Thank you for the detailed feedback!
You're right that a lot of these issues were on my mind during the jam, but it was down the the wire and corners had to be cut! But there's some good stuff in here.
I wanted players to be able to stash ammo, but until there were multiple ammo types, it didn't seem as important to figure out. I'm still not totally sure how to let players do that without ruining the platforming. Maybe items should not be physics objects?
Preventing players from placing towers on the tile they're standing on is an easy win. I also want to respawn the tower kit if the player falls with it because that can totally ruin the first wave for new players.
I had thought about letting players zoom out to see what's going on, but a very simple minimap might be better. Cool idea. I'll have to think about that some more.
I had to make the time-to-first-wave way longer than feels good to accommodate first-time players and slower PCs. I plan on adding a small tutorial level and preloading pipelines to prevent the potentially huge stutter when the level starts. That should help, but I'll keep "sending the next wave immediately" in mind. I think players should have some time to explore the level before things get going too.
I agree about the towers feeling kinda week. But I think that SFX and an actual laser effect would help a lot with that.
I do plan on some post-jam updates. I've already fixed a small issue with the item colliders -- they are balls and the probe was too high.
Also I am truly sorry for the music. At least it turned out better than Bevy Jam 1. I'm going to find someone who can help me out with that.