Thank you all so much for sharing your ideas for The Pocalypse Defense 2 (TPD2 from now on :D)! How about we continue designing this thing together :D
Thanks to your ideas, I’ve changed the design document and made the game a bit simpler, with less units. You were right that with a lot of units, one could find an “ultimate” build that would render all the other units obsolete. I found that that was one of the problems with Plants Vs Zombies, which has 50 units to choose from. Eventually, when everything was unlocked, I found a build that I repeated over and over and never lost. Repetitive, boring, and the beginning units were never used again!
Many of you mentioned Kingdom Rush, which I have played before. I feel that Kingdom Rush embraces simplicity and does it right. With only 4 upgradable towers to choose from, there is no ultimate build and every level requires the right placement and the right upgrades. Although Kingdom Rush features the traditional “maze map/path” tower defense system, unlike TPD2, we can still see how less is more :D
However, having something TOO simple may alienate more skilled players. Since we’re not going with the “maze map/path” system, the strategical aspect of many great TD games can’t be applied to TPD2. So, the challenge and complexity will come from placing the right units in the the right places to counter specific enemies (ex. Vampire Hunter vs. Vampire) and from using Hero units effectively.
Here’s what we’ve come up with! :D (Note the art is obviously not final)
As you can see, TPD2 looks very similar to TPD1. Enemies will come from the bottom-right and you have to defend the top-left, which won’t always be New Hammerston’s gate. When you choose an empty cell, a pop-up menu will appear that will allow you to place your desired unit. This menu will be context-sensitive, so if you choose an existing unit, a menu will appear that will let you upgrade the unit or sell it.
Units attack automatically when an enemy is in their range, including Heroes. So, unlike TPD1, you won’t be able to manually control your units.
To place a unit or upgrade it, you’ll need sufficient Scrap Parts (SP), instead of the Credits in TPD1. To accumulate SP, you need to place Salvager units that will periodically find SP and present it to you to be collected. Here are your units and how their upgrades branch out!
ex.
Base Unit
–> Upgrade Path 1
—-> Upgrade Path 1A
—-> Upgrade Path 1B
–> Upgrade Path 2
—-> Upgrade Path 2A
etc…
****************
Militia (“M” in the image)
–> Conscript
—-> Shotgun’r
——> Hacker
——> Zombie Hunter
——> Vampire Slayer
——> Weed Whacker
—-> Gunslinger
——> Hacker
——> Zombie Hunter
——> Vampire Slayer
——> Weed Whacker
Infantry (“I” in the image)
–> Sniper
—-> Night Stalker
–> Machine Gunner
—-> Laser Gunner
–> Medic
Mortar Team (“T” in the image)
–> Autocannon
—-> Laser Cannon
–> Missile Launcher
—-> Howitzer
Salvager (“S” in the image)
—-> Salvage Engineer
——> Super Salvage Set
Specialist (“P” in the image)
–> Disabler
—-> SLO Rocket Launcher
–> Toxin Shooter
—-> Toxin Grenade Launcher
Drone (“D” in the image)
–> Shield Drone
—-> Hoplite
–> Multi-Shot
—-> Mecha-Infantry
Land Mine (“L” in the image) – not really a unit, but rather a supplemental piece of equipment that can be placed to damage enemies that step on it.
Bunker (“B” in the image) – also not a unit, but a Bunker can be placed “on top” of a unit to absorb damage, until it is destroyed.
****************
So! As you can see, we’re down to 6 base units and a grand total of 31 units :D I’ll explain what they do later, but I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas!
What do you think so far? I hope this sparks some brainstorming that will help us design the best game possible! Feel free to speak up in this forum thread, where we’ll continue the discussion! Sorry if I don’t respond to everyone! Don’t worry, I read everything you send me! :D
Thank you so much for weighing in and if you have any questions, ask away! Next time: Hero units!
Enjoy Scene 19 – “The Rest of Aaron’s Tale, Part 3”!
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Check out Green Pixel’s first iOS game: BlockHopper! http://blockhopper.greenpixel.ca/ Thank you for your support and have fun running, hopping, and thinking your way to the Goal! Make your own levels, too! :D The FREE Lite version is also out! Get it here!
i played this game and is much better than the first and its very interesting thank you very much for making this game
Man, when I saw those floating orbs I knew something was coming. I know it’s been a while, but I was wondering when Annika is going to get her wound treated or even change her clothes? By now she should have gotten tetanus at least.
Wow, this game look much better than te first one :D
Yep, that Aaron is the man. I hope he will be ok for a long, long time.
is it just me or do nina look like jess
in what one does she get that wound?
*@vitor
Awww… Joe you’ve gotten really good at making a likable character VERY quickly. But… with the possibility that Annika is Joe’s sister… heh… I want to see overprotective Joe. XD
And if you ever do anything to Aaron I’mma get a wicked case of the sads.
Great scenes and great ideas, Joe! I cannot Wait until the game comes out!
As soon as I saw the lasers, my hopes leaped that we’d see Obliteration again. And I was so happy to see it. Of course, that only makes me want to know where their dad is right now and what he’s doing and, most importantly, what his connection to Sam and the machines is.
And I’m with Nathan. Can’t wait to see Nina. Hmm… I wonder what she does in the colony.
By the way, Joe, you didn’t say what H in the screenshot means. I’m going to assume it means Hero for units like Joe, Bernie, and such.
@X – Right! The “H” in the image is for placing your Hero :D
i think there should be space behind the wall fro long range artillery, slow firing but very powerful (like 20-30 sec reload time)
sorry for double posting but, what if you added spaces to put snipers on top of the buildings? like plant monsters could still shoot them by throwing spines or thorns at them they could be weaker on the rooftops for balancing but it would be a cool thing to do. I mean when have you ever seen a sniper in the middle of a battlezone :P
@the slayer if you mean which episode, I don’t remember which one ^^’ but I know its a little before Greybane saves them from the mutants. Rusty shot her with his bow and probably a rusty nail. And I dont really remember she getting it treated. At least I think thats what happened, been too long
Gotta agree with mouseman. If there is a way certain units could be placed off of the path without screwing up the balance of the game, it would make sense. It would make even more sense if, say, you could place a couple units on top of the gate for free, but if you wanted to place a couple on top of the nearby buildings, you would have to pay to get into the boarded up building and be sure it was clear of zombies. Heck, the units you can place there don’t have to be powerful, even. The fact that you won’t have to provide them with much extra defense would be plenty of payoff. I realize the setting changes at different points during the game, so maybe it wouldn’t work so well on other maps… but… well… it would make sense, I think.
Well,units on rooftop could have x2 cost to get there safely and an obvious cost to search the building.
Joe,you’re great.
@Willy I’m with you; to open up a house you may release a mob of zombies and you damage the door (unlocking the building after the mob); the open door lets mobs back attack your snipers if they reach the building’s door (snipers then have a little more cover than your main defenders, but have less time to defend themselves)
(Tried to post this earlier but my network went stupid)
Yeah! I mean… I think I lost you in the middle there, but I found my way back… like… if you want to unlock the building, you have to defeat the extra zombies that come out of the building. I think it would make things a little more interesting, and add a little extra strategy to the game. “Do I open this building hoping I can get a couple guns up there, or is it possible that I might not be able to take down those zombies first.”
Also, might I add that the Heroes idea reminds me of Dungeon Defenders? In that game, each hero has completely different towers from the others. Maybe certain heroes might also have their own towers? Maybe Bernie is the only one who can train snipers, or something? Maybe Doc can place some of his own odd inventions?
*shrug* I dunno. Maybe something to think about?
Damn it Joe! Blockhopper is too damn hard! I ragequitted and now I feel kinda bad about it!
@Highcalibur10 – Haha, it’s definitely challenging! Like the games of yore! Keep at it and try not to break your iOS device! :D
@Joe – I got quite far and then had to reset my Iphone including all of its apps. I tried playing again but it was just too damn hard.