Fishing for Comments and Suggestions (Tower Defense Game)

[kidengineer]

Executable: https://db.tt/ZXTrJaoB
Only 1 type of tower and they cost 250 each. Press 1 to build. Press space to start wave. Waves don't really change after 2.

This is a proof of concept for a tower defense game I'm planning on making.
Still debating on whether to go with a set path style or tower-as-obstacle style tower defense game.
Set path is easy to do. But I'm struggling with how I would get the creeps to find their way around towers to the exit and such. Gonna be working on early design decisions next week and maybe make a real level around them. Been reading up on balancing for a TD game. Any suggestions, pointers, etc. would be welcome. At the moment, asset creation seems to be my Archilles's heel.

[Simflare]

Well it looks like you're already building towards a set path. Just go with the idea that excites you more, and that will motivate you to find the answers and finish the project.

[kidengineer]

To be honest, I would REALLY like to do tower-as-obstacle. But I have no idea how I would do that in code.

[Simflare]

When you say "tower as obstacle", do you mean like plants vs zombies, where the enemies have to break down the towers to advance, and you'd have a sort of grid playing field?

[kidengineer]

PvZ isn't true tower defense. What I mean when I say "tower-as-obstacle" style TD is an open grid where the player can place towers in the way of the creeps so they have to go around and find their path to the exit.

[Danny]

Moved to relevant section.

Just for the record, threads like this belong in the WIP & Released section or Open-Topic Forum, unless specifically asking for technical support on an F2.5 question.

[kidengineer]

Oops, sorry.

[Simflare]

Hm yeah, not sure how you would do that. The place you would start would be to test for collisions, and if one is discovered, change the direction. Direction change will be the hard part.

A simple method of getting them to change direction could possibly be done with random numbers or flags. In the case of random numbers, you could create say "1 + Random(2)" on Alterable Value A, giving you a random number between 1 and 2, and if it = 1, start character moving in up direction, and if it = 2, move them down.

If we declare the original direction the enemy was heading was left, towards the enemy's goal, and the new direction is up, what we want is for the enemy to change direction to moving left again as soon as there isn't a tower in the way. Possibly if you had a sort of grid, and the enemy moved a set distance in the new direction, then changed direction again towards the left, you could once again run your collision test. If, when it tried to turn left again, there was another tower in the way, then it should resume moving up, and continue doing this until there is space.

But you could run in to all sorts of issues not only programming that but designing it. What if the player just blocked off where the enemies spawn? Many things to think about. It could be a fun challenge though and if it excites you I encourage you to go for it. Other people will probably have other suggestions about the programming. Good luck.

[Simflare]

Having said all of the previous, if the enemies ONLY ever moved left, like in PvZ, and had to destroy towers to get past them, that would be much easier to program. In regards to PvZ not being 'true tower defense', that may be so, but don't be afraid to try something that's different It could be where the gold is.

[SoftWarewolf]

I would also love to make a field-runners style tower defense game, Andos previewed a new extension at the click convention which looked amazing for these kinds of things, hope to hear more about it soon.