Tower defense

Example of a tower defense game: Defenders of Ardania

Tower Defense or Tower Defense ( English tower 'tower' and defense ( AE ) / defense ( BE ) 'defense') or TD for shortis a subgenre of real-time strategy games . The task in these games is to builddifferent types of defensive structures (mostly watchtowers or gun turrets, hence the term)on a map , which should then prevent several attacks from different opponents from crossing the map.

history

The history of tower defense games begins with the strategy game Dune 2 . One part of the game was to defend your own base with mazes of turrets and walls against units of the computer opponent advancing in real time. The game Starcraft , which appeared a few years later, had a relatively extensive and complex map editor for its time . With this, the normal gameplay could be extremely modified in self-created maps, so that maps were created that no longer had much in common with the actual real-time strategy principle. The first pure tower defense maps were created by members of the online community.

This development was accelerated by the release of Warcraft III , as the editor, which is used to create your own maps - and thus also TDs - has become much more accessible and powerful. In recognition of the tower defense mod scene, Blizzard hid its own tower defense map in the sequel Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne .

Since then, tower defense games in the form of Flash or other standalone applications have enjoyed great popularity.

The more successful include B. Defense Grid: The Awakening whose successor has already been funded by the Kickstarter community . As well as games like Plants vs. Zombies the more complex Gemcraft parts or Sanctum 1 and 2 that skillfully combines the principle with the elements of a 3D shooter. The game Revenge of the Titans has here again strongly the elements of a real-time strategy and building game. Other games, such as Crazy Defense Heroes , incorporate role-playing and trading card elements.

They have the advantage that, like their role models from Starcraft or Warcraft III, they no longer run only as a modification of the main game. Tower defense modifications are still offered for a myriad of games.

Game modes

Single player

In this game mode there are the following game variants:

• Tower Defense: In the simplest variant, the opponents run a fixed route. No towers can be built on the route to prevent the player from blocking the path. This makes it more complicated for the player as he cannot change the route and thus the length always remains the same, which can be used to stop the opponents.
• Mazing TDs: In addition to tower defense, there is also a variant in which the route is not fixed and the creeps (→ see opponents ) find their own way. This variant is also called mazing ( English maze for "maze", meaning "maze-gardening"), since the playing area is initially empty and the path of the creeps is created through a labyrinth created by the player with the towers. Since one could theoretically block the way here, there are generally two different implementations to prevent this. So using is of pathfinding checks whether there is a path exists and accordingly the construction blocking towers prevents or allows the opponents built up areas to cross up again a valid path is created. It is also possible that the opponents destroy the towers on their own if the path is blocked. At Mazing Tower Defenses, in addition to the effective construction of the towers, the route for the creeps must also be designed as skilfully as possible so that Mazes can develop.

Multiplayer

Common multiplayer modes are Cooperative , where players have to work together, and Survivor , where the longest-surviving player wins. As in the single player mode, each player or team has their own route and a certain number of lives available, after which the game is lost. Here too, lives are usually only lost if a creep reaches its destination. In the game Desktop TD Pro , the survivor mode is slightly modified: The next wave always starts when the first of the up to four players has destroyed it. If several players survive all of the 50 waves, the player who destroyed them first wins.

In the multiplayer version Tower Wars , the creeps are sent by the other players. Therefore, the defense tactics must be adapted to the attacking tactics of the respective teammates for each game. A Tower Wars TD that was implemented in the client-server model is CreepSmash, which was further developed under the name CreepTD.

The PVP TD Coregrounds uses some game mechanics from the MOBA genre; For example, at the beginning of a game, both players take turns choosing their towers, minions and skills. In contrast to other multiplayer TDs, Coregrounds take place on a shared map, so towers and creeps fight each other directly.

Gameplay

opponent

The opponents in tower defense games are called creeps (from English creep "creep", also "creeps"). They appear in the form of more or less large groups at a certain entry point of the card and try to get to the exit of the card. If this succeeds a certain number of opponents (sometimes only one opponent), the player loses the round. In most tower defense games, however, the opponents are otherwise defenseless and unable to damage or destroy the player's defenses.

Individual opponents have a certain number of hit points and a certain speed. In addition, they can have other properties such as resistance. The following types of opponents can be found in most TD games:

• Normal or standard enemies are the most basic type of enemy and can be attacked by the simplest of defense systems. You move on the ground and therefore have to bypass the defenses in Maze mode.
• Airborne enemies cross the map by air, and combat them normally requires special air defense systems. In the Maze game mode, they represent a particular danger, as they do not have to follow the maze path created by the player, but can simply fly over the defense systems.
• Immune opponents are resistant to certain types of attack or damage and require flexible defense with different types of defense systems.
• Fast opponents traverse the map at a higher speed than other opponents and are therefore only briefly within the attack radius of individual towers. The player can react to them, for example, with a comprehensive defense.
• Boss opponents or bosses are strong individual opponents. Often it is the large version of a regular opponent, but with significantly more hit points and occasionally also special properties. They appear regularly throughout the game, either individually or in very small groups.

Tower types

In almost every variant, towers have a certain range , do a certain amount of damage, have a cadence and incur one-time construction costs. Most can be upgraded for a fee in the form of money or experience points, either to improve a property or as a general upgrade . The towers are usually named after their armament or character, which is adapted to the game context. There are damage-causing towers that attack one or more opponents (so-called "splash towers"), others damage all opponents in a certain area, or can injure certain opponents who are immune in other ways.

In addition, towers with special properties are generally available that stop, slow down, poison opponents or (less often) move the opponent to another location on the map.

Web links

Commons : Tower defense video game screenshots  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ WoWWiki: Blood Sheep (Engl.)
2. ↑ http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hiddenpath/defense-grid-2
3. ↑ Tower Defense Example on YouTube : Defense Grid: The Awakening Gameplay (PC HD)
4. ↑ Mazing TD example on YouTube : TowerMadness Gameplay: Basic Mazing
5. ^ Marc Allie: Co-Op Casual Friday: The Tower Defense Spectrum. Co-Optimus, July 22, 2011, accessed July 12, 2012 . 
6. ↑ Tower-Defense-Spiele.de Desktop TD Pro Multiplayer
7. ↑ Creepsmash developer: Presentation of the study project ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ CreepTD Homepage CreepTD Online Multiplayer TowerDefense
9. ^ Coregrounds Coregrounds PVP tower defense
10. ^ Langenscheidt's large school dictionary English-German. Revised 1988, 5th edition. Langenscheidt, Berlin and Munich 1992, p. 894, ISBN 3-468-07122-1 .