What are tower defense games?

[maniacalpha1-1]

Actually this is what it says on Steam's preorder page for Sanctum:

"Sanctum is a first person shooter tower defense where you take the role as Skye, an elite soldier sent out to protect her home town, Elysion One, from hordes of mysterious alien creatures.
To succeed you have to construct and upgrade defensive structures. What makes Sanctum unique from other tower defenses is that when the havoc starts, you jump right into the action with your own weapons and play a key role in the defense. Sanctum has taken the best features from first person shooters and tower defense games to create something totally unique."

 

[Gibsons]

Actually this is what it says on Steam's preorder page for Sanctum:

"Sanctum is a first person shooter tower defense where you take the role as Skye, an elite soldier sent out to protect her home town, Elysion One, from hordes of mysterious alien creatures.
To succeed you have to construct and upgrade defensive structures. What makes Sanctum unique from other tower defenses is that when the havoc starts, you jump right into the action with your own weapons and play a key role in the defense. Sanctum has taken the best features from first person shooters and tower defense games to create something totally unique."

:hmm:
I don't think this is the direction I want my TD games taken. If I had a vote (and I don't )... I'd go more RPGish. YMMV of course.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

:hmm:
I don't think this is the direction I want my TD games taken. If I had a vote (and I don't )... I'd go more RPGish. YMMV of course.

But what would RPG styling do to a TD game? That would still be different than described above right? (not the quote about Sanctum, I mean how other people in this thread described them)

 

[Gibsons]

But what would RPG styling do to a TD game? That would still be different than described above right? (not the quote about Sanctum, I mean how other people in this thread described them)

Yeah, would still be different than a 'regular' TD. But instead of guns shooting aliens, you'd use swords and spells against orcs and dragons. Less or no aiming, plus all the leveling up, looting type stuff.

 

[Karstein]

There is already a FPS/Tower Defense game called Iron Grip: Warlord. Haven't played it personally but don't think it was supposed to be very good anyway.

 

[zinfamous]

:hmm:
I don't think this is the direction I want my TD games taken. If I had a vote (and I don't )... I'd go more RPGish. YMMV of course.

heh, I went looking for this thread after noticing Sanctum on the Steam store.

looks like it could be interesting, I don't know. I think RPG-light would be fine for this sort of thing--upgrade your avatar from level to level with certina weapons, skills, to compliment your towers in each new level.

You don't really need a story, or cursory at best--just have a decent upgrade system. Maybe you could focus on support character to help your towers do up the mopping, or vice-versa. changing up the play styles through the campaign could allow itself for more replayability--which doesn't seem to happen with TD games. New maps are the only reason to keep playing them, now.

funny, I missed the mention of Sanctum in the OP and so never checked it out. Now I see where OP is coming from. haha.

 

[Dankk]

Another vote for Defense Grid. Simply awesome game, also fantastic for those who are new to the genre. Starts out easy, then it really ramps up in difficulty.

 

[jonks]

Defense Grid is the only 3d high profile TD game I know of. And it is killer. I got the expansion packs which were seriously hard, but once you beat them you still want more.

Plants vs Zombies is really good too. All the other ones I've tried that are either flash based or on a mobile are very distant in quality/fun factor, but there's lots of free ones so maybe you'll find one you like.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Defense Grid got a bit easier once I learned that hitting backspace takes you back to your last checkpoint. Best way to learn how to clear a map is trial and error, and that involves liberal use of the backspace key. I've completed every mission without losing a core, but not necessarily with a great score. And on top of that, some are quite difficult for me to complete without using the orbital laser.

 

[Martimus]

Defense Grid got a bit easier once I learned that hitting backspace takes you back to your last checkpoint. Best way to learn how to clear a map is trial and error, and that involves liberal use of the backspace key. I've completed every mission without losing a core, but not necessarily with a great score. And on top of that, some are quite difficult for me to complete without using the orbital laser.

How do you use an orbital laser? I keep losing on one of the missions, and that may actually make it so I can make it through.

 

[Powermoloch]

defense grid gets my thumbsup :thumbsup: i'm having fun on supergrinder mode

 

[Veliko]

How do you use an orbital laser? I keep losing on one of the missions, and that may actually make it so I can make it through.

You have to hold down the 'L' key but it isn't available until you have done a few of the maps.

 

[AstroManLuca]

You can tell if it's available by looking at this thing:

If it's glowing, you can use it. Takes a while to recharge but you shouldn't have to use it more than once per map. Really, you shouldn't have to use it at all, but sometimes it's the only way if you're having trouble. It has a pretty big kill radius but you don't get resources for any enemies you kill with it.

 

[JTsyo]

Although not a tower defense game, it really sounds like you are thinking of something like Defense Alliance. Its a free mod for Killing Floor:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/35420/

Also I've seen WW2 games where you man an AA gun and just shoot at incoming plane. Might be kind of what was meant.

There was one I played where you had to manually fire from the tower. I forget the name but the targets were blimps that dropped bombs.

Gem defense is also pretty good. Instead of the usual upgrades, you merge gems to get the effect you want on the tower.

 

[zinfamous]

was just poking through, and found this on Steam:

Anomaly: Warzone Earth

looks really slick. Reverse Tower defense. You are the commander--you have to plan the route of your attacking squad and strategy for each mission to get through the tower. There's a story mode, too.

has anyone played this? currently 9 bucks on steam.

Oh, it looks like it was just released. the 10% sale is a release sale.

 

[trexpesto]

Are there any of these in which the combat phase is FPS instead of RTS?

League of Legends is kind of a weird hybrid of the two, hugely popular and free. Nice WoW-style graphics, interesting character abilities. The main drawback is when your teammates bail after the round starts. It doesn't float my boat, but hey you may like it.

 

[zinfamous]

was just poking through, and found this on Steam:

Anomaly: Warzone Earth

looks really slick. Reverse Tower defense. You are the commander--you have to plan the route of your attacking squad and strategy for each mission to get through the tower. There's a story mode, too.

has anyone played this? currently 9 bucks on steam.

Oh, it looks like it was just released. the 10% sale is a release sale.

Well, I picked it up. it's 9 bucks this weekend.


...and it's quite fun. I think it's worth the cost for anyone that like TD games. awesome few hours into it.

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-anomaly-warzone-earth/17-3983/



Not a single bug or crash or anything to speak of in ~4 hours of an instant release. Try to beat that!

 

[Chiropteran]

http://chrome.plantsvszombies.com/

This is tower defense.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

monday night combat has some tower defense elements, but mostly feels like FPS

 

[Murdoc]

So, OP (or anyone else), did you end up buying Sanctum? I got it last week and I have almost 20 hours on it, mostly co-op, but I played single player too. It is a very good game. Very addictive. The hybrid fps/tower defense concept is very well implemented. You will need to utilize both of these skills in order to be effective. There are three different levels of difficulty to it. If you are new to this genre, you will probably want to start on the easiest level. There are three different weapons that you can carry (assault rifle, sniper, and freeze gun) and you can upgrade these at your discretion when you have the resources to do so. There are several different towers that you can use and upgrade. There are various enemies that have different strengths and weaknesses, but none of them can do damage to you or the towers. Obviously, you'll want to arrange your blocks and towers to make a maze in such a way that it takes the enemies a long time to reach their goal (The Core). Meanwhile, you'll be blasting them with one of your three rifles. Great fun!

 

[zinfamous]

So, OP (or anyone else), did you end up buying Sanctum? I got it last week and I have almost 20 hours on it, mostly co-op, but I played single player too. It is a very good game. Very addictive. The hybrid fps/tower defense concept is very well implemented. You will need to utilize both of these skills in order to be effective. There are three different levels of difficulty to it. If you are new to this genre, you will probably want to start on the easiest level. There are three different weapons that you can carry (assault rifle, sniper, and freeze gun) and you can upgrade these at your discretion when you have the resources to do so. There are several different towers that you can use and upgrade. There are various enemies that have different strengths and weaknesses, but none of them can do damage to you or the towers. Obviously, you'll want to arrange your blocks and towers to make a maze in such a way that it takes the enemies a long time to reach their goal (The Core). Meanwhile, you'll be blasting them with one of your three rifles. Great fun!

I've been curious about Sanctum.

are guns the only things that you can upgrade on your character? I assume towers get upgrades and more variety?

sounds kind of lame that they can't damage you...

 

[Murdoc]

I've been curious about Sanctum.

are guns the only things that you can upgrade on your character? I assume towers get upgrades and more variety?

sounds kind of lame that they can't damage you...

Yes, guns are the only upgrade for your character. There are six upgrade levels for each gun. Same for the towers. There are 5 different towers to chose from. One of them is a "Televator", which your character can teleport to at any time from anywhere on the map. There are also "Slowfields" that you can lay down in the enemies path to slow them down.

The only way you can lose is when the enemies reach the "Core" that you are protecting. Each enemy that reaches it delivers a certain amount of damage to it until it reaches 0% health. Then you lose. Each map has a certain number of waves to complete. Enemies take more hits to kill after each wave and become more numerous.

 

[Monster_Munch]

Defense Grid is super addictive. I got it in the potato sack indie bundle, started playing it at lunchtime and didn't stop until I suddenly realised I'd been playing for 6 hours without a break.

There's two fairly good Defense Grid clones for android called Tower Raiders 1 & 2. It's a type of game that works really well on mobile devices.

 

[flyboy84]

I'm surprised noone has mentioned Toy Soldiers on XBLA.

 

[smartpatrol]

Defense Grid is amazing.

Another great one is PixelJunk Monsters for PS3/PSP. The best part is that it has 2-player local co-op mode. The whole thing is very well-balanced, challenging (brutally challenging on some of the later levels), and has a great variety of tower types with some very interesting strengths and weaknesses. My girlfriend never got into video games until I convinced her to play Monsters with me. Now she has been hopelessly addicted to Monsters for the last year. . . we still haven't quite mastered every level

I'll have to check out Sanctum. I'm a little skeptical, though. IMO the best tower defense games are extremely well-balanced and tactical. . . it's all about placing the right towers in the right places, and really getting to know all their capabilities. Each tower has its strengths, none is overpowered, and you need to use every tool in your arsenal. If you throw FPS action into the mix, I can't see how you can maintain that very precarious balance that makes a TD game fun.