Back in the saddle! Version 0.8G focuses on rebalancing Junk Attack's loadouts based on the feedback I've received since Puzzle Wednesday's Polymino tournament back in... JANUARY!? But it's not all changes to existing content; v0.8G introduces some all-new abilities and a brand new loadout to Junk Attack (and Gauntlet) too!

Changelog

• Added two new junk effects available in Junk Attack:
  • Blocker junk: as the name would imply, blocker junk prevents any projectiles from travelling through it. If you hit blocker junk with a correctly-colored projectile, it'll shatter as usual, but your projectile won't pierce it. If you hit blocker junk with a projectile of the wrong color, your projectile will be destroyed outright.
  • Heavy junk: the most powerful junk modifier yet, the only way to shatter heavy junk is by making it fall to the bottom of the board by clearing space below it. Of course, you could always find a way to transfer it too.
  • Additionally, "bomb-only" junk has been renamed to armored junk.
• The Gauntlet Mode AI has been updated to deal with the new types of junk above. It's also been made a bit smarter in other, secret ways.
• Added a new loadout, Suppressor. This loadout makes use of the new blocker junk ability, and has a unique playstyle which revolves around spawning junk rows in your own board, then transfering them as tiny blocker junk. Your first ability spawns two rows in your board, but your third ability transfers up to six, so it's up to you how greedy you want to get by using the first ability multiple times.
• Modified multiple existing loadouts:
  • Queue Assault: the first ability shatters all junk in your own queue instead of transfering a junk piece from your queue; the third ability replaces your opponent's queue with the new heavy junk instead of tiny junk.
  • Bomb Proof: the third ability now spawns 3 rows of tiny, bomb-proof junk in your opponent's board instead of 2.
  • Bomb Drainer: decreased the cost of the first ability (Cross bomb) from 400 to 300; modified the transfer bomb ability to not preserve junk pieces' positions when transfering, which is usually more powerful because the pieces get placed somewhere empty instead of replacing exsting blocks or junk.
  • Petrification: changed the priorities of the first ability (junk transfer, fragments pieces into tiny junk), now size is the first priority because larger pieces result in more tiny junk.
  • Sniper: this one seemed the most overpowered during the Puzzle Wednesday tournament, and it might need further tweaking, but for now I've chosen to address one rather subtle reason for it being overpowered - its cheap, well-rounded junk transfer ability which was sometimes more useful than the main ability. I've increased its cost from 400 to 600, giving Sniper a disadvantage in any back-and-forth exchanges of junk transfers (so-called "junk tennis").
  • Sabotage: completely overhauled. The first ability spawns armored (bomb-only) junk for your opponent, forcing them to spend their meter. The second ability is a cross-shaped transfer bomb which instantly detonates the transferred pieces, so a well-placed use of this ability can wipe out huge swathes of blocks. Finally, the third ability is a transfer spree where the pieces are again instantly detonated; fast play will maximize the amount of transferred pieces and allow you to use this one in high-pressure situations.
• Updated the appearance of single-block junk pieces (also known as "tiny junk"). Previously, they were distinguished from regular blocks with a black dot in the middle. However, this didn't contrast well enough for blue blocks, so the black dot has been replaced with a hole in the center.
• Loadout abilities can now have custom names instead of auto-generated ones, allowing them to more clearly comminicate how the ability can be used.
• Global On-shatter Effects (abilities which temporarily make all junk trigger an effect when shattered) have fancier backgrounds, using the same shader animations as junk pieces do when the effect is permanently applied to them.
• The list of abilities for the High Combo and Random Meter Junk Attack settings now has demo graphics for more of the abilities.
• Page 3 of the tutorial for Junk Attack was tweaked to make the tone slightly less formal.
• Touched up the game's logo to fix visual artifacts. The artifacts existed in the first place due to the technical limitations of the Sega Genesis. Reminder that you can download the ROM for the Genesis version at polymino.net!
• Slightly optimized block/junk debris particles.
• All scrolling menus (resolution menu, replays menu, etc) target their first item by default (previously, some targeted the first item below the scrolling list).
• Fixed a bug where cross-shaped transfer bombs still had a regular-shaped explosion.
• Junk transferred during transfer sprees now counts towards the "junk transfers" stat.
• Optimized code for parsing dates/times in strings.
• Added an easter egg to the multiplayer text chat. You'll need to be very nerdy, and a bit of a troublemaker, to find it. Happy hunting ;-)