So, with BlockHopper in the update and marketing phase, I can focus more on our next game: The Pocalypse Defense 2 :D
The way its currently designed, it would work best on PC and iPad, since it requires a bigger screen. Being a tower defense game like Plants Vs. Zombies, I think an iPhone screen would feel too squished. That being said, I have a few ideas and thoughts I’d like to put out there to spark some ideas from you, the community! :D
– The game will play similar to Plants Vs. Zombies in that you can place various static units (snipers, infantry, artillery, etc.) on the battlefield to fight off incoming attackers. Your units can be damaged and killed!
– One main difference is that you will be able to place a Hero on the battlefield (Joe, Bernie, Jess, Jake, or Doc) that gains experience and levels up.
– More units are unlocked as you progress and by purchasing them with in-game currency (no mandatory in-app purchases! Only use real money if you want!).
– We’re planning 50 units, 5 heroes, 25 enemies and 5 bosses within 50 levels and 5 settings.
– We’re also planning an Endless Mode to see how long you can last (Leaderboards maybe?)
Now some questions for you:
– If we were going to release the game on smaller mobile screens (iPhone), how could the game be made simpler to allow a simpler UI?
– Does the game sound too complicated? People seem to like simple apps nowadays, especially one-touch games. Do you think tower defense and one-touch gameplay can mix? If so, how?
– What do you like about tower defense games? What do you think can be improved? Anything on your tower defense wishlist?
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! :D
Thank you so much for weighing in and if you have any questions, ask away!
Enjoy Scene 18 – “The Rest of Aaron’s Tale, Part 2”!
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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!
That kid is so brave standing up to such adversity. He’ll make an excellent vampire in their ranks.
*SPOILER*
i think the kid might be Aaron
Humm phone apps… reduce the limit of the number of units that you can put on the field to bring down screen clutter? As for buttons if the last Defense game was anything to go on it was pretty much a one button game anyway ‘FIRE’ but as you have to scroll the hero up and down maybe continuous fire of a primary weapon or a fire/not fire icon with another icon to select other weapons like rockets, lasers, Scrufflebecks etc. might work. You would want to limit the number of touch buttons tho (two or three max) as too many and you risk pushing one by accident and the game becoming a nonfunctional mess. I write about gaming theory not game design so probably not the best person to be giving advice on this Joe!
But the Last Defense game was a great deal of fun and kept me entertained for many hours on dull night shifts so I look forward to the next installment.
Keep up the good work mate.
the kid must be scott and uncle jared must be the guy i dont remember name on that had all the corpse to the vaåires
To be honest, I think what separated PvZ from a lot of other Tower Defence games was how simple it was, yet how to be good at it you had to really think about strategy. I think as long as you can make it so that people can look past the simple “place, wait until end of round, upgrade and place” mechanic, then I think it will be a success
In regards to the episode: Loving it but I am getting frustrated now. This is how you can tell that you are a good storyteller. Every fibre of my being wants Joe to meet Annika and yet you bait me and take it away. I am at a constant state of wanting to never watch the comic again and chanting for the next episode. That is how you can tell that you are a good story teller. I’m pretty sure that due to all of your hints that the two are siblings but I just cannot wait to see how it pans out. Best of luck to Blockhopper, and I promise that when I get my Iphone tomorrow, it will be one of the first things I download.
You can display only cash on the screen an if battlefield would be made from “blocks” and if you tap on the block it would show a menu with available units (for the small screen app ofc). So practically only units would be on the screen
Secondly your idea is very good. Games like that are very engaging. So don’t make it too simple
And for the td genre… towers with levels (and diffirent graphics for advanced levels), some special powers (dunno, something like a bombardment [for the tough moments:]). Maybe some interaction on diffirent maps (like a billboard and when you use bombardment on it it collapses and blocks a way for maybe few waves or hurts enemies). For td games the best i’ve played are plants vs zombies, bloons td (newer ones) and kingdom rush (you should chech out the last one, it’s very enjoyable and has some very good ideas). :)
Ps. Sorry for my bad english, not my native language ;]
The Pocalypse os great!!
Okay, when I first saw the word ‘brainstorm’ in my RSS, I was so here, I was here before you even posted it. That’s how here I am.
Anyway, seconds after reading that, I had an idea.
Like, in addition to buying things, in between levels, or maybe just AS some levels, you take control of one of the heroes and go through a sidescrolling level in different areas like the normal city ruins, the plant ruins, or a machine city, getting experience for your hero, levelling them up, and even finding special items like better power generators for your defenses or stuff like that.
Then I get here and see that you were tossing around the idea of using heroes ALREADY, and it seems PERFECT! :D
So not only do you have a tower-defense bit, you can also have a bit of sidescrolley, patformy fun! And I mean, you just finished Blockhopper, so you’ve got some experience in it. :D
@Dave. OH NOES. Curse you sir, you have ruined this web of intrigue for me.
You do realize aaron slipped in the rest of the tale part 1, identifying the character as himself, instead of the kid (before correcting himself). poor elders, I think.
Epic, dude…I’ve gotten all the way to this point in 3 or 4 days of non-stop reading…I can’t wait to see what happens next… ^o^ Keep up the good work, Author Joe!
@Author Joe. One thing that would give Pocalypse Defence 2 players a bit more freedom, is either custom maps, or creating paths that the enemies go through.
@raikue Didn’t you notice that Aaron said “I- I mean,the kid” and Annika “So,what did yo- I mean,the kid do?”?
Oh,and.. I arleady knew this coming from a thousand miles away..
25+5 bosses seems a bit too few enemies in comparison to the 50+5 heroes… Perhaps introducing a new enemy per level would suffice to make things interesting?
So… 45 normal enemies + 5 bosses would be nice. 1 new enemy per level, 9 normal enemies and 1 boss every 10 levels.
Also, you can make the heroes evolve with cash as well! NOT in the sense of pokemon, but in the adquisition of armor! You know:
Bernie->Stinger->Arbiter
Joe->Powerfist->DarkJoe
Jess->Sentinel
Scrufflebeck(Puppy)->Scrufflebeck(Wolf)
etc…
__________
Although, considering how things went in the story, Scrufflebeck should be an unit, temporarily transforming into a wolf to attack, and after the timer transforms back into a puppy that deals considerably less damage…
here a bunch of ideas for the game, is this going to b realeased on the PC?
for starters, you should definantly make the towers mobile, however they all have different movement speeds this could make it so you could have faster units reposition to take out more prominent threats. also, you should make some spaces behind the wall/what your defending as a sort of last defense or space for long ranged artillery. a nice thing would be reseach so you could specialize towers to be better. in my opionin the more complex a game is the better, at least up to a point. if you didnt want to put some of this stuff in you could use it as a different game mode.
Just thought of this, you should be able to make bunkers/building or some other defensive emplacement that you can put units in to imcrese thier defense and maybe range damage or accuracy based on the fortification for example a bunker would increase defense and maybe like a set up time for a machine gunner whereas a sniper tower qould increase range and maybe defense a little bit.
@ Neowarrior some of the armor paths could split, such as you could either get powerfist or darkjoe and they would each have thier own set of benefits. sorry for double posting.
For the game, I don’t really care about the amount of units but more that your units gain exp and have specializations. For instance artillery can split up in big radius or high damage, sniper can specialize in long range or criticals.
JOE!I HAVE A IDEEA!use nick to give strange to units ore hero and put at heros scruffelebecks to!
The next game sounds awesome! can’t wait. and I like some of the ideas I’m seeing from some of the people on here
I’m not sure exactly what made it so good but Kingdom Rush was probably the best TD I’ve played. I’f you’re planning to use a hero unit, I’d recommend that they be able to interact with the towers in some way (building them or upgrading them or something like that, maybe manning them so they get a boost) and 50 units seems like too many to me. I would go with 5-10 “base” units that could then diversify or specialize (kind of like ant buster if you’ve ever played that)
@ mouseman: true that! Of course… Now that I think about it Dark would be a little too unwilling to help out and a little willing to kill all the humans… How about making DarkJoe a wildcard, as in it can help out, then suddenly start attacking the city, then go back to attacking the enemies when they attack him?
to joe please make the game on any computer system i have a old one
Dude Joe. That’s a GENIUS IDEA! Maybe start heroes at their base like the first game? And as they level up give them like their armor and stuff. And maybe if Scrufflebeck is a hero, when he reaches a certain level maybe like a shapeshift ability? That would be awesome! And let them have abilities like in League of Legends and Warcraft 3.
Joe,I have an idea.
The player units that get killed,in case of vampire elders,become lesser vampires.
This way it’s harder,of course,but vampire elders should be very strong bosses.
Hey Joe, Just wanted to tell you that i finally cut up with the pocalypse again, haven’t read it for like 2 months. So far so good.
I just want to tell you that my favorite char is still Joe, He reminds me a lot of a character that i played in a P&P RPG once. (and thats a big compliment, probably the most awesome char i’ve ever played :) )
had a idea!!!!!! maybe a hypnotyst tower has a chance to make monsters fight for you heres the chance chart zombie has a 60% chance mutant has a 50% chance plant monster has a 40% chance robot has a 30% chance vamire has a 20% chance bosses have a 10% chance
@alonzo maybe instead of a hypnotist tower, a plant mimic tower? the mimic doesn’t get rid of the monster that was copied, but the plant is an upgradable version of the monster that can help you defend your dudes.
You should have spawning enemies for robot/plant, and units/enemies that turn enemies into allies and vice versa (zombie+vamp). Also, have a wall for sure. Also, ‘money’ is useless within the whole city, so you should make it materials instead.
of course it’s him, in the first he said I, instead of Aaron what more giveaway do you people need?