It got me on a few moments ... I was like wtf ... then I was like ... that was pretty cool.
Replayability? I do not believe it is as great as other TDs, but it is definately one of the more boundry pushing TDs, in relation to the ideas behind it. It has a really good sense of humor which is a nice change, but overall it is just another TD.
So why is it after 10 years of creating TDs, have we not evolved them?
We have Maze TDs and Lane TDs and that is pretty much all. Basically every TD created to date could fit into these two categories. Do I believe that we can create new genres? Well we can mix and match and add new ways of dealing with things (like TDT did), but essentially TDs are TDs.
But what we can do is we change the way in which we build the buildings and interact with the game.
I talked about this with Karawasa and we discussed such things in great detail, mainly the way in which to evolve the UI of TDs. (Well more so me telling him what we should do and he agreeing we can test it out on EleTD). I designed a new UI for EleTD on paper in ways I thought it could be improved (I design a lot of new UI for games I play on battle.net just for fun).
It got me thinking though today during this game, why does no one actually just try and implement some custom UI into a TD? If there is a lack of knowledge in this area I understand, but even if the TD creators designed it on paper and photographed it, or in paint, I could steer them in the right direction to implement it.
Also why do we still rely on on a SCV builder? There are other ways in which buildings could be built.
Also why do we still build buildings for upgrades? Or research upgrades all together (through buildings or units etc)?
It could all be done through the UI ... in unique and amazing ways still in people's dreams.
Thats all ... I just think there is a great room for improvement in TDs and really wanna them improve into something amazing.
Actually TD Tycoon does set itself apart from all other tycoons, By adding a storyline and an amazing level of polish that ANY mapper would like to have in his own map. you have to give it respect for those 2 qualities :P. And actually it doesnt seem like it at first, but the replay-ability is pretty good.
I get most of your points, But i think the SCV is used because its Iconic, And we use buildings for upgrades because thats what people are used to, One thing that holds true for the top games, is a simple ui, i mean from what I have seen from tofu, that stands for that too, a simple yet elegent, in some cases the default ui.
I think TDs biggest problem is its gameplay, While its fun, its not replayable, because the waves are always the same, damn if I was a triggerer i would make an amazing TD.
All you have to do to fix SOME of the problems, is Set it so there are Attributes for each tower and Spawned units, then Set all spawned units to the same Health and armor, then Throw them into a crazy trigger so its randomized and given a buff based on the level, no more of that garbage "Armored is on Level 8" crap,
Then they need to find a new way to build tower, some way to give more control, Why is there never a maze/upper land td, Where you can build two kinds of towers, 1 the weaker ones that are on the ground, and then stronger ones that are on the land above.
and then what you can do is Throw in a hero element the hero has all auto cast abilities/ auras of course, and you can upgrade it between rounds.
Then theres upgrades for towers, and upgrades to add new abilities to the heroes.
and then you can throw in that ui, Then theres a leveling system to unlock new races :D
Each race has a choice between 3 heroes. :P or just 1 hero. Heroes level up through kills and levels may also be bought.
At then end of your maze(should be a team game, Team TDs are usually more fun), There should be some sort of defense system.
and all of this should be on a space platform, Why? because space platforms are the shit.
I think TDT is actually really polished, hence the reason I said I was pleasently surprised.
But it was more so speaking of TDs in general and people not thinking outside of the box.
A good example of this would be Plants vs Zombies - that definately thought outside the box in terms of gameplay. Simple yes, but it was appealing to the iOS market (where the main player base are casual players). But it did do the TD in a way that had not been seen before, the UI was simple and effect and there is nothing to stop people here doing the same type of innovation.
yup, i can see that, Actually there is a PVZ TD game on Battle.net i forget what its called though haha.
i still wish squad td's terrain and ui was better, i still dont understand how it succeeds. haha, I mean its an okay map, its 100% like Legion TD though with very little differences.
Anyways, There has to be new gameplay thats agreeable, Right now there are Gem Td, Squad td, EleTD, Poker defense, Maze TD, PVZ, annnd thats all I can think of haha, Those are the games with different gameplay.
1. Combine Towers Defense game
2. Towers are Moving and attacking units
3. Towers sit up 1 level higher(most of the time) and shoot from there
4. Moveable units that are given by special circumstances and random chance that defend.
5. Towers used to make the waves pathing longer
6. Mutiple paths with where you can buy towers during waves.
We have Maze TDs and Lane TDs and that is pretty much all. Basically every TD created to date could fit into these two categories. Do I believe that we can create new genres? Well we can mix and match and add new ways of dealing with things (like TDT did), but essentially TDs are TDs.
Not completely, there's also stuff like Orcs Must Die which falls under... I dunno, 'dungeon defense'? It's a mix of lane TD, maze TD and FPS games.
Edit: No real further comment, just something I noticed in your post that I felt picking out.
I don't think there's been a lack of innovation in this genre, it's rather the amount of copycat that's too much and saturated. The type of traditional TD is low on hardware requirement, requires little input during gameplay, simple and easy to understand. It's also very simple to make.
Moving away from the formula is taking risks and potentially risk losing the original audiences (for example I prefer boring and carefully planned strategy so I didn't enjoy Orc Must Die or Dungeon Defenders that much). Most TD just market themselves as traditional TD with a "twist" rather than combining genres
and being totally different.
Then again I'm against the trends of categorizing genres by mechanics. Like any other medium, genres should be based on what experiences or kind of satisfaction that is sought after in the game. Mechanics is the secondary part.
About the UI thing, I think it's just specific to RTS modders. It make sense with the original game that a building must be built by some sort of builder. So giving player control of the builder is intuitive. Of course if we are modding Red Alert then it's a different situation. But it is easy now in SC2 to build straight from a menu or UI button.
Bonus: I've just found out that Gratuitous Tank Battle is a TD, and it's involve both defenders and attackers that shooting at each other. The only different is that one is not moving. And it's quite hectic.
That aside, many players seek a relaxed gameplay in TDs, which the general TD formula does pretty good. Doing somerthing entirely different will most likely draw attention to some, while also risking to lose many of the usual TD players.
About the UI thing, I think it's just specific to RTS modders. It make sense with the original game that a building must be built by some sort of builder. So giving player control of the builder is intuitive.
I think this point nails it right on the head. In StarCraft 2, using a builder to make structures is how players interact with the game, either in a custom map or the regular game. If you go play any stand-alone or flash based tower defense game, you have the towers listed on the sides or bottom and you can instantly place them around the map. Look at the flash version of Element TD as an example of this, and of course PvZ is another good example.
Now is that point-and-click UI better? That's hard to say. Is that type of UI suitable for StarCraft II? I personally think the builder is more intuitive in StarCraft II, but I'm willing to take back that statement as soon as someone can come up with a good UI.
Here's something that I think most map designers know on a gut level, but let me just say it explicitly: StarCraft II custom games are unique in that you have to teach players the things they need to know in a matter of seconds. When you teach a player something new they have to understand it intuitively because it's a fast-paced multiplayer game where people have minimal patience for learning. Every choice I made in TDT was to help the player understand the game intuitively so they could carry on with the business of trying to figure out the strategy and have fun.
I think you've asked some interesting questions about the genre itself. How do we evolve a TD game? If you tweak the core mechanics enough, at what point is it no longer a TD game? In my opinion, the fun of a tower defense game is being able to formulate a your own special strategy, and just try to dominate the game with your awesome strategy. Then, of course, there is a ton of satisfaction with seeing your strategy to be successful and watching waves of enemies get slaughtered. OOoooh yeah baby.
I loved Orcs Must Die 2. My wife and I played it in coop and would plan out exactly what weapons/traps/spells we'd get and put them all together to be maximally effective. We stopped playing forever after we invented our perfect strategy and carried it out in an endless level for almost an hour and a half before we died.
Going back to TDT, the game is meant to look like the standard lane TD. I wanted it to look totally standard and familiar, so that when the game gets turned upside down players can instantly recognize how insane it is. :)
Replayability? I do not believe it is as great as other TDs, but it is definately one of the more boundry pushing TDs, in relation to the ideas behind it. It has a really good sense of humor which is a nice change, but overall it is just another TD.
Yeah, I know the game doesn't have replayability beyond just a few plays. I just wanted to make the game I wanted to make, and not really concerned with having to create an experience that players would be compelled to replay constantly. My favorite games of all time lack replayability. (Half-Life 2, Mass Effect, you get the idea.)
I seriously think that replayability is something that players should be less concerned with in the Arcade. I want a game that is totally awesome. I want more fantastic adventures that I can play once or twice and be done. I want an RPG that has content and a story, not an on-going farm festival.
I made TDT partly because I wanted to show how much creativity could be poured into a TD game. These TD maps were getting stale and uncreative, with just wave after boring wave. I still think there is so much more that could be done in the genre. I've imagined stand-alone tower defense games where you're building towers along train tracks and switching rails to change the paths of the enemies to go past different towers. I have had many day dreams about a Tower Defense Tycoon that is its own game outside of StarCraft, where it's much more of the "Tycoon" part compared to the map you see on the arcade. This would involve players being able tweak the admission rates at will, to build and design their own tracks, customize the towers they invent/unlock, and even hire the enemies they want on the track and make their own "show" (where a player could hire more difficult enemies if they're doing better).
The TD maps we have now just scratch the surface on what could be done in the genre. We just need a few brilliant minds to get insanely creative with some fun new ideas.
I agree with your points Skrow, that replayability is something people should be less concerning with in the Arcade. But at the same time, we still use the popularity list which means even if your project is super awesome, eventually it will be lost. The most memorable game for me would be F.E.A.R, because I purposely played it in a way to allow myself to get fully immersed and scared shitless. I only played it past 10pm with all lights off, and thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I could never play it again the same way. The same as Minecraft, the first time it was night I locked myself in my little dugout, with a 1 block opening trying to jump and see what was out there and I couldn't see anything. It wasn't until a few nights later that I actually built a little fort at the top of a mountain with a window that I could see just how many monsters came out at night and I was like OMG ...
Now, after admining a server for a few years, constantly using hacks (takes one to know one), I can never go back to that feeling ... because in my mind I am just like ... all it takes is one hotkey and I know where everything is ... or this is a waste of time because I can just spawn diamonds. What I wouldn't give to go back and wipe my memory of Minecraft and start all over again, it is an awesome game, but as with any game, once you reach that point of no return with your knowledge, it ruins the experience for the rest of your life.
I love Tower Defense Tycoon, and all the cheering and fireworks makes me want to go back and play it again, but I cannot really justify spending 2 hours playing it when I have so many things that need to be done (with my own work). It is a feel good game, which is unique to say the least. It actually made me happy playing it, everytime the fireworks went off, and I got some awesome kill, it made me feel good. Compare it to Dota where I am always like, I swear this game I'll be nice to my teammates, and it turns out I get stuck with noobs or trolls and I am like FML. I was on Dota II with a bunch of Chinese teammates (because Australians get paired with the Chinese server), and there was no communication ... I ended up swearing my ass off in Mandarin over the voice chat because even though they could all speak English (cause that got their attention to respond to me in English -_-) they simply chose not to talk to each other, needless to say I don't play Dota II anymore (played 3 games total).
Dota is a very angry game for the majority of players, as is LoL. Basically it comes down to a sense of entitlement - When you do the best in the game and you still loose, that leaves rage inside your heart. You can go 50-0 in Dota and still loose because if your teammates. Most games are over by the 5-10 minute mark but last for another 50 odd minutes after that - in principle that is very, very bad design. Where as a TD doesn't fall into that trap (but some do - unless you execute perfect build orders at the start of the game (ELE TD was once like this with Interest) regardless how well you do later on, one round will come and you will die). TDT is a much better designed TD in this game because if you're gonna die you're gonna die because you made constantly bad decisions - not because it wasn't excuted flawlessly.
IMO, the improvements I could see made to TDT in particular would be custom UI, nice choosing of Fonts for the game, a few different tricks with the camera and it would be as polished as I could ever foresee it being for a long time to come. In regards to the SCV builder, the way I was thinking is that you could have preplaced (blank) towers around the map and click on them to upgrade them into what ever. The same as having the upgrades (your upgrade buildings) in pre-designated spots (could be more spots than buildings to allow for customization), and then have a Doodad city around them, so when you do upgrade it is like Wow, another building pops up it looks like your extending your simcity.
The insane upside down moments are the most memorable ... when my score went from like 100 popularity to -350 I was like WTF, impossbruuuuuuuu ... then went everything went backwards I was honestly like, this just became the best fucken TD ever.
Oh btw, when you get your worker add him automatically to Control Group 1, the same with the Mule to Control Group 2 ... it took me ages to see the 'F1' button my screen (shows my lack of playing Melee) and I was constantly loosing my SCV.
On your Dota 2 point, WELCOME TO THE FUCKING CLUB... i get called racist for that same shit, because I will tell mexicans to speak fucking english, and How mexicans ruin the game for me being paired with them is a pain in the ass. I am sure some jackass speaking english in their game is a pain too, I wish gaming companies would just freaking stop... stop the bull shit put people of same languages on the same servers, instead of location based by default, and allow them to switch if they want to freakin switch, Got dammit.
Anyways, SkrowFunk, i think it is :P not scrolling up haha, anyways Its a great map, though it would be awesome if there was shorter modes :P. like a 2x speed mode, or a 3x speed mode, where speed of units, missles, and everything was GReATLY increased haha. of course this shouldnt be unlocked until beating the game the first time. though in hindsight that would be a pain in the ass for you to implement.
Last night I was playing LoL, within the first ten minutes I was 6-0 as the carry. Our mid laner was 0-2, then went to base and said "bore of play, gl guys" and sat there AFK until we surrendered. Talk about rage in your heart, holy SHIT I was so mad.
As for speed mode, it's already done. You can play solo and choose "expert mode" and it cuts down time between all levels to 5 seconds and removes all the delays from the story. The same deal happens if you choose to play a separate upload of the game "TD Tycoon [Experts Only]". I can't really speed up the speed of the game and keep the story because the dialog is timed in a way that doesn't scale with game speed. :(
I've gotten lots of good suggestions to improve the map, and you're totally right that it's way too long! I put the game together in pieces, and the game was nearly 2 hours the first time I did a full start-to-finish play through. I want to do more to make it better, but I've gone through several waves of crunch time trying to make my own deadlines. It sucks up hours of every night and weekends.
I bet Dogmai is totally feeling that with Tofu. :)
Besides, it's now the holidays. I'm on mapping break until the new year. Time to get drunk and play video games for an entire month!!
Single player ... and I was pleasantly surprised.
It got me on a few moments ... I was like wtf ... then I was like ... that was pretty cool.
Replayability? I do not believe it is as great as other TDs, but it is definately one of the more boundry pushing TDs, in relation to the ideas behind it. It has a really good sense of humor which is a nice change, but overall it is just another TD.
So why is it after 10 years of creating TDs, have we not evolved them?
We have Maze TDs and Lane TDs and that is pretty much all. Basically every TD created to date could fit into these two categories. Do I believe that we can create new genres? Well we can mix and match and add new ways of dealing with things (like TDT did), but essentially TDs are TDs.
But what we can do is we change the way in which we build the buildings and interact with the game.
I talked about this with Karawasa and we discussed such things in great detail, mainly the way in which to evolve the UI of TDs. (Well more so me telling him what we should do and he agreeing we can test it out on EleTD). I designed a new UI for EleTD on paper in ways I thought it could be improved (I design a lot of new UI for games I play on battle.net just for fun).
It got me thinking though today during this game, why does no one actually just try and implement some custom UI into a TD? If there is a lack of knowledge in this area I understand, but even if the TD creators designed it on paper and photographed it, or in paint, I could steer them in the right direction to implement it.
Also why do we still rely on on a SCV builder? There are other ways in which buildings could be built.
Also why do we still build buildings for upgrades? Or research upgrades all together (through buildings or units etc)?
It could all be done through the UI ... in unique and amazing ways still in people's dreams.
Thats all ... I just think there is a great room for improvement in TDs and really wanna them improve into something amazing.
@DogmaiSEA: Go
Actually TD Tycoon does set itself apart from all other tycoons, By adding a storyline and an amazing level of polish that ANY mapper would like to have in his own map. you have to give it respect for those 2 qualities :P. And actually it doesnt seem like it at first, but the replay-ability is pretty good.
I get most of your points, But i think the SCV is used because its Iconic, And we use buildings for upgrades because thats what people are used to, One thing that holds true for the top games, is a simple ui, i mean from what I have seen from tofu, that stands for that too, a simple yet elegent, in some cases the default ui.
I think TDs biggest problem is its gameplay, While its fun, its not replayable, because the waves are always the same, damn if I was a triggerer i would make an amazing TD.
All you have to do to fix SOME of the problems, is Set it so there are Attributes for each tower and Spawned units, then Set all spawned units to the same Health and armor, then Throw them into a crazy trigger so its randomized and given a buff based on the level, no more of that garbage "Armored is on Level 8" crap,
Then they need to find a new way to build tower, some way to give more control, Why is there never a maze/upper land td, Where you can build two kinds of towers, 1 the weaker ones that are on the ground, and then stronger ones that are on the land above.
and then what you can do is Throw in a hero element the hero has all auto cast abilities/ auras of course, and you can upgrade it between rounds.
Then theres upgrades for towers, and upgrades to add new abilities to the heroes.
and then you can throw in that ui, Then theres a leveling system to unlock new races :D
Each race has a choice between 3 heroes. :P or just 1 hero. Heroes level up through kills and levels may also be bought.
At then end of your maze(should be a team game, Team TDs are usually more fun), There should be some sort of defense system.
and all of this should be on a space platform, Why? because space platforms are the shit.
I think TDT is actually really polished, hence the reason I said I was pleasently surprised.
But it was more so speaking of TDs in general and people not thinking outside of the box.
A good example of this would be Plants vs Zombies - that definately thought outside the box in terms of gameplay. Simple yes, but it was appealing to the iOS market (where the main player base are casual players). But it did do the TD in a way that had not been seen before, the UI was simple and effect and there is nothing to stop people here doing the same type of innovation.
@DogmaiSEA: Go
yup, i can see that, Actually there is a PVZ TD game on Battle.net i forget what its called though haha.
i still wish squad td's terrain and ui was better, i still dont understand how it succeeds. haha, I mean its an okay map, its 100% like Legion TD though with very little differences.
Anyways, There has to be new gameplay thats agreeable, Right now there are Gem Td, Squad td, EleTD, Poker defense, Maze TD, PVZ, annnd thats all I can think of haha, Those are the games with different gameplay.
1. Combine Towers Defense game
2. Towers are Moving and attacking units
3. Towers sit up 1 level higher(most of the time) and shoot from there
4. Moveable units that are given by special circumstances and random chance that defend.
5. Towers used to make the waves pathing longer
6. Mutiple paths with where you can buy towers during waves.
Not completely, there's also stuff like Orcs Must Die which falls under... I dunno, 'dungeon defense'? It's a mix of lane TD, maze TD and FPS games.
Edit: No real further comment, just something I noticed in your post that I felt picking out.
I don't think there's been a lack of innovation in this genre, it's rather the amount of copycat that's too much and saturated. The type of traditional TD is low on hardware requirement, requires little input during gameplay, simple and easy to understand. It's also very simple to make.
Moving away from the formula is taking risks and potentially risk losing the original audiences (for example I prefer boring and carefully planned strategy so I didn't enjoy Orc Must Die or Dungeon Defenders that much). Most TD just market themselves as traditional TD with a "twist" rather than combining genres and being totally different.
Then again I'm against the trends of categorizing genres by mechanics. Like any other medium, genres should be based on what experiences or kind of satisfaction that is sought after in the game. Mechanics is the secondary part.
About the UI thing, I think it's just specific to RTS modders. It make sense with the original game that a building must be built by some sort of builder. So giving player control of the builder is intuitive. Of course if we are modding Red Alert then it's a different situation. But it is easy now in SC2 to build straight from a menu or UI button.
Bonus: I've just found out that Gratuitous Tank Battle is a TD, and it's involve both defenders and attackers that shooting at each other. The only different is that one is not moving. And it's quite hectic.
Amira Tower Defence!!
That aside, many players seek a relaxed gameplay in TDs, which the general TD formula does pretty good. Doing somerthing entirely different will most likely draw attention to some, while also risking to lose many of the usual TD players.
I think this point nails it right on the head. In StarCraft 2, using a builder to make structures is how players interact with the game, either in a custom map or the regular game. If you go play any stand-alone or flash based tower defense game, you have the towers listed on the sides or bottom and you can instantly place them around the map. Look at the flash version of Element TD as an example of this, and of course PvZ is another good example.
Now is that point-and-click UI better? That's hard to say. Is that type of UI suitable for StarCraft II? I personally think the builder is more intuitive in StarCraft II, but I'm willing to take back that statement as soon as someone can come up with a good UI.
Here's something that I think most map designers know on a gut level, but let me just say it explicitly: StarCraft II custom games are unique in that you have to teach players the things they need to know in a matter of seconds. When you teach a player something new they have to understand it intuitively because it's a fast-paced multiplayer game where people have minimal patience for learning. Every choice I made in TDT was to help the player understand the game intuitively so they could carry on with the business of trying to figure out the strategy and have fun.
I think you've asked some interesting questions about the genre itself. How do we evolve a TD game? If you tweak the core mechanics enough, at what point is it no longer a TD game? In my opinion, the fun of a tower defense game is being able to formulate a your own special strategy, and just try to dominate the game with your awesome strategy. Then, of course, there is a ton of satisfaction with seeing your strategy to be successful and watching waves of enemies get slaughtered. OOoooh yeah baby.
I loved Orcs Must Die 2. My wife and I played it in coop and would plan out exactly what weapons/traps/spells we'd get and put them all together to be maximally effective. We stopped playing forever after we invented our perfect strategy and carried it out in an endless level for almost an hour and a half before we died.
Going back to TDT, the game is meant to look like the standard lane TD. I wanted it to look totally standard and familiar, so that when the game gets turned upside down players can instantly recognize how insane it is. :)
Yeah, I know the game doesn't have replayability beyond just a few plays. I just wanted to make the game I wanted to make, and not really concerned with having to create an experience that players would be compelled to replay constantly. My favorite games of all time lack replayability. (Half-Life 2, Mass Effect, you get the idea.)
I seriously think that replayability is something that players should be less concerned with in the Arcade. I want a game that is totally awesome. I want more fantastic adventures that I can play once or twice and be done. I want an RPG that has content and a story, not an on-going farm festival.
I made TDT partly because I wanted to show how much creativity could be poured into a TD game. These TD maps were getting stale and uncreative, with just wave after boring wave. I still think there is so much more that could be done in the genre. I've imagined stand-alone tower defense games where you're building towers along train tracks and switching rails to change the paths of the enemies to go past different towers. I have had many day dreams about a Tower Defense Tycoon that is its own game outside of StarCraft, where it's much more of the "Tycoon" part compared to the map you see on the arcade. This would involve players being able tweak the admission rates at will, to build and design their own tracks, customize the towers they invent/unlock, and even hire the enemies they want on the track and make their own "show" (where a player could hire more difficult enemies if they're doing better).
The TD maps we have now just scratch the surface on what could be done in the genre. We just need a few brilliant minds to get insanely creative with some fun new ideas.
I agree with your points Skrow, that replayability is something people should be less concerning with in the Arcade. But at the same time, we still use the popularity list which means even if your project is super awesome, eventually it will be lost. The most memorable game for me would be F.E.A.R, because I purposely played it in a way to allow myself to get fully immersed and scared shitless. I only played it past 10pm with all lights off, and thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I could never play it again the same way. The same as Minecraft, the first time it was night I locked myself in my little dugout, with a 1 block opening trying to jump and see what was out there and I couldn't see anything. It wasn't until a few nights later that I actually built a little fort at the top of a mountain with a window that I could see just how many monsters came out at night and I was like OMG ...
Now, after admining a server for a few years, constantly using hacks (takes one to know one), I can never go back to that feeling ... because in my mind I am just like ... all it takes is one hotkey and I know where everything is ... or this is a waste of time because I can just spawn diamonds. What I wouldn't give to go back and wipe my memory of Minecraft and start all over again, it is an awesome game, but as with any game, once you reach that point of no return with your knowledge, it ruins the experience for the rest of your life.
I love Tower Defense Tycoon, and all the cheering and fireworks makes me want to go back and play it again, but I cannot really justify spending 2 hours playing it when I have so many things that need to be done (with my own work). It is a feel good game, which is unique to say the least. It actually made me happy playing it, everytime the fireworks went off, and I got some awesome kill, it made me feel good. Compare it to Dota where I am always like, I swear this game I'll be nice to my teammates, and it turns out I get stuck with noobs or trolls and I am like FML. I was on Dota II with a bunch of Chinese teammates (because Australians get paired with the Chinese server), and there was no communication ... I ended up swearing my ass off in Mandarin over the voice chat because even though they could all speak English (cause that got their attention to respond to me in English -_-) they simply chose not to talk to each other, needless to say I don't play Dota II anymore (played 3 games total).
Dota is a very angry game for the majority of players, as is LoL. Basically it comes down to a sense of entitlement - When you do the best in the game and you still loose, that leaves rage inside your heart. You can go 50-0 in Dota and still loose because if your teammates. Most games are over by the 5-10 minute mark but last for another 50 odd minutes after that - in principle that is very, very bad design. Where as a TD doesn't fall into that trap (but some do - unless you execute perfect build orders at the start of the game (ELE TD was once like this with Interest) regardless how well you do later on, one round will come and you will die). TDT is a much better designed TD in this game because if you're gonna die you're gonna die because you made constantly bad decisions - not because it wasn't excuted flawlessly.
IMO, the improvements I could see made to TDT in particular would be custom UI, nice choosing of Fonts for the game, a few different tricks with the camera and it would be as polished as I could ever foresee it being for a long time to come. In regards to the SCV builder, the way I was thinking is that you could have preplaced (blank) towers around the map and click on them to upgrade them into what ever. The same as having the upgrades (your upgrade buildings) in pre-designated spots (could be more spots than buildings to allow for customization), and then have a Doodad city around them, so when you do upgrade it is like Wow, another building pops up it looks like your extending your simcity.
The insane upside down moments are the most memorable ... when my score went from like 100 popularity to -350 I was like WTF, impossbruuuuuuuu ... then went everything went backwards I was honestly like, this just became the best fucken TD ever.
Oh btw, when you get your worker add him automatically to Control Group 1, the same with the Mule to Control Group 2 ... it took me ages to see the 'F1' button my screen (shows my lack of playing Melee) and I was constantly loosing my SCV.
@DogmaiSEA: Go
On your Dota 2 point, WELCOME TO THE FUCKING CLUB... i get called racist for that same shit, because I will tell mexicans to speak fucking english, and How mexicans ruin the game for me being paired with them is a pain in the ass. I am sure some jackass speaking english in their game is a pain too, I wish gaming companies would just freaking stop... stop the bull shit put people of same languages on the same servers, instead of location based by default, and allow them to switch if they want to freakin switch, Got dammit.
Anyways, SkrowFunk, i think it is :P not scrolling up haha, anyways Its a great map, though it would be awesome if there was shorter modes :P. like a 2x speed mode, or a 3x speed mode, where speed of units, missles, and everything was GReATLY increased haha. of course this shouldnt be unlocked until beating the game the first time. though in hindsight that would be a pain in the ass for you to implement.
Last night I was playing LoL, within the first ten minutes I was 6-0 as the carry. Our mid laner was 0-2, then went to base and said "bore of play, gl guys" and sat there AFK until we surrendered. Talk about rage in your heart, holy SHIT I was so mad.
As for speed mode, it's already done. You can play solo and choose "expert mode" and it cuts down time between all levels to 5 seconds and removes all the delays from the story. The same deal happens if you choose to play a separate upload of the game "TD Tycoon [Experts Only]". I can't really speed up the speed of the game and keep the story because the dialog is timed in a way that doesn't scale with game speed. :(
I've gotten lots of good suggestions to improve the map, and you're totally right that it's way too long! I put the game together in pieces, and the game was nearly 2 hours the first time I did a full start-to-finish play through. I want to do more to make it better, but I've gone through several waves of crunch time trying to make my own deadlines. It sucks up hours of every night and weekends.
I bet Dogmai is totally feeling that with Tofu. :)
Besides, it's now the holidays. I'm on mapping break until the new year. Time to get drunk and play video games for an entire month!!
@SkrowFunk: Go
ahh, and as for your last part, thats what I do every day :P well besides the get drunk, though some nogg will be bought this year.