Finally recovered from GDC and had an incredible time showing off The Snake Is the Tower to players and fellow devs. The feedback received at the event was invaluable, from how controls felt to how the meta progression rewarded (or didn't reward) players. This update is a direct result of those conversations.
Changes included reworking tower interaction controls, fixed a bunch of meta grid upgrades that weren't actually doing anything, added an entire new world, and smoothed out the moment-to-moment gameplay feel. Thank you to everyone who stopped by and played, this one's for you!
New Features
Rectangle Grid Support
Levels now support rectangular (non-square) play areas
Camera zoom uses grid height for better framing on wide maps
Grid shape persists correctly between waves
World 2
Added complete World 2 wave sequence with 15+ waves
New lane layouts designed for World 2
World 2 accessible from level select
Press & Hold Tower Pickup
Hold the drop button (SPACE / Right-click / A) to enter pickup mode
Move over a placed tower while holding to pick it back up into your snake
Updated control instructions on the countdown screen to reflect new pickup controls
Controls text is now contextual: shows keyboard, mouse, or controller bindings based on current input method
Head Start Upgrade
Starting orbs now actually spawn when the upgrade is purchased
Multiple starting orbs spawn in a ring around the player, spaced to stay within grid bounds
Each orb triggers its own independent draft, picking a node from one draft doesn't clear the other
Tower Sliding
Snake now smoothly slides around placed towers instead of stopping
Multi-tower collision resolved simultaneously to prevent getting stuck between two towers
Snake segments visually squeeze when passing through tight gaps between towers, then smoothly recover
Bug Fixes
Meta Grid Upgrades Fixed
Extended Reach: Bonus now applied to both segment and tower attack ranges
Pulse Damage: Fixed key mismatch
Agile: Bonus now increases snake turn rate
Attraction: Now scales orb collision shape for larger pickup radius
Deep Freeze: Now adds to slow percentage on Chill segments and towers
Deep Freeze synergy: Now applies 90% slow for 2 seconds on first chill contact
Other Fixes
Fixed rocket not spawning after first playthrough
Fixed orbs spawning outside the play area on small grids
Fixed pulse crash
Fixed between-wave timer
Fixed audio issues
Increased max empty starting body slots
Balance Changes
Combat
Rocket cluster mechanics reworked
Bullet and rocket damage adjustments
Enemy HP adjustments
Enemy cluster spread tuning
Range system converted to cell-based units
Waves
World 1 waves rebalanced across multiple passes
World 2 waves tuned with new lane configurations
Wave system updated, next wave starts once the current wave has fully spawned (no longer waits for all enemies to die)
Enemy movement speed adjustments
Meta Grid
New layout
Max segment size updated