So, I've been playing Defense Grid a lot. (Actually, replaying, due to problems with my fribble-frotzer, or something.) I got to thinking, somehow... what would it be like to have completely 3D tower defense? Like, in space... I ended up with this:
Super Robo Modular Defense Weapons System!
In the vague future, mankind is under attack by creatures from the far reaches of space. The governments of the world band together, and outfit their space-fleets with advanced weapons! Actually... no... They built a giant robot for the PR value. Unfortunately, the budget appropriations for the rocket feet died in committee, so the SRMDWS can't actually move, as such. If you can keep it from being destroyed long enough to charge up the long-range cannon, you can take out the alien headquarters. Until then, though, wave upon wave of fighters will descend on the SRMDWS, attempting to sabotage Earth's last hope. You play one of several hapless interns placed in charge of deploying weapons onto the SRMDWS, in order to repel the attackers with the gun of justice, using the twin barrels of COURAGE and superior firepower.
Standard tower defense stuff applies: every component that you can buy, you can upgrade. Enemies give you resources when killed.
Differences: resources persist across levels, but some will be spent on repairs and upgrades to the SRMDWS. As a result, you'll have a target resource quantity that you must finish above, which will be increased if there's any damage to the SRMDWS. A well-played level should end with the resources recovered from sold Defense Components going most of the way to the target.
Differences between levels manifest as different waves of enemies, and different arrangements of weak points and modular layouts.
Now, if I ruled the world, I'd have Dan Green doing some of the voice acting in this thing...
EDIT: Feedback: "Get [this] done, or I'll kill you." H'okay, guess I know which of my ideas gets priority.
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This is a fantastic idea. Here are my thoughts: A strength, weakness system. For example, some SRMDWS's shoot missiles while others shoot LASERS etc. Some aliens take more damage from aliens while others take more damage from missiles. There should be towers that also exhibit buffing and debuffing effects. Like increasing damage of surrounded SRMDWS's or slowing down enemy aliens. And of course you need alien bosses at the end of every level.
ReplyDeleteI admit I'm sort of thinking about some of this as "like Defense Grid but" so, thanks, mostly for bringing up the idea of buffs.
ReplyDeleteI'll probably also want to give aliens some weaponry. While this is a departure from pretty much every tower defense game I've played, it makes sense here, I think.
What would be fun, I just realized, if a bit excessive, would be the ability to force aliens to collide with each other. With an extra dimension, they've got no excuse for noclipping. =P
Something that could be nice, but a bit complicated, would be varying the payload of physical weapons. eg, depleted uranium slugs, or different warheads on the missiles. The Module ai would have to provide some easy way to decide, though.
You could stray away from conventional tower defense and use castle defense rules instead. For example: Instead of Earth having a certain amount of "lives" that go away each time an alient gets by your defenses, you can give Earth a hit point bar that can then be healed by buying health upgrades. Also, since its 3D, you may be dealing with aliens going over and under your Robots. This problem can be averted by building forcefields or "walls" that force the aliens to pass by your towers.
ReplyDeleteIf the Aliens can fight back, that puts a whole new element to the game. Constantly repairing and upgrading your towers. Finally, spend a lot of time on Alien tech. The more unique the aliens, the more fun/strategic the gameplay will be.
assuming you shoot in a sphere around you, it's... no different from tower defense.. (but i don't know the math that well so it probably is different.. i guess i'll go grab a friend to explain it to me) , also , "SRMDWS" ???!?! LAME. TERRIBLE NAME. ... eh, should probably call it the LAME (or something that fits better with the mood/story) Laser Assisted Modular Entity
ReplyDeleteWhat, you've never used a working title? =P
ReplyDeleteTechnically, it's some sort of weird hybrid between Tower Defense and RTS, but eliminating some elements common to both, such as ground units. ... And the ground. As long as I can get the mechanics to work out, I don't super-care about genre classification.