Toma
Rattata
Good day everyone,
recent news had me registering an account here, so I have my precious user name
Some of you might have seen me around for Indie game topics on other forums for the last 10 years and while enjoying Nintendo games and owning all Nintendo consoles since the OG gameboy, I rarely took part in the more Nintendo focussed discussions as they already seemed to get a ton of attention and focussed more on topics that I wanted to bring attention to. I'll use this thread as a careful foray to see if this type of content, or platform unspecific Indies in general is desired by this new community.
Over vacation I needed to desperately take my mind off one of some, though, so I looked for some games and genres that keep my brain soaked with pleasure and excitement, so I looked for a nice tower defense game to keep me addicted and not thinking as I havent played one in a while.
I stumbled over the recommendation of Dungeon Warfare on Switch, which I apparently already bought before, haha, and finally decided to give it a whirl:
Dungeon Warfare (7,99€ on Steam/Switch, 2,99€ on Mobile)
Okay, so I am just going to steal a Steam user impression I found for this: "Shockingly competent", which describes my overall feeling for Dungeon Warfare. It contains all the addictive genre basics: Upgradable towers, higher difficulty settings and a progression/campaign system.
Like if you wanted a classic Tower Defense game, this game hits all the right notes. The game does poorly on screenshots, but its immensely satisfying to observe during the gameplay. What put this game above the mid tier Tower Defense games in my opinion were a few smart design choices and focus points:
1. Map Design is simple, but rather fantastic for its purpose
I honestly forgot how important map design can be in these games, as most TD games just use the increasing amount of enemies/enemy abilities as their main focus point. Dungeon Warfare has some really cool ideas for its level design, which makes it more of a puzzle to figure out how to properly create a decent maze with the base setup or how to include level elements to their fullest potential. Its subtle, but that really made me excited to check out every new level.
2. An Adjustable difficulty setting that works
I am usually not a big fan of level modifiers as I never have much incentive to use them. You can add modifiers for increased enemy speed, health etc., which in turn raises a multiplier for the experience points you gain after finishing the level. Those levels directly affect the stats/upgrades you can put back into you towers, making it a very rewarding gameplay loop to find just the right difficulty level for your preferred playstyle and challenge. Other tower defense games do something similar, but what got me here was that using 4 multipliers on a level, unlocks the harder endless mode for each level, giving me a lot of incentive to play around with the most fitting multiplier setups and higher difficulties. Again, subtle but super neat approach.
3. The levelling system
I am not sure how much of it is just a neat illusion as I dont know if all people end up doing the same anyway, but you constantly get the ability to increase tower stats and upgrade levels, which was highly satisfying as I was able to decide on which towers to focus on for my preferred playstyle. Every upgrade felt like an impactful decision/development of my own capabilities.
4. Final Tower Upgrades with new abilities
I really like when tower upgrades dont just add numbers, but also offer choices for different gameplay styles/level approaches. Often I end up using the same tower upgrade for all purposes in other games, but once you unlock the final upgrade stage, all options are actually very handy for different map setups/gameplay styles. You could have a spike trap deal double damage for example at the end of a level as last resort, or have it spread some poison gas if you need it to the beginning of a stage and need to slowly whittle down enemies before the final kill setup. For every tower, you can only have one final upgrade on the map, but as these are so powerful, it makes it feel highly rewarding to plan your strategy around their capabilities.
Soooo tldr;
The game was surprisingly fun and I really enjoyed it even if it cant live up to the big series like Gemcraft. The game doesnt have any outstanding features/mechanisms and is rather low key with its looks, feature set and somewhat simple setup, but every system is finely tuned to give just the right sense of subtle enjoyment and satisfaction that it comes together as something much more enjoyable than the sum of its parts.
There are still many areas that it can expand on, so its a bit of a shame, the game never got a sequel to live up to its true potential... or did it now? INDIE GAME IMPRESSIONS TURNAROUND. Why yes, yes it did get a rather fantastic sequel. I might post them here as well if people are interested, as it unfortunately is unlikely to get to Switch and is stuck on mobile
recent news had me registering an account here, so I have my precious user name
Some of you might have seen me around for Indie game topics on other forums for the last 10 years and while enjoying Nintendo games and owning all Nintendo consoles since the OG gameboy, I rarely took part in the more Nintendo focussed discussions as they already seemed to get a ton of attention and focussed more on topics that I wanted to bring attention to. I'll use this thread as a careful foray to see if this type of content, or platform unspecific Indies in general is desired by this new community. Over vacation I needed to desperately take my mind off one of some, though, so I looked for some games and genres that keep my brain soaked with pleasure and excitement, so I looked for a nice tower defense game to keep me addicted and not thinking as I havent played one in a while.
I stumbled over the recommendation of Dungeon Warfare on Switch, which I apparently already bought before, haha, and finally decided to give it a whirl:
Dungeon Warfare (7,99€ on Steam/Switch, 2,99€ on Mobile)
Okay, so I am just going to steal a Steam user impression I found for this: "Shockingly competent", which describes my overall feeling for Dungeon Warfare. It contains all the addictive genre basics: Upgradable towers, higher difficulty settings and a progression/campaign system.
Like if you wanted a classic Tower Defense game, this game hits all the right notes. The game does poorly on screenshots, but its immensely satisfying to observe during the gameplay. What put this game above the mid tier Tower Defense games in my opinion were a few smart design choices and focus points:
1. Map Design is simple, but rather fantastic for its purpose
I honestly forgot how important map design can be in these games, as most TD games just use the increasing amount of enemies/enemy abilities as their main focus point. Dungeon Warfare has some really cool ideas for its level design, which makes it more of a puzzle to figure out how to properly create a decent maze with the base setup or how to include level elements to their fullest potential. Its subtle, but that really made me excited to check out every new level.
2. An Adjustable difficulty setting that works
I am usually not a big fan of level modifiers as I never have much incentive to use them. You can add modifiers for increased enemy speed, health etc., which in turn raises a multiplier for the experience points you gain after finishing the level. Those levels directly affect the stats/upgrades you can put back into you towers, making it a very rewarding gameplay loop to find just the right difficulty level for your preferred playstyle and challenge. Other tower defense games do something similar, but what got me here was that using 4 multipliers on a level, unlocks the harder endless mode for each level, giving me a lot of incentive to play around with the most fitting multiplier setups and higher difficulties. Again, subtle but super neat approach.
3. The levelling system
I am not sure how much of it is just a neat illusion as I dont know if all people end up doing the same anyway, but you constantly get the ability to increase tower stats and upgrade levels, which was highly satisfying as I was able to decide on which towers to focus on for my preferred playstyle. Every upgrade felt like an impactful decision/development of my own capabilities.
4. Final Tower Upgrades with new abilities
I really like when tower upgrades dont just add numbers, but also offer choices for different gameplay styles/level approaches. Often I end up using the same tower upgrade for all purposes in other games, but once you unlock the final upgrade stage, all options are actually very handy for different map setups/gameplay styles. You could have a spike trap deal double damage for example at the end of a level as last resort, or have it spread some poison gas if you need it to the beginning of a stage and need to slowly whittle down enemies before the final kill setup. For every tower, you can only have one final upgrade on the map, but as these are so powerful, it makes it feel highly rewarding to plan your strategy around their capabilities.
Soooo tldr;
The game was surprisingly fun and I really enjoyed it even if it cant live up to the big series like Gemcraft. The game doesnt have any outstanding features/mechanisms and is rather low key with its looks, feature set and somewhat simple setup, but every system is finely tuned to give just the right sense of subtle enjoyment and satisfaction that it comes together as something much more enjoyable than the sum of its parts.
There are still many areas that it can expand on, so its a bit of a shame, the game never got a sequel to live up to its true potential... or did it now? INDIE GAME IMPRESSIONS TURNAROUND. Why yes, yes it did get a rather fantastic sequel. I might post them here as well if people are interested, as it unfortunately is unlikely to get to Switch and is stuck on mobile
