Tower Defense

Tower defense is a subgenre of strategy games where players protect their territory against waves of enemy attackers.

Characteristics

Defend!

Use resources wisely to survive all waves of increasingly difficult enemies.

ENEMY WAVES

↩️ Pathing

🔸🔷 Variety (health, number, loot, etc) ➕ Increasing difficulty (type, number, etc)

TOWER STRATEGY

✖️ Placement

🔸🔷 Variety (attack strength, type, size, etc)

🪙 Buy towers / 🧱 Build with resources

🆙 Upgrade towers

🔓Unlock new types

Keys of Success

Everyone Can Play - Main player actions are placing units
Play for Long - Many levels and difficulties, new releases, endless mode
Flexible Play Modes - Multiplayer with humans or singleplayer with NPCs

NEED TO HAVE

Logic to place/spawn towers
Spawning and pathing for enemies
Varied tower types and enemies

NICE TO HAVE

Resource Farming - Harvest resources (building materials, currency, etc)
Research - Unlock new tower types or abilities through research

Game Loops

Below is a general game loop diagram for this genre. Your game's loops may vary.

Variations of Strategy

Real-Time Strategy (RTS): Players make decisions in real-time, managing resources and armies.

Turn-Based Strategy (TBS): Players take turns making strategic decisions and controlling units.

4X (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate): Empire-building and grand strategy.

Learn to Create It

GAME MAKER TEMPLATE

LOGIC TO EXPLORE

Enemy waves
Gaining resources
Buying towers

Make it More Interesting

Consider ways to add to or change the core structure of this game type to challenge and motivate players differently.

MAIN OBJECTIVE

🛡️ Build enough defense to explore & loot

⚔️ Vs enemies or teams

RAMP OF DIFFICULTY

⚒️ Craft rather than buy

🎲 Randomized patterns

CORE DECISIONS

🌇 Turn based or constant

⛈️ Weather impacts

⚙️ Precise tower variations

PRACTICE: Modify the Life Jumper template to increase the fun:
Tower abilities
Projectile & Raycasting (varied tower presets)
Passive/idle resource generation

Useful Logic

Resource Management logic (sub-genre)

Tutorial Videos

Open the Game Maker Tower Defense Template for logic included in the tutorials below.

View Tower Defense Game Jam entries in the Game Maker Gallery for examples of this genre.

Tower Defense