Tower Defence: What do you Love/Hate?

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by ryanmillercg, Mar 23, 2013.

  1. ryanmillercg

    ryanmillercg Active Member

    Mar 13, 2013
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    Game Developer
    Toronto
    A friend and myself have been cooking up a Tower Defence game that breaks the mould a little bit. I've been working on Krog for almost a year now and am itching to develop a new game. In the next few weeks we will sit down and start planning out this new game. So my question for you, the gamers, is:

    What do you love about Tower Defence games, and what do you hate?


    I'd like to get an idea of tastes and preferences beyond my own. Thanks in advance for your valuable input!
     
  2. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    I like chaos, Bloons TD style. Too many TD games start out with incredibly slow enemy waves, and I just can't be bothered waiting for them.
     
  3. beezzee

    beezzee Member

    Jan 28, 2013
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    I'm a bit tired of dumb waves of enemies. Maybe somehow make them smarter.
     
  4. ryanmillercg

    ryanmillercg Active Member

    Mar 13, 2013
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    Toronto
    Bloons looks good; I'll try it out!

    By smarter, beezzee, are you referring to them all following the same path? PvZ has enemies that can jump over your plants, dig under and past them, etc, would you describe this as smart, or are you hoping for something even more intelligent?
     
  5. HLW

    HLW Well-Known Member

    Sep 2, 2010
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    The Creeps! is good.
    I really hate ones that have a wide path that you can't see how much of the path the towers cover, or the side of the path that the monsters will walk down. It doesn't lead to any extra strategy, you just end up having to place double the towers - one on each side.
    Not being able to see the range of towers is irritating.

    I don't much like the Plants vs Zombies "in lines" style of tower defence (other than Plants vs Zombies itself, which is great - whenever I play another "in lines" tower defence game, I'm constantly thinking "Plants vs Zombies does this better...", I wouldn't really count them as the same genre tbh.

    The best tower defence game I've played is Defense Grid: The Awakening. That's not for iOS though.
     
  6. Exact-Psience

    Exact-Psience Well-Known Member

    Jan 12, 2012
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    The Work-At-Home Guy
    Philippines
    #6 Exact-Psience, Mar 23, 2013
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2013
    I dislike the tower defense genre in general, buthere are the ones that i did enjoy and spent a lot of time on:

    Elements Defender
    Dungeon Defenders
    PvZ
    March On Oz
    Sentinel 3
    Two Worlds
    Heroes and Castles (less tower, but one hell of a defense game)
    Defender Chronicles 1 (part 1, somehow part 2 didnt click with me)

    EDIT: Removed Hills of Glory. Forgot that this was a "Tower" defense list i was trying to make.
     
  7. september

    september Well-Known Member

    Sep 14, 2012
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    #7 september, Mar 23, 2013
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2013
    Kingdoms Rush
    - because there's a lot of depth in the way you can tackle a map, depth in your builds and enemies. Difficulty is rewarding

    Pixeljunk Monsters (PS3)
    - Quirky, fun, yet challenging. Having an avatar you controlled worked for this but hasn't on other types I've played

    Fieldrunners and Fieldrunners 2
    - Character and bull rush style approach, wasn't a fan of the typical set path maps of 2, can get a bit drawn out

    Defence Grid Awakening (PC)
    - Narration mostly, overall quality was good too

    Anomaly and Anomaly Korea
    - Presentation, visuals and audio are top notch. Have to be in the right mood though as gameplay is very specific

    ERA
    - Challenge and speed mostly, graphically 'elegant'

    Plant vs Zombies
    - Because it keeps on giving, as soon as you start getting bored it throws something new into the mix, mini games, etc

    Dungeon Defenders (PC)
    - Different perspective that worked quite well, fair amount of depth due to RPGish elements. Co-op.

    Orcs Must Die (PC)
    - Similar to Dungeon Defenders, but trap focus was nicely done and presentation was spot on
     
  8. ryanmillercg

    ryanmillercg Active Member

    Mar 13, 2013
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    Toronto
    Thanks everybody, this is really helpful. Keep 'em comin!
     
  9. Sambobsung

    Sambobsung Well-Known Member

    May 19, 2012
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    Canada
    I like block fortress. Focuses a little bit more on TD and the blocky graphics are okay. Heroes and castles I love as well, both of them are great. Now I must play.
     
  10. KennyK

    KennyK Well-Known Member

    Kingdom Rush is my favourite TD.

    I like TD's where you can only place tower's in certain locations, rather than those where you can place anymore.
     

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