Post-Jam Update Pt. 3

The final post-jam update for Treefender is here (unless it turns out the game is inexcusably broken). Here are the deets:

The Big Changes:

Balance:

Remember when I said "Helicopter seed mains, get slightly excited (if any of you exist)..."?

Helicopter Seed:

The post-jam pt. 1 version of the helicopter seed didn't fulfill its intended niche of being a form of strategic precision-burst damage for several reasons:

1. Due to the projectile's low damage, large bunches needed to be spammed and dropped all at once; but this was very difficult to accomplish due to the projectile having a short lifetime and not enough vertical drag, causing most to be wasted. *
2.  Though it was technically a more economic projectile than the acorn, there were only a few cases where the helicopter seed actually saved energy (e.g. beavers); but, since its deploy speed was super slow, it was generally more worthwhile to use acorns. **
3. The concept that the helicopter seed could be stockpiled before a wave began was undermined by the facts that enemies spawn randomly on either side of the screen and using the projectile's ability caused ALL helicopter seeds to fall. Thus, to use the projectile in the most secure way possible, it would need to be spammed on both sides of the screen; and more often than not, half of the helicopter seeds would be wasted, since only one side of the screen would have enemies in range of the seeds. ***

So, to remedy these issues, the helicopter seed received some changes:

+ More vertical drag *

+ No vertical drag when moving up *

+ Twice the lifetime *

+ Larger hitbox *

+ Twice the damage when the projectile's ability has been used **

+ Pierce when the projectile's ability is used (the projectile can hit multiple enemies before being destroyed) **

+ A proximity check when the projectile's ability is used (only projectiles within a certain radius of where the ability is used will drop - the tutorial has been updated accordingly) ***

- Energy cost of 2 instead of 1

Energy Increments:

+ Energy is added every 4 seconds instead of 5.

- Energy gain is capped at 10 per 4 seconds (it was previously uncapped).

Builds:

New experimental builds for Linux and Mac have been added (I'm not capable of testing them myself, but they were requested - the Linux build seems to be working, but I can't guarantee it).

Waves:

Several new waves have been added, including a new final wave - nicknamed "Armageddon" in the game's files.

Variants (?):

According to the playtesters I keep in my basement, there are rare enemies with different colorings. I haven't seen them myself, but let me know if you guys spot any.

The Small Changes:

• The manifestation of fall no longer plays its cry when it dies.
  • The manifestation of fall's death particles have been resized.
• The lumberjack's audio has been cropped.
  • The lumberjack's death sound no longer plays when the lumberjack is hit by a non-lethal attack.
• The play / pause button sprites got updated.
• The wave number and energy counter now grow and shrink when they change.
  • The projectile icons also grow and shrink when unlocked.
• The projectile icons now list their costs.
• A green ring will pop up whilst aiming if there's not enough energy to shoot the selected projectile, as suggested by a friend.
• Treefender Classic has been renamed to Treefender Legacy, as suggested by another friend.

Thus concludes the series of post-jam updates for Treefender!

"May your bark never wither,
and your branches never rot.
Stand tall, my tree;
stand, or fall."
        - Some Guy on the Internet