There will be more data and proper atribution here (original author, steam link, original post date, etc) real soon, I promise. This is just like a technical test to see if they're coming in ok at all.
Mechabot Defender » The “Clarity & Fairness” Update
Hello everyone!
After a little bit of a break from development, I’ve managed to cobble together this pretty large update. There isn’t a lot of content in this update (although there are some fun new upgrades), but instead a lot of balance changes, bug fixes, and quality of life changes. Mechanics have been removed, changed, and switched around all in the name of making the game clearer and less bloated. I hope you enjoy the changes, and here they all are in no particular order.
PATCH NOTES
>Charging turrets is now done through a large AOE instead of single targeting. This makes charging turrets MUCH easier and even allows you to charge two at the same time!
>Picking up turrets is now instantaneous. As a result, the turret pickup time upgrade has been removed.
>Max scrap storage increased from 30 to 100. Rerolling now costs 10 scrap instead of 3.
>Energy crystals now remain on the ground INDEFINITELY, but Scrap will still disappear over time. Scrap now only spawns if you actually have space to pick it up.
>Scrap now magnetises towards you as well as energy crystals.
>Magnetism has been polished and made stronger to make it more satisfying and easier to pick up crystals and scrap.
>Magnetism vector has been normalized to stop it from slowing down as it approaches you.
>Homing missile vector has been normalized to stop it from slowing down as it approaches its target.
>The Upgrade Screen UI has been improved and made clearer so that it is hopefully easier to understand for newer players.
>There is now some negative feedback when you don’t have enough scrap to make a purchase.
>Turrets now have an UPGRADE LIMIT. When placing an upgrade on a turret you can see the upgrades that it currently has, and how many spaces you have left.
>Changed some button styles to make it clearer that you can still upgrade the silver turret, it’s just been automatically focused for controller users.
>Fixed a bug where the turret select buttons would disappear forever.
>Added a “skip” option that lets you take scrap, energy, and health instead of an upgrade. This is useful when your turrets run out of room for upgrades.
>Energy crystals and scrap will no longer follow you around if you have no space to pick them up.
>Everything is cheaper to unlock.
>Iffy meta progression stuff has been removed. You can no longer revive yourself and I removed some of the more meta-progression elements I was experimenting with.
>You can no longer unlock a “Corrupt” version of a character if you haven’t unlocked their base version.
>The “Wrench” has been changed to a “Health Kit” to make it clearer that it is a healing item and not an upgrade for your turrets.
>The keybind menu has been (temporarily) removed until I can figure out what’s going wrong with it, because it’s quite janky currently. Sorry folks, I’m hoping to have a solution ASAP.
>Turret charge bars now turn red when you can’t charge them.
>Turret deploy upgrades now only show up if you take the base upgrade. This should make the upgrade pool less bloated.
>The tutorial has been polished and made clearer.
>”First Time Bonus” mechanic has been removed in an effort to make the game less overly complicated and more balanced.
>Polished button navigation with the controller.
>Added a set of “Drone” upgrades.
>Added 2 new freeze-related upgrades: “Freezing Grip” and “Fire & Ice” in an effort to make the freezing tree a more viable upgrade path.
>You no longer get a fire rate buff from tethering, but there are now upgrades that let you gain this bonus as well as reduce the speed debuff that you get from being tethered.
>Enemies now have passive health scaling, making the game have a more sturdy difficulty curve.
>Batteries now switch positions after you have gained a specific amount of XP from them. This means you have to move your turrets around a lot more and can’t camp in one spot all game.
>The “Special Override” warning has been made clearer and reworded to “Bullet Type”
>Fixed bug where enemies wouldn’t spawn and you would get a free level.
>The Snowball upgrade actually works now.
>The red vignette on the screen to display low health has been toned down.
>There’s now a visual on the XP bar when you aren’t gaining any experience, as well as a sound effect when you stop gaining experience.
>Worked on optimisation. There is now a limit of 150 enemies on screen at any time.
>Default ability costs have been reduced.
>Fixed bug where music would overlap.
>Early levels now require less XP.
>Scrap container no longer animates when you pick up energy crystals.
>Added “Orbital Damage” upgrade to improve Orbital Bullets.
>Moved a control point on stage 2 that allowed you to camp in a 100% safe spot.
THANK YOU
If you made it this far down, thanks for reading! And if you’re an existing player, thank you for your patience as I’ve been working on this update. Although I’ve done my best to make sure the game is fully stable, there have been so many changes to the game that it is impossible for me to guarantee. If you encounter any bugs or issues, please use the Google form or Discord to provide feedback (links on the main menu of the game).
Thank you for your continued support, I hope you all enjoy the new update!
Cheers,
Spargit