Tower defense
Encyclopedia
Tower defense is a subgenre of real-time strategy
computer games.
The goal of tower defense games is to try to stop enemies from crossing a map by building towers which shoot at them as they pass. Enemies and towers usually have varied abilities, costs, and ability costs. When an enemy is defeated, the player earns money or points, which are used to buy or upgrade towers, or upgrade the number of money or points that are earned, or even upgrade the rate at which they upgrade.
The choice and positioning of the personal towers is the essential strategy of the game. Many games, such as Flash Element Tower Defense, feature enemies that run through a "maze", which allows the player to strategically place towers for optimal effectiveness. However, some versions of the genre force the user to create the maze out of their own towers, such as Desktop Tower Defense
. Some versions are a hybrid of these two types, with preset paths that can be modified to some extent by tower placement, or towers that can be modified by path placement.
released a game in 1983 that is today described as a "reverse tower defense" game, Bokosuka Wars
, wherein the player must storm an enemy castle, avoiding towers built to shoot at them as they pass, rather than defend it. Another prototypical example that same year was Koei's Hoi Hoi, a turn-based strategy
PC game
that involved defending confectionaries
from cockroaches, which was later remade as Stop That Roach! for the Game Boy
in 1994.
Another early prototypical tower defense game was the Atari Games
release Rampart
in 1990. Yet another early example of a tower defense game was Final Fantasy VII
s Fort Condor minigame in 1997. By 2000, maps for StarCraft
, Age of Empires II, and Warcraft III were following suit.
Eventually, independent
game developers
began using Adobe Flash
to make stand-alone tower defense browser game
s, which led to the release of Flash Element Tower Defense in January 2007 and then Desktop Tower Defense
in March of the same year. Desktop Tower Defense became immensely popular and earned an Independent Games Festival
award, and its success led to a version created for the mobile phone
by a different developer. Several other tower defense computer games
achieved a level of fame, including Protector, Immortal Defense, GemCraft
, and Plants vs. Zombies
.
By 2008, the genre's success led to tower defense games on video game console
s such as Defense Grid: The Awakening
on the PC
and Xbox 360
, and PixelJunk Monsters
and Savage Moon
for the PlayStation 3
. Tower defense games have also appeared on handheld game console
s such as Lock's Quest
and Ninjatown
on the Nintendo DS
, and there are dozens of games for the iPhone
/iPod Touch
and Android.
In November 2010, the genre was first brought to the blind gaming community with the release of Aprone's Towers of War.
Often an essential strategy is "mazing", which is the tactic of creating a long, winding path of towers to lengthen the distance the enemies must traverse to get past the defense. Sometimes "juggling" is possible by alternating between barricading an exit on one side and then the other side to cause the enemies to path back and forth until they are defeated.
The degree of the player's control (or lack thereof) in such games also varies from games where the player controls a unit within the game world, to games where the player has no direct control units at all.
It is a common theme in tower defense games to have air units which do not pass through the layout of the maze, but rather fly over the towers directly to the end destination.
Corporation was awarded the trademark for the term "Tower Defense", filed on June 13, 2007 - serial number 3442002. The corporation has been reported to start enforcing the trademark; specifically on the iPhone
/iPod Touch
platform as a number of small or independent developers are now receiving messages from Apple citing trademark violation.
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
computer games.
The goal of tower defense games is to try to stop enemies from crossing a map by building towers which shoot at them as they pass. Enemies and towers usually have varied abilities, costs, and ability costs. When an enemy is defeated, the player earns money or points, which are used to buy or upgrade towers, or upgrade the number of money or points that are earned, or even upgrade the rate at which they upgrade.
The choice and positioning of the personal towers is the essential strategy of the game. Many games, such as Flash Element Tower Defense, feature enemies that run through a "maze", which allows the player to strategically place towers for optimal effectiveness. However, some versions of the genre force the user to create the maze out of their own towers, such as Desktop Tower Defense
Desktop Tower Defense
Desktop Tower Defense is a Flash-based browser game of the tower defense game genre created by first-time game designer Paul Preece in March 2007. The game had been played over 15.7 million times as of July 2007, and was one of Webware 100's top ten entertainment web applications of 2007. DTD is...
. Some versions are a hybrid of these two types, with preset paths that can be modified to some extent by tower placement, or towers that can be modified by path placement.
History
Before tower defense games existed, ASCIIASCII (company)
was a publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. It became a subsidiary of Kadokawa Group Holdings in 2004, and merged with another Kadokawa subsidiary MediaWorks on April 1, 2008, and became ASCII Media Works. The company published Monthly ASCII as the main publication...
released a game in 1983 that is today described as a "reverse tower defense" game, Bokosuka Wars
Bokosuka Wars
is a 1983 action-strategy role-playing video game developed by Kōji Sumii and released by ASCII for the Sharp X1 computer, followed by ports to the MSX, FM-7, NEC PC-6001, NEC PC-8801 and NEC PC-9801 computer platforms, as well as an altered version released for the Nintendo Famicom console and...
, wherein the player must storm an enemy castle, avoiding towers built to shoot at them as they pass, rather than defend it. Another prototypical example that same year was Koei's Hoi Hoi, a turn-based strategy
Turn-based strategy
A turn-based strategy game is a strategy game where players take turns when playing...
PC game
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
that involved defending confectionaries
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
from cockroaches, which was later remade as Stop That Roach! for the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
in 1994.
Another early prototypical tower defense game was the Atari Games
Atari Games
Atari Games Corporation was an American producer of arcade games, and originally part of Atari, Inc..-History:When, in 1984, Warner Communications sold the Atari Consumer division of Atari Inc...
release Rampart
Rampart (arcade game)
Rampart is an arcade game, released in 1990 by Atari Games, that combines the shoot 'em up and puzzle genres. It is widely-ported, with versions for most contemporary systems.-Overview:...
in 1990. Yet another early example of a tower defense game was Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy VII
is a role-playing video game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was originally released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation and was re-released in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers and in 2009...
s Fort Condor minigame in 1997. By 2000, maps for StarCraft
StarCraft
StarCraft is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The first game of the StarCraft series was released for Microsoft Windows on 31 March 1998. With more than 11 million copies sold worldwide as of February 2009, it is one of the best-selling...
, Age of Empires II, and Warcraft III were following suit.
Eventually, independent
Independent video game development
Independent video game development is the process of creating video games without the financial support of a video game publisher. While large firms can create independent games, they are usually designed by an individual or a small team of as many as ten people, depending on the complexity of the...
game developers
Video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Sony's PlayStation 3, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Most developers also...
began using Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
to make stand-alone tower defense browser game
Browser game
A browser game is a computer game that is played over the Internet using a web browser. Browser games can be created and run using standard web technologies or browser plug-ins. Browser games include all video game genres and can be single-player or multiplayer...
s, which led to the release of Flash Element Tower Defense in January 2007 and then Desktop Tower Defense
Desktop Tower Defense
Desktop Tower Defense is a Flash-based browser game of the tower defense game genre created by first-time game designer Paul Preece in March 2007. The game had been played over 15.7 million times as of July 2007, and was one of Webware 100's top ten entertainment web applications of 2007. DTD is...
in March of the same year. Desktop Tower Defense became immensely popular and earned an Independent Games Festival
Independent Games Festival
The Independent Games Festival is an annual festival at the Game Developers Conference, the largest annual gathering of the indie video game industry. It was founded in 1998 to assist and inspire innovation in video game development and to recognize the best independent video game developers...
award, and its success led to a version created for the mobile phone
Mobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
by a different developer. Several other tower defense computer games
Computer Games
"Computer Games" is a single by New Zealand group, Mi-Sex released in 1979 in Australia and New Zealand and in 1981 throughout Europe. It was the single that launched the band, and was hugely popular, particularly in Australia and New Zealand...
achieved a level of fame, including Protector, Immortal Defense, GemCraft
GemCraft
GemCraft is a tower defense flash game created by Game In A Bottle. Originally released June 26, 2008, a prequel, GemCraft Chapter 0: Gem of Eternity, was released April 16, 2009, and a sequel, GemCraft lost chapter: Labyrinth, was released February 17, 2011...
, and Plants vs. Zombies
Plants vs. Zombies
Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense action video game developed and originally published by PopCap Games for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The game involves a homeowner using many varieties of plants to repel an army of zombies from "eating their brains". It was first released on May 5, 2009,...
.
By 2008, the genre's success led to tower defense games on video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
s such as Defense Grid: The Awakening
Defense Grid: The Awakening
Defense Grid: The Awakening is a tower defense video game developed by Hidden Path Entertainment for Windows and Xbox Live Arcade on the Xbox 360. The game was one of the titles promoted by Microsoft during their Game Developers Conference keynote speech on February 20, 2008...
on the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, and PixelJunk Monsters
PixelJunk Monsters
PixelJunk Monsters is a game developed by Q-Games for the PlayStation 3. It was released worldwide on the PlayStation Store on January 24, 2008...
and Savage Moon
Savage Moon
Savage Moon is a PlayStation 3 and PSP tower defense strategy game which sees the player protecting a remote, off-world mining facility from constant attack by Insectocytes, a type of carnivorous creature inhabiting the planets. The mission is to strategically place an array of upgradeable,...
for the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. Tower defense games have also appeared on handheld game console
Handheld game console
A handheld game console is a lightweight, portable electronic device with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are run on machines of small size allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place...
s such as Lock's Quest
Lock's Quest
Lock's Quest is a real-time strategy video game developed by 5th Cell and published by THQ. This is 5th Cell's second Nintendo DS game. It was released in North America on September 8, 2008, in Europe on September 26, 2008 and in Australia on September 25, 2008.-Gameplay:Lock's Quest is a real-time...
and Ninjatown
Ninjatown
Ninjatown is a tower defense strategy video game on the Nintendo DS that was released on October 28, 2008.-Plot:Ninjatown is a peaceful place populated by ninjas. But after a volcanic eruption, Ninjatown gets invaded by enemies and their leader, Mr...
on the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
, and there are dozens of games for the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
/iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
and Android.
In November 2010, the genre was first brought to the blind gaming community with the release of Aprone's Towers of War.
Gameplay
Tower defense games are characterised by the positioning of static units by the player to defend against mobile enemy units who are trying to get from a start point to an end point. There is a set number of enemy units (or 'damage' the player can take from units reaching the end point) who can reach the end point before the level is lost. Some games use a static route that the enemy units follow around which the player places their towers, while others favour a free-form environment that allows the user to define the path the enemy units take. Some games use a mixture of both. Most games allow the upgrading of the player's towers.Often an essential strategy is "mazing", which is the tactic of creating a long, winding path of towers to lengthen the distance the enemies must traverse to get past the defense. Sometimes "juggling" is possible by alternating between barricading an exit on one side and then the other side to cause the enemies to path back and forth until they are defeated.
The degree of the player's control (or lack thereof) in such games also varies from games where the player controls a unit within the game world, to games where the player has no direct control units at all.
It is a common theme in tower defense games to have air units which do not pass through the layout of the maze, but rather fly over the towers directly to the end destination.
USPTO trademark
On June 3, 2008 - COM2USCom2uS
Com2uS is a South Korean mobile and online game development/ publishing company. Established in 1998, the company has its reputation of being the No. 1 mobile games provider in Korea....
Corporation was awarded the trademark for the term "Tower Defense", filed on June 13, 2007 - serial number 3442002. The corporation has been reported to start enforcing the trademark; specifically on the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
/iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
platform as a number of small or independent developers are now receiving messages from Apple citing trademark violation.