[Beta] Please play test my tower defense game - free accounts for helpful feedback

[MJonesTT]

I have finished a beta version of "Turret Tyranny", a Flash tower defense game which I would like to get feedback on. I will give free one year accounts to people who post meaningful feedback on how to make it into a better game.

You can play test it here:

http://www.turrettyranny.com

Right now there is only one map, I want to get people's opinions on the game play before I start making more maps for it. In particular I would like to know:


1.) Is the interface clear on what to do? If not, please indicate if you've played games such as Warcraft, Starcraft or Dune 2 before.


2.) Is it too hard or too easy? The very first incarnation I had was definitely too hard so I gave it three levels of difficulty and made it default to 'Easy'. However I'm not sure if I've made it too easy.


3.) Please play around with it on Hard as well. 'Hard' really is hard and is much more puzzle-like. It requires experimentation to find the strongest defense configuration. There is a walkthrough on how to solve the map here:

http://turrettyranny.com/walkthrough.jsp


4.) Regarding its appearance, does the 'LEVEL 1/31' text show up in the same font (Century Gothic) as the graphical 'TURRET TYRANNY' logo at the top of the web page?


5.) Please indicate if you generally play strategy games. If so, which elements of you normally see in strategy games are you able to recognize in this game?


Thanks for your feedback, here's info on the game itself:

About the game:

The goal is to kill the red dots moving around the map (the "creeps") by building gun turrets which shoot the creeps.

To do that, click on a gun turret box at the bottom of the screen. For instance, click the red and black gun at the lower left part of the screen. A copy of the gun will attach to your mouse which you can then place in the map by clicking on a map tile.

The yellow area around each gun indicates how far and where it can shoot. Each gun has certain characteristics so you can't use them all the same. The guns can only shoot at creeps inside their fields of attack.

Some turrets do splash damage which can kill your own turrets so placement is very important. Other guns are 'shoot through' guns which fire like a laser all the way through the creeps in a line, doing damage to them all at once. These guns can also kill your own turrets if you're not careful.

Finally, most of the guns can be upgraded and it's not possible to beat the map without doing so. The upgrades cost money but make the guns more effective.

You can also click on the different map tiles to see how they're different from each other. For instance, black wall tiles block your towers' sight and water tiles can't be build upon.

Game tips:

+ Some points of the game require very precise timing. Use the pause button (or press space) to freeze the action while you re-arrange things. Sometimes when you've saved up for a new level of turret technology the addition of the new gun type will cause you to reconfigure your entire defensive posture and you may have to sell several guns to make room for the new ones.

+ Always plan ahead for what you're going to build next. Sometimes you only have two or three seconds of slack to upgrade a tower or build a new one. If you hesitate or haven't planned things out you'll end up leaking creeps. This can be a pretty detailed game so look at what is the next cheapest thing you can buy and be ready to build it the instant you can afford it.

+ If you buy the game you can save your maps and it is recommended to do so frequently as you experiment with different gun combinations and strategies.
Use the 'Delete' or 's' key to sell towers. Use the 'u' key to upgrade them.

+ Tips using ice towers: Don't pack them too closely together. They're most effective spread out. Be ready to sell and rebuild slowing towers frequently depending on which area of the map you're currently the strongest in.

+ Tips using howizters: Layer them so they fire in succession rather than as a single volley.

+ Don't build towers in the creeps' path or the creeps will run over them and destroy your guns!

+ Once you've beaten a map you can then edit it and draw your own maps and reconfigure the pricing and behavior for the guns. When you have something you like you can publish it to share it with your friends. To do so, first play-test it and beat it on 'Hard' mode. Then when you publish it your map will be on the network for anyone to play.

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Thanks very much for checking out my game. I appreciate specific suggestions on how to make it into a game you would like to play more maps of.

[renderhjs]

to much text for me, no pictures
even the game description: to much text- who going to read all that? (me not )

from what it looks the game consumes lots of time not only because of the propably complicated nature but also because of the linear rail path those balls take- taking another round to reach the spot where the player supposes new action.
Anyway I dont have that much time and free accounts wont lure me so I´l comment on what I can:
- graphics couldn´t be any faster and simple done- for a game that asks for money people could expect imo. levels above those. Maybe disabling the context menu (default entries) might be a good choise as well just to look a little bit more professional.
Why not going for tiles on this game?- I´m sure that not only it will render faster (except you already cached items as bitmaps) but propably will fit better for such a style.

[MJonesTT]

Thanks for your post. Maybe the tips should be in graphical form rather than as text.

[renderhjs]

or a step by step game mode. Where the features and objects pop in step by step. Ever played a nintendo game such as Advance Wars?

a charming woman "nelly" explains step by step very easy to understand with just a few words in each sentence how to game works. You dont have all options from the beginning because you are dragged step by step through them with tutorials- maybe you could do the same

[DancingOctopus]

yep, for a game you're asking money for, the graphics have to be of a much higher standard than what you have here.

I especially think this is the case for any game as relatively complicated as this. You really do need pretty imagery to grab hold of your audience while you show them just how fun your game is.

[MJonesTT]

I will make a tutorial like that, thanks! The game play basically consists of selecting turrets from the bottom of the screen then placing them on the map so it shouldn't be that hard to make a tutorial.

One thing I would like to know about is if the fonts are rendering right, does the 'LEVEL 1/31' text show up in the same font (Century Gothic) as the graphical 'TURRET TYRANNY' logo at the top of the web page?

On another system that didn't have Century Gothic it was rendering in the Flash game as Time Roman. I think I've fixed that but I'm not sure.

Also, here's a screenshot, I can't edit the original post so I'll put it here:

[renderhjs]

oh that was something I forgot:
some fonts have aliasing (looking like they are not propper embedded or marked as bitmap- font rendering) wich looks ugly on big fonts. Hmm. you seem to have edited that already o_O

oh and another visual nag
try avoiding components or at least the default ones- it doesn´t fit within plus writing once own text scroller isn´t that difficult- it´s like forgetting to embed fonts (and thus you see pixel Times New Roman on any other computer) imo.
Same goes for those buttons with green borders that´s just so macromedia stylish

some suggestion that came along:
- explosion particles once objects get shot or explore
- A frame around the flash Movie- something that makes the Flash Movie inside the page more solid- looks like pasted on a default white html page- might be caused because of the white background ? anyway it looks loose to me

[MJonesTT]

Thanks for the tips, the graphic design side is definitely my weak spot. I've never really been happy with the way the turret selectors at the bottom of the screen look. I wanted it to look kind of like a pacman board down there on the bottom left, then like warcraft in the map in the middle, and like MS Windows at the top but couldn't really figure out how to add a 'pacman' style to the tower selectors.

I'll experiment with adding borders and see if that tightens it up.

I was kind of going for a spartan, military/crazy feel with the graphics with the huge overbearing window titles and the little pawn-like creeps scurrying around. Because the game play depends on having a lot of unit motion and gun/bullet motion I tended to keep animations as absolutely simple as possible to get the most out of the action script CPU cycles.

I'll look at adding particles to the explosions and see if I can do it and without too much of a frame rate hit.

Thanks again!

[MJonesTT]

yep, for a game you're asking money for, the graphics have to be of a much higher standard than what you have here.

I especially think this is the case for any game as relatively complicated as this. You really do need pretty imagery to grab hold of your audience while you show them just how fun your game is.

You're probably right. Could you give some suggestions on what I can do to make the gun selector UI on the bottom left of the screen look better?

[DancingOctopus]

You're probably right. Could you give some suggestions on what I can do to make the gun selector UI on the bottom left of the screen look better?

I was thinking more the main play area.

Coloured circles roaming around around solid coloured tiles being shot at by block like cannons doesn't exactly make for an engaging experience. If visuals aren't your strong side I personally suggest either hiring an artist or teaming up with someone for a collaborative effort. Give us something more detailed, give us a theme.

As for your specific question, if you were to give the guns more detail, the UI would benefit immediately, I do however strongly advise against the use of gradient backgrounds in the gun upgrade window in the right hand side. .

[MJonesTT]

I see what you mean. Games like checkers or chess would probably not do very well now days if they were introduced for the first time since they don't have enough eye candy. I'll look at using a theme for the color scheme in order to make things more consistent but still making it so each gun appears to be distinct. Maybe something like how they did it for Darwinia:

http://www.darwinia.co.uk/screenshots/image18.jpg

Thanks very much for your ideas.

[swak]

I do enjoy playing your game but it just seems that I have to reliy too heviely on the walkthrough. Even then I couldn't beat the final round. Here's a pic.

[MJonesTT]

I do enjoy playing your game but it just seems that I have to reliy too heviely on the walkthrough. Even then I couldn't beat the final round. Here's a pic.

Thanks a lot! I was hoping to get feedback in the gameplay itself. To beat the last stage, unlock the atomic howizter when you have two million bucks and put it where the 16 incher is. The effect it has on creeps is dramatic

Would you like a free account on it so you have access to new maps when they're created?

[trogdor458]

since your game is just developing, graphics are nonessential, you want your game to still be enjoyable without relying heavily on graphics. however, it would appear to be just about the only thing to improve on, your gameplay is fairly nice, but the blocky graphics lead to a very blocky feel, which is not good...actually, the graphical quality is not neccesarily the cause of this "blocky" atmosphere, but perhaps you could have smoother movements? i dont like how the turrets *snap* into position. i know you should be able to code this in.

[swak]

Ah I didn't really get that far. I think that you could make a better walk-through. Make one in flash where it shows the order of operations and maybe the level that you do it on. If you can get me some picts that show the order exactly then I can make something for you. Something like this: First place this then this then unlock that. Something like that.

[MJonesTT]

since your game is just developing, graphics are nonessential, you want your game to still be enjoyable without relying heavily on graphics. however, it would appear to be just about the only thing to improve on, your gameplay is fairly nice, but the blocky graphics lead to a very blocky feel, which is not good...actually, the graphical quality is not neccesarily the cause of this "blocky" atmosphere, but perhaps you could have smoother movements? i dont like how the turrets *snap* into position. i know you should be able to code this in.

This is true. I wanted to have the turrets aim smoothly but it cuts down the framerate too far when they rotate every frame. I sort of wanted it to have a primitive kind of simplistic look to it and maybe the way to go about would be to redo the color scheme like they had it in games like Pacman where there weren't very many colors to work with. If it has a more classic arcade game look maybe it will give people an expectation of the limited performance in old arcade games because there really isn't much that can be done in actionscript before it starts to choke.

[MJonesTT]

Ah I didn't really get that far. I think that you could make a better walk-through. Make one in flash where it shows the order of operations and maybe the level that you do it on. If you can get me some picts that show the order exactly then I can make something for you. Something like this: First place this then this then unlock that. Something like that.

You have $5 million in your screen shot so you had the cash to get the atomic howizter. On the walkthrough, I'll look into expanding the info in it.

[swak]

Whoops, I didn't notice that I had 5 mil. hehe. I guess that I could have beaten it then. You could try formatting the numbers so that it is easier to tell. At that point it was late at night in my room and I had to have the light off so I guess that I wasn't seeing the screen as clearly.

[swak]

Ok, I beat it now. I think that it's funny that nothing survives on the left side of the screen with the atomic howizer. Even the turret right above the exit for the creep didn't survive.

[MJonesTT]

Ok, I beat it now. I think that it's funny that nothing survives on the left side of the screen with the atomic howizer. Even the turret right above the exit for the creep didn't survive.

Yeah! After having fended off the creeps the whole game I wanted to make it so you could exact your revenge on them, the atomic howizter represents the heavy handed 'tyranny' aspect of the game and just blasts them into submission.

How would you rate the game in terms of difficulty? When you were in the middle of the level did it seem like there was little chance that any creeps would get through or was it more that the creeps were always just barely on the brink of leaking but you were able to hold them off?