Update 0.6

Correctly locked certain prestige upgrades for the Demo

Improved tooltips for locked prestige upgrade for the Demo

Obsidian Gauntlets now equip to hands instead of feet

Mage Tower backend fixes/optimizations

Lots of backend file changes to improve performance and system integrity

Iron Fortress results modal can now be closed by pressing ESC

Iron Fortress results modal now fades in like other modals

Added pop-in animations for the Mage Tower modal

Added pop-in animations for the Mage Tower Research modal

Added pop-in animations for the Essence Selection modal

Standardized pop-in animations across all modals (Giant, Prestige, Blacksmith, Iron Fortress)

Iron Fortress results modal now auto-widens when many materials are collected

Black Market modal now auto-sizes its width to fit the number of trade slots

Equipment slots are now centered in the Equipment modal

Mage Tower modal is slightly more compact to avoid clipping on smaller screens

Overworld run counter panel widened to prevent text clipping at high enemy counts

Essence Selection modal improved to prevent vertical content overflow

Standardized backdrop dimming across all modals

Essence Selection modal now has proper panel styling and backdrop

Consistent font sizes across modal titles, pause menu, and currency HUD

Inventory item icons updated with slightly thicker borders and rounder corners

Improved spacing in the top menu button bar

Achievement grid now uses 4 columns to prevent overflow in the dropdown panel

Prestige Blessings header spacing tightened for better layout

Mage Tower stats tab now uses consistent color theming from UITheme

Pause menu and stats screen colors now use centralized UITheme values

Demo prompt modal restyled to match the game's visual theme

Prestige Blessings completely redesigned as an interactive constellation star map with animated starfield, pan/zoom, and octagonal gem nodes

Prestige tree restructured from categories into 3 tiers: Continuity, Power, and Ascendant

Prestige Point cap raised from 17 to 26 with rebalanced ladder rewards

Currency progress stays visible in Prestige modal after prestiging

Prestige modal now shows styled star icons on buttons and colored PP header

Old saves automatically refund all blessing points for reallocation into the new tier system

Demo prestige locks updated to use the new tier system (Tiers 2 and 3 locked)

Iron Fortress tower now uses pixel art sprites instead of placeholder shapes

Tower appearance upgrades through 3 visual tiers based on Hire Archer level

Arrow projectiles replaced with animated pixel art with spinning frames

Arrows now show an impact burst animation on hit

Archers now use smart targeting, skip enemies already committed to die, reducing wasted shots

Tower dynamically centers in the viewport

Enemy reach distance adjusted to match tower sprite bounds

Archer range upgrades rebalanced (Eagle Eye and Hawk Vision reduced per-level, max effective range ~700px)

Added grass tilemap background using two TileMapLayers for full viewport coverage

Added procedural decor scattering, random decorative tiles (flowers, rocks, etc.) placed at 8% density each session for visual variety

TD minigame now pauses when the pause menu is opened; resumes when closed

Removed "Clear Save Data" button from the Options menu (save management now handled via Main Menu)

Back button in Options menu now always appears at the very bottom

Reclassified Mage Tower from utility town to minigame for essence selection and blessing categorization

Added background music system

Music crossfades smoothly between tracks with no overlap

All music tracks loop seamlessly

Iron Fortress music resumes from the same position after unpausing

Main theme plays during TD pause menu and anywhere without specific music

Added Music and Sound Effects volume sliders to both Main Menu and in-game Options

Added scroll wheel zoom in/out for the overworld (smoothly zooms between 50%–100%)

Camera panning bounds automatically adjust when zoomed out to show more of the world

Enemies now have an invisible padded click box around their sprites, making them easier to click (especially when zoomed out)

Added Credits screen accessible from the Pause Menu (dedicated Credits button + full scrollable panel)

Added Credits button to the overworld top-menu Options dropdown (opens the same Credits screen via Pause Menu)

Added SFX system (`SFXManager`) with pooled audio players, per-sound cooldowns, and pitch variation for organic feel

Sword impact, crit, and manual-attack sounds play during overworld combat; bow attack/impact/poison sounds play during Tower Defense

UI sounds throughout: confirm/cancel feedback on upgrades and prestige blessings, door open/close on modal entry/exit, craft success/fail in blacksmith, button presses in menus and main menu, whoosh on tutorial popups

Iron Fortress now works correctly with widescreen/ultrawide monitors (expand stretch mode)

Iron Fortress tower is now always centered in the viewport regardless of screen size

Iron Fortress enemies now spawn from a fixed radius around the tower instead of viewport edges

Iron Fortress grass and decor coverage doubled for ultra-wide monitor support

Added scroll wheel zoom in/out for Iron Fortress (55%–100%, smooth interpolation)

Iron Fortress spawn radius increased beyond max archer range to prevent enemies spawning inside archer coverage

Scene transitions now work reliably regardless of pause state

Iron Fortress enemies now play a hurt flash + shake animation when damaged by player clicks (not triggered by arrows or poison)

Archer range circle replaced with a gold smoky particle ring shader with drifting puffs, natural gaps, and wispy tendrils

Placing a Black Market essence now spawns NPC Thea (animated sprite) on the tile, matching the Blacksmith's Rolfe NPC pattern. Thea is pixel-perfect clickable and opens the Black Market modal on click.

All boss timers standardized to 30 seconds across every run

Boss HP doubled for Runs 2–8 (e.g., Run 2: 500→1000, Run 8: 15M→30M)

Iron Mine upgrade tree expanded from 2 nodes to 5 nodes, all with max level 25 and tiered currency costs (Iron → Iron+XP → Iron+XP+Gold)

Town upgrade tree repositioned into a compass layout: Cursor Damage (North), Archers (East), DPS (South), Currency/Iron (West)

Town upgrade tooltip now correctly reads "Iron/sec" instead of "Currency/sec"

Black Market NPC changed from Thea to Admurin

Iron Fortress essence now spawns an animated Knight NPC on its tile (clickable, replaces runestone)

Mage Tower essence now spawns an animated Resting Mage NPC on its tile (clickable, replaces runestone)

Runestone blue swirl correctly removed for all NPC-replaced essences (Black Market, Iron Fortress, Mage Tower), not just Blacksmith

Added decorative pixel-art props to the overworld: market stalls, weapon racks, arrows, barriers, flags, and smithy elements

Added Discord button to main menu (blurple-styled) that opens the invite link in the player's browser