Once More Unto the Breach
A simple little flash game has developed a rabid following on one of the newsgroups to which I subscribe. It’s a variation on the “tower defender” class of game, wherein ever-larger waves of bad guys swarm toward your base, trying to destroy it, and you score by enduring as long as possible.
This variation is unusual in that you have no control over the defenders themselves. Instead, you buy and place defensive towers between waves; more efficient tower placement kills more attackers, extending your survival time. You’re not so much general as defense contractor. To keep things interesting, you can also upgrade towers, and select from a few different kinds: rapid-fire, heavy damage, slowing effect, and so on. Every improvement costs you some of your limited budget, so choose wisely. If you’re feeling gutsy, you can earn a substantial bonus by going in without spending all your money, defending with understrength towers. The number of interesting decisions one can add to the game’s design is surprisingly large, and the tactics surprisingly deep.
Gamers on the newsgroup I mentioned above aren’t the only fans. Amateur versions of varying quality are popping up all over, partly because they’re addictively fun, but also because they’re very easy to code. But, so far as I know, nobody has tried adapting this simple game to two players.
Imagine this: you log into a pool of players, specifying whether you want to play the noble defenders or marauding hordes. The system matches you with someone from the other side, possibly according to some kind of handicapping system. While the defender plays as described above, spending his limited cash on gun turrets he hopes will do the job, the attacker is busy spending his limited budget on a choice of troops, trying to find a mix that will get past the towers: slow but heavily armored assault troops, quick but fragile skirmishers, flying units immune to ground-fire towers, whatever.
After every wave, the attacker gets money to buy new troops; the defender keeps his towers in play. Also, attacker and defender split a pot of money for new towers, troops, and upgrades. The more troops to get through on one round, the larger the attacker’s share of money to expand and upgrade his horde; the fewer troops to get through, the more money the defender has to build more towers. Eventually, of course, the attacker overwhelms the defense, and players score according to how long it takes. Their scores are recorded for future use in matching opponents of comparable skill.
I think it’s a great idea, or at least great for people who like these tower defense games. And it’s hardly any more difficult to code than the one-sided games making the internet rounds now. If you’re an ambitious coder with some free time, give it a shot. You can thank me in the credits nobody ever reads.