield is broken.

If an enemy has both Shielded and Reinforced, this will effectively act as 3x health - Reinforced's health bonus does not multiply the shield's health, so you won't need to worry about these insanely tanky threats!

Also, any excess damage when a shield is broken will be transferred down to the base enemy. So if a shield has 3 health and you deal 10 damage, you'll destroy the shield and deal 7 damage to the enemy. Instant-kills such as Oceanic Ship's Take Down will still work on Shielded enemies - but that may change in the future.

Unlike the previous two modifiers, all enemy types can get this modifier! For now, the shield's health is based on the enemy's max health, or based on their layer count if max health is 1.

Ending Note

That's all for this dev log! This update is wrapping up now, so it should be ready pretty soon! All that's left in terms of dev logs is just Cannon for v0.3, and that should be ready to show off soon!

To end off this dev log, why don't I show off one of the maps coming in this update?

I'll see you all in the next, and final, dev log for version 0.3!