Most desired features

[PolarisOrbit]

What are your most desired features for Defense Grid?

I'll start.

1) Improved Interface
Selecting a map and game mode takes too many clicks. Even moreso when you're looking for the corresponding leaderboard. It would be so much better if this were designed as 2 comboboxes (or listboxes): one for game mode, one for map choice. Selections in one would repopulate the other with matching options. There are two advantages: it would take less time to select the desired mode (particularly for leaderboards) and it would also let me browse by both gamemode and map, instead of the current setup where I can only browse by map.

2) Better Tower Balance
In general, there are two problems to address here: not all towers serve a purpose (tesla and laser) and the cost difference is too great between tower types. Tower costs are important because- in the most extreme example- grinder modes you have plenty of cash and just want to maximize damage. This is done by investing the most possible money into each tile, which is done by buying the more expensive towers.
Given a particular maze layout, the only optimization left is to maximize killzone performance. Thus you invest money in the killzones, but when there is a way to invest more money, it is generally better than investing less. I believe this is the core of DGrid's balance problems. For example, this is why the cannon is overpowered.

There's my desired features, how bout you guys?

[54x]

Tesla and laser towers serve a purpose, they're just less straightforward.

Lasers are, essentially, for boss aliens, especially Rumblers and Crashers. They heat up single aliens much faster than inferno towers.

Tesla towers are really hard to use, but they're for hitting a few strays. They work great at the end of your maze, or by the cores. Teslas are like guns too, in that they scale in more than one way when they upgrade. At level three, its chaining effect can hit up to 6 aliens, and it does wicked damage to the first thing it hits after it's fully charged.

(Edit: to clarify, the way guns scale is the extra range boost on level 2 towers. The way teslas scale is that they gain additional "charge-up" levels as well as each level increasing in damage as the tower upgrades. The more times the tesla tower has charged up, the more it hits the first target for, and the more targets it chains to.)

[leobox1]

multiplayer!!!!

[ThanatoZ]

I thought the interface for this game was pretty smooth. Integrating keyboard commands more into the menu might be nice, but otherwise no complaints.

multiplayer!!!!

Doesn't really make sense to me. Sounds like an entirely different game, actually. When I've played "team" tower defense on Starcraft etc. it's gone downhill quickly. I'm happy with just a well-balanced single player version

[iansmith]

A fast forward toggle!

Often when playing grinder levels I put something heavy on my F key so I don't have to hold it down for 10 minutes straight!

How about a leaderboard view that shows me ALL the levels and gamemodes I have scores on and my rank. If I want to see if I have a good score now I have to click through them all one by one with a long delay while each loads. Of course, exposing the data somewhere so I could do custom queries would be nice too... :-)

[Spidery_Yoda]

A long list of all the levels, with my score/rank next to them would be a huge improvement.

A list of levels that I can click on and instantly start playing that is.

[Humphrey10]

A fast forward toggle!

Often when playing grinder levels I put something heavy on my F key so I don't have to hold it down for 10 minutes straight!
If you hold down F then click on a tower to open the tower menu, you can then let go of F and it will stay in fast forward until you close the tower menu.

[hiclass]

If you hold down F then click on a tower to open the tower menu, you can then let go of F and it will stay in fast forward until you close the tower menu.

Haha! That should be a bug rather than a feature. The menu is blocking portion of the screen anyway.

[iansmith]

If you hold down F then click on a tower to open the tower menu, you can then let go of F and it will stay in fast forward until you close the tower menu.

Didn't know that. Not terribly useful though as I like to be able to do things while in fast forward. Upgrade and place towers, zoom and pan about, ect.

[Humphrey10]

Yes it's not as good as a fast forward toggle.

I've thought of a feature I'd like, some kind of manual targeting. Like 'Focus Fire' in Sol Survivor :) It's irritating when there is a crusher and then loads of the little fast ones come past, all the towers focus on the little ones because they overtake the crusher. I'd rather all the towers focused on the crusher, as the little ones will be killed further on in the maze.

[Mobious918]

1) Improved Interface
I agree w/ this, which I think a lot of people mistook as reference to the in-game UI while you're playing (gg for those who don't actually read people's posts :P). The menu is very very cumbersome and finding the leader boards for specific maps/modes takes a very long time (which is why I never do it actually).

2) Better Tower Balance
This one I have to disagree on; somewhere on the Hidden Path main website is a development blog about how they came about designing the whole combat system. To sum it up, they made the gun tower first, figured out the damage-per-capita amount, so to speak, and based all the other towers off that.

Basically, each tower does a certain amount of overall damage based purely off its cost, which is why if you ever use a meteor or concussion tower you get what you pay for (assuming you position it correctly :P). And each tower has a purpose, its just not blatantly obvious; experiment around a bit in practice mode and you'll find out how awesome the lasers and teslas actually are ;D

As for grinder mode, investing the most resources into each square isn't how you get top score my friend. Finding the cheapest setup that gets the job done and spending as little money as possible to get the maximum amount of interest every second is how its done.

Because of how long grinder mode lasts, top scores end up becoming all about interest building b/c the amount of resources you'll harvest from all the walkers is already predetermined, so your job in the end is simply harvest those resources and make interest off of them. Even spending 100 resources on a gun tower you don't really need could translate to a large loss of resources by the time you reach the end.

[hiclass]

As for grinder mode, investing the most resources into each square isn't how you get top score my friend. Finding the cheapest setup that gets the job done and spending as little money as possible to get the maximum amount of interest every second is how its done.

Because of how long grinder mode lasts, top scores end up becoming all about interest building b/c the amount of resources you'll harvest from all the walkers is already predetermined, so your job in the end is simply harvest those resources and make interest off of them. Even spending 100 resources on a gun tower you don't really need could translate to a large loss of resources by the time you reach the end.

In brief, it is all about building and upgrading the minimum required towers as late as possible.

[moondog548]

Level editor, yo!:eek:

[N1claus]

I wholeheartedly agree with the need to improve the menu interface. Navigating to the desired map and game mode can be a chore right now.

Not so sure about tower rebalancing. Not every tower is absolutely needed to beat any one map, but there are different tactics possible in each one that can use any tower. I made heavy use of lasers, and barely even touched the cannons that most people swear by.

Viable tactics and towers are more limited if you are aiming for the top of the leaderboards, but I don't think that the whole game should be balanced around that.

[Destructo-Bot]

When you've got towers that CAN NOT affect every enemy (lasers vs. shields and flyers) for example, and towers that CAN (Guns and Cannons), if the ones that can attack all are even remotely as powerful as the ones that can't it means that they'll output FAR more damage in total since everything takes damage from those towers.

ON TOP OF THAT!... Lasers do not even stack completely! If you've got TWO lasers firing one ONE enemy they are NOT doing 2x damage, but GUNS and CANNONS will do 2x!

That is why guns and cannons are so ludicrously overpowered compared to the rest. If there is a problem in Defense Grid, Guns and Cannons are the solution with rare exception. They are TOO cost effective, TOO powerful, and too Wide of an Area of Effect for the investment compared to other towers. It's very rare that you'll need any other tower, and usually not more than a single other (damage dealing) type even.

[54x]

Trying to beat every map with just guns is certainly going to give you trouble on the harder maps. Even guns + cannons are going to give you difficulties.

Just because they're versatile does not mean they're overpowered.

[Destructo-Bot]

Yes, on rare occasion you can use a single Missile or Inferno for better effect. You almost never should use two. Try playing a round with only one gun and one cannon. Concs, lasers, and teslas are completely unnecessary in the standard modes. Missiles and infernos can be optional. Guns and cannons are practically required.

[54x]

Yes, on rare occasion you can use a single Missile or Inferno for better effect. You almost never should use two. Try playing a round with only one gun and one cannon. Concs, lasers, and teslas are completely unnecessary in the standard modes. Missiles and infernos can be optional. Guns and cannons are practically required.

The only tower that I've found ineffective to double up on is the laser tower, and that's because there's almost always a good inferno spot that makes it unnecessary.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any level lacking a good inferno spot, although some of them lose theirs on the reversed mode.

[bstard]

@Multiplayer:
Doesn't really make sense to me. Sounds like an entirely different game, actually. When I've played "team" tower defense on Starcraft etc. it's gone downhill quickly. I'm happy with just a well-balanced single player version

Try this Warcraft3 mod someday: http://www.eletd.com/ to see what a multiplayer Towerdefense can do :)

[Destructo-Bot]

I'd like to see a screenshot function that captures the entire grid, rather than simply what is on screen. Taken at a higher resolution than the game is running (this is possible, the Unreal engine can output screenshots at a higher res than what the game is running)

That way people that run low res can still take useful screenshots.

[Spidery_Yoda]

I'd like to see a screenshot function that captures the entire grid, rather than simply what is on screen. Taken at a higher resolution than the game is running (this is possible, the Unreal engine can output screenshots at a higher res than what the game is running)

That way people that run low res can still take useful screenshots.

FYI the game doesn't run on the Unreal Engine. It runs on the Gamebryo engine (Oblivion, Fallout 3).

But yes that functionality would be wonderful. The entire map and with no UI stuff in the way.

[Destructo-Bot]

I know it doesn't use Unreal, I was simply pointing out that it is possible for a game engine to do so and gave an example.

[gman57]

Would love some tools/level editor so the community can make up some funky maps as well :cool:

[PolarisOrbit]

Yes, on rare occasion you can use a single Missile or Inferno for better effect. You almost never should use two. Try playing a round with only one gun and one cannon. Concs, lasers, and teslas are completely unnecessary in the standard modes. Missiles and infernos can be optional. Guns and cannons are practically required.

Yes, I think you hit the nail on the head. One thing I would like to add to what you already said is that guns are the only tower that are practical for mazing purposes because they cost 100 and the next two cheapest towers cost 150 and 200.

[daniboy_999]

steam cloud support would be nice, since I play on my computer and my notebook

[Caprishia]

Alot of good suggestions in this thread. A thing though of personal preference I really would like to see implemented in this game are a "survival" mode you cant beat!

The maps that already have support for grind and supergrind mode could have a feature that gives the player the option to see how many waves he can survive before he must give up for the alien forces.

Otherwise kudos and kudos for a really really nice game :)

[pobst]

While I can't give you the screenshot feature right now, I can give you links to full map views of the first two DG:Resurgence maps.

Service Interruption: http://defensegrid.hiddenpath.com/image/view/996/_original

Height of Confusion: http://defensegrid.hiddenpath.com/image/view/997/_original

Jeff

[hiclass]

Alot of good suggestions in this thread. A thing though of personal preference I really would like to see implemented in this game are a "survival" mode you cant beat!

The maps that already have support for grind and supergrind mode could have a feature that gives the player the option to see how many waves he can survive before he must give up for the alien forces.

Otherwise kudos and kudos for a really really nice game :)
I suppose a survival mode not only should be endless waves but should also throw player more and more, tougher and tougher, bigger and bigger wave of aliens... well with the orbit laser charge up quicker and after the no 100th waves, you can further upgrade your tower to level 4 which double the gunpower of level 3...

My blood is boiling!!! Yes!Yes! Give us survival mode.

[bigtabs]

When navigating between maps if I am looking at Challenge mode, I want the menu to already be at challenge mode when I go to the next or previous map. I realise that not all maps have the same modes, but a simple

if (last highlighted mode exists for this map)
{
current highlighted mode = last highlighted mode
} else {
current mode = default
}

should do it.

Cheers!

[bigtabs]

The leaderboard could be better navigated. I'd like to have a single page with all my rankings on it. Each map could have a collapsable section containing all the modes. If possible, with recent movements displayed.

I would happily pay for this as optional DLC. I expect many people don't care about rankings, but then I bet quite a few do. It would perhaps be useful information for you guys to find that out for your next project? With decent tracking features I would happily pay £3 for it.

As it stands, keeping track of my rankings is quite a chore. I have no idea if I've gone down a few places on any particular map/mode without trawling through each one individually.

[Caprishia]

I suppose a survival mode not only should be endless waves but should also throw player more and more, tougher and tougher, bigger and bigger wave of aliens... well with the orbit laser charge up quicker and after the no 100th waves, you can further upgrade your tower to level 4 which double the gunpower of level 3...

My blood is boiling!!! Yes!Yes! Give us survival mode.

Ohhh yes ! sounds great - lets dream !! :D

[Mobious918]

Personally, I'd love to see key'd map sections. It would take up so much system resources, but imagine you have a randomly generated map (something like the size of Forge for Borderlands) and once you reach a certain wave another section of the map opens up and more aliens start pouring in from that section as well. Now you have to reroute your original maze to allow the extra aliens into the kill-zones as well.

Random key'd maps have been discussed in the past but I don't really see it becoming a reality, but would be wicked cool IMO :)

[jacobvandy]

I want a wall tower. A short, plain-looking thing that does nothing but put up the laser fence around it. It has to be cheap (possibly reselling for full price) and it can't block other towers' line of sight.

[PolarisOrbit]

I thought of some more things (all related to the recon display at the top of the map):

1) Mark when checkpoints saves are going to occur on the recon display
Have you ever been frustrated by making a risky purchase and then the checkpoint save occurs immediately AFTER you click the button? Well, that could be eliminated by just telling you when the checkpoint saves are coming up.

2) Mark when the laser is going to finish recharging on recon display
I admit it's a pretty minor feature that would rarely do much useful, but it would still be nice to have

3) Mark when the interest is going to stop coming in (at the end of the map) on the recon display
I saw a topic where someone was asking why they stopped getting interest after a while and just thought questions like that might be answered if the game directly told you what was going on

[Destructo-Bot]

Good suggestions Polaris!

[theescapeclause]

1. Steam Cloud support
2. Mac version (I've heard this is on the way)
3. iOS version (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)
3. Maybe some new tower designs?
4. A fast forward toggle or at least a way to make it FF faster.

[Mobious918]

1. Steam Cloud support
2. Mac version (I've heard this is on the way)
3. iOS version (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)
3. Maybe some new tower designs?
4. A fast forward toggle or at least a way to make it FF faster.
Listed 3 twice btw :P But to add to 3 (the first one) Android version as well if you ever plan on going mobile :D

[Destructo-Bot]

Oh yes, a practice mode for ALL maps that is NOT LOCKED if the story map is not yet beaten. Keep the other modes locked, but there should be a practice mode available (does not count towards master strategist?) for all maps that can be loaded as long as the previous map has been beaten. (so people can't skip ahead to the last level if they just started.)

[theescapeclause]

Listed 3 twice btw :P But to add to 3 (the first one) Android version as well if you ever plan on going mobile :D

Lol, I'm an idiot. And yes, an Android version would rule. As an Android user myself I can't believe I left that out.

[ratmanscoop]

disagree with having all maps unlocked for practice at the start. There's little to reward progress as it is given how long ago I finished the story versus how long I've spent working through to finally get master strategist. Spoiling all the levels that have yet to come at the beginning removes all of the rewards for doing it. Personally I think they should add even more of a block - you progress through the story campaign, but unlock extra maps for beating them on story challenge, or whatever.
I agree with the UI changes. Laser cooldown yes, Checkpoint marker in the wave display yes, and really, a proper wave indicator display (I mentioned this in another thread) - if there are 20 swarmers coming in four packs, each covered by a spire and a decoy, then say so, don't just have the icons for 5 packs of swarmers!

Level 4 towers are an interesting concept, I wonder if perhaps you could let sufficient resources build up to have to 'buy' their use? Say for example you had to acquire 3000 surplus resources before you were allowed to build a tech 4 cannon tower for the first time?
In addition, there should be some ability to build fully leveled towers in one go. It's tedious to have to wait for them to build first, especially since you can't queue it up whilst they're building.

Something very quick they could do with the first game - have a retry system for the score board please? Internet connection drop while you're playing/submitting the score means the score is never uploaded, and you need to play again to get the score and appropriate achievements!

Oh yeah and +1 to whoever suggested a toggle for fast forward. Grinder mode makes my F key finger hurt!

[hiclass]

Something very quick they could do with the first game - have a retry system for the score board please? Internet connection drop while you're playing/submitting the score means the score is never uploaded, and you need to play again to get the score and appropriate achievements!



Good point!
It would be better still if there is an option to trigger a revise of achievements gain status based on one's score for each played level as recorded at the server.
I really pity those who need to replay some levels due to reinstallation of the game (for the sake of certain achivement, of course)

[Destructo-Bot]

disagree with having all maps unlocked for practice at the start. There's little to reward progress as it is given how long ago I finished the story versus how long I've spent working through to finally get master strategist. Spoiling all the levels that have yet to come at the beginning removes all of the rewards for doing it.

You didn't bother reading my whole post. The practice is only unlocked if the PRIOR level has been beaten. A new defense grid player would not be able to arbitrarily load any map for practice, they have to beat the level before to get the next level's practice mode unlocked.

[ratmanscoop]

Ohh I see, you meant unlock Practice as well as story, but not story challenge/grinder etc. I understand now. Yeah, that makes decent sense I suppose, though I imagine part of the way the game is designed is having to figure out what to build where, whilst being under pressure from resources, as opposed to mapping out your strategy then finding the best order to do it. Probably mixed opinions on that one.

[Mobious918]

Level 4 towers are an interesting concept, I wonder if perhaps you could let sufficient resources build up to have to 'buy' their use? Say for example you had to acquire 3000 surplus resources before you were allowed to build a tech 4 cannon tower for the first time?
Since the towers are all balanced around how much damage/effect they give per unit of resources used to build them the level 4 towers kinda already have no home, unless they continue with how they introduced level 3 towers and make all new maps designed to accommodate them rather than just enabling them for all the current maps, they would just be too overpowered IMO.

In addition, there should be some ability to build fully leveled towers in one go. It's tedious to have to wait for them to build first, especially since you can't queue it up whilst they're building.
Well having to wait is half the point; just because you have 700 resources at the beginning of the map doesn't mean the devs wanted people to be able to instantly have a level 3 gun tower right at the entrance to tear through the first few waves solo. Also makes it so you have to time when you upgrade just right so you don't end up having vital towers inactive due to an upgrade when they're needed most.

[ratmanscoop]

I'm not saying remove the time it takes to build/upgrade the tower, I was merely suggesting that rather than have to wait for the build/upgrade to finish then click on the tower again, you could queue it up.

[scottmcg]

I would like to be able to set tower target priorites. That is, I could tell a tower to attack the strongest, fastest, closest etc. to it. I have seen this on other games like this. Adds a nice extra layer of strategy.

Also, would like to see stats for individual towers so I know which ones have racked up the most kills.

[Haas82]

As for the stats maybe a more visible damage. Like gibs flying around and stuff :)

[fortunz]

I would like to be able to set tower target priorites. That is, I could tell a tower to attack the strongest, fastest, closest etc. to it. I have seen this on other games like this. Adds a nice extra layer of strategy.


Yeah, I really hate it when a meteor tower is slamming individuals when there's a huge grouping on the map. I'd use them and flame towers more if they were better at targeting/I could adjust their targeting some.

[hiclass]

Yeah, I really hate it when a meteor tower is slamming individuals when there's a huge grouping on the map. I'd use them and flame towers more if they were better at targeting/I could adjust their targeting some.

I notice that tower has highest priority in targeting speedy alien. If all aliens are at the same speed, higher priority is to target the leading alien. This priority formula seems OK for gun or canon. But for inferno and meteor, I think DG need to have a smarter way... The worst case is when a laser targets shield alien just because it is faster than other aliens within range or it is leading alien.

[Verbal1970]

I really like the ideas of endless grinder and endless super grinder modes with ever increasing difficulty as you progress. Also, the idea of upgrades past level 3 would be awesome for modes like this.

Still, I think the best of all the desired features has to be a level editor. Allowing the community to create their own levels using existing game modes and share their creations with all the other players would give this game endless re-playability. You could make the editor available as DLC for a nominal fee and make it so that only other players who have bought the editor can play those user created levels. That way it would be a win win. Hidden Path Entertainment would find a new revenue stream from this game and us gamers would get the toy we want to give this game endless re-playability.

[Verbal1970]

I would like to be able to set tower target priorites. That is, I could tell a tower to attack the strongest, fastest, closest etc. to it. I have seen this on other games like this. Adds a nice extra layer of strategy.

Also, would like to see stats for individual towers so I know which ones have racked up the most kills.
Great ideas

[hiclass]

I would like to be able to set tower target priorites. That is, I could tell a tower to attack the strongest, fastest, closest etc. to it.

I doubt you will have time to set those priority... I mean it won't be practically useful. At critical point of time, facing huge number of all type of aliens, there is no such thing as better targeting strategy.

My suggestion is, under real panic situation, I can right-click an alien (among those who are really threatening), that mark it the primary target of all towers... this at least will be interesting. Many time, I really hate certain alien in my maze while towers are simply against my wish, they instead pay more attention to other aliens...

[fortunz]

I doubt you will have time to set those priority... I mean it won't be practically useful. At critical point of time, facing huge number of all type of aliens, there is no such thing as better targeting strategy.


This isn't exactly the most user-action intensive game in the world. There's more waiting than anything, and usually when the huge blocks of aliens are coming, you're already as ready for them as you're going to be. I don't know about you but I have lots of free time to scream at my towers for their bad targeting, especially flames and meteors; time that could easily be tasked to altering their priorities.

[hiclass]

This isn't exactly the most user-action intensive game in the world. There's more waiting than anything, and usually when the huge blocks of aliens are coming, you're already as ready for them as you're going to be. I don't know about you but I have lots of free time to scream at my towers for their bad targeting, especially flames and meteors; time that could easily be tasked to altering their priorities.

Even you have enough time to set the priority, but in huge map, there are so many towers. You might end up setting some towers priority suitable for first few waves of aliens and your settings might need to change for the rest of incoming waves... what if you forget what are the towers you have changed earlier and need to change again now? (remember in huge map, particularly when it is "Green towers only" mode, you normally have a lot of towers)

My priority in requesting imrpovement in this issue is:
1. Make the towers really smart in selecting alien to shoot
2. Let player mark certain aliens to be primary target (irregardless of what and which tower). When the alien is died, you may further select some others...
3. Set tower targeting priority as you have suggested.

Btw,
I really wish this thread be made 'sticky' and I am keen to know what is the developer's tought about many of the suggestion herein...

[DustyShelves]

Rather than have the player manually target aliens or constantly mark priority targets, I’d rather have the ability to select a targeting scheme from a short list of possibilities when building the tower. For example, when you build a meteor tower, you select from a list of possible targeting schemes, such as:

1) First Alien
2) Fastest Alien
3) Strongest Alien
4) Largest Group

If the player selects 1) First Alien, then the meteor tower automatically targets the alien in range which is closest to the map exit.

If the player selects 2) Fastest Alien, then the meteor tower targets the fastest alien in range. If all the aliens in range are the same speed, then the tower targets the first alien in range.

If the player selects 3) Strongest Alien, then the tower targets the strongest alien in range. If all the aliens in range are of the same type, the tower targets the first alien in range.

If the player selects 4) Largest Group, then the tower targets the largest grouping of aliens in range. If there are no groups in range, the tower targets the first alien in range.

Hidden Path could, if desired, devise even more complicated schemes, such as allowing the player to specify multiple ordered priorities instead of simply a primary (First / Fastest / Strongest / Largest) and a default fallback (First). Also, there are certainly other possible targeting priorities which could be possible, such as targeting the alien with most / least remaining hit points. And being able to alter the targeting priorities of an already-built tower would certainly be nice...

But anyway, I’d be happy with something like the above for the various offensive towers...it would at least allow a little more player control and stop those frustrating situations where, for example, meteor towers fire on individual aliens while enormous groups are ignored, or laser towers fire on various wimpy aliens and ignore powerful boss aliens (especially ones susceptible to laser fire). It would also allow the player to build towers with more specific player-assigned roles, such as towers intended primarily to deal out damage to boss aliens, or to large groups, etc., without making the player have to continuously micro-manage all the towers in play and turn DG into a RTS game.

[hiclass]

Rather than have the player manually target aliens or constantly mark priority targets, I’d rather have the ability to select a targeting scheme from a short list of possibilities when building the tower.

As I said, this only sounds useful than it actually will be.
In your case, you will need to constantly change tower scheme and it can easily become something unmanagable when the number of towers you have a specific scheme set increased.

I can imagine you smash on your monitor and shout "Ah, sh...t, I forget to switch that red laser to target fast alien" when you loss one core to a fast alien... hehehe!:D

[DustyShelves]

As I said, this only sounds useful than it actually will be.
In your case, you will need to constantly change tower scheme and it can easily become something unmanagable when the number of towers you have a specific scheme set increased.

Having towers with different targeting priorities does not necessitate constantly changing those priorities any more than having different tower types necessitates constant changing of towers. We already have towers with different strengths and weaknesses...you don't simply build one tower type, you build a variety of towers and have them work together. Likewise, you’d have some towers set to different targeting priorities all working together. You might want to change some of those priorities occasionally, just like you might occasionally want to sell a few towers and replace them with something else, but I doubt you’d do it "constantly."

I can imagine you smash on your monitor and shout "Ah, sh...t, I forget to switch that red laser to target fast alien" when you loss one core to a fast alien... hehehe!:D

And right now people get frustrated when they lose a whole bunch of cores because their meteor towers are firing on individual aliens and ignoring large groups. There isn't one targeting scheme that is going to work all the time...right now, the target-the-fastest-alien scheme that most towers seem to use is sometimes the best one and sometimes clearly inferior. Therefore, I fail to see your point...arguing "But what if a fast alien escapes cuz your tower is set to Group LOL!" totally ignores the current reality, which is "What if a large group escapes because your tower is set to target fast individuals?" Your argument only makes sense if the current default targeting scheme is always the best one, and clearly it isn't. Giving the player some say in the matter is going to be better overall than a one-size-fits-all approach...the player can chose both a variety of towers AND a variety of targeting schemes that suit their strategy and playing style.

Besides, if having a few extra choices is upsetting to you, you could simply leave all your towers in DG2 set to "Fast Alien"...just like they are now...and apparently you'll be very happy. Others might actually prefer to have a few additional options available to them.

[Verbal1970]

Rather than have the player manually target aliens or constantly mark priority targets, I’d rather have the ability to select a targeting scheme from a short list of possibilities when building the tower. For example, when you build a meteor tower, you select from a list of possible targeting schemes, such as:

1) First Alien
2) Fastest Alien
3) Strongest Alien
4) Largest Group

If the player selects 1) First Alien, then the meteor tower automatically targets the alien in range which is closest to the map exit.

If the player selects 2) Fastest Alien, then the meteor tower targets the fastest alien in range. If all the aliens in range are the same speed, then the tower targets the first alien in range.

If the player selects 3) Strongest Alien, then the tower targets the strongest alien in range. If all the aliens in range are of the same type, the tower targets the first alien in range.

If the player selects 4) Largest Group, then the tower targets the largest grouping of aliens in range. If there are no groups in range, the tower targets the first alien in range.

Hidden Path could, if desired, devise even more complicated schemes, such as allowing the player to specify multiple ordered priorities instead of simply a primary (First / Fastest / Strongest / Largest) and a default fallback (First). Also, there are certainly other possible targeting priorities which could be possible, such as targeting the alien with most / least remaining hit points. And being able to alter the targeting priorities of an already-built tower would certainly be nice...

But anyway, I’d be happy with something like the above for the various offensive towers...it would at least allow a little more player control and stop those frustrating situations where, for example, meteor towers fire on individual aliens while enormous groups are ignored, or laser towers fire on various wimpy aliens and ignore powerful boss aliens (especially ones susceptible to laser fire). It would also allow the player to build towers with more specific player-assigned roles, such as towers intended primarily to deal out damage to boss aliens, or to large groups, etc., without making the player have to continuously micro-manage all the towers in play and turn DG into a RTS game.

If Bloons Tower Defense 4 (a flash TD game) can have user controlled basic priority settings, surely Defense Grid can do it too. I like your idea for how to set it up.

[hiclass]

And right now people get frustrated when they lose a whole bunch of cores because their meteor towers are firing on individual aliens and ignoring large groups.

And even worst when you have a RED laser keep shooting at a tiny, fast and shield alien.
Both of them, I mean the meteor and laser cases, they are bugs that should be rectified and I will never relate them to something like give user ability to change targeting priority.

For the case of meteor as you have descibed, targeting the center of an alien group should be its only priority ... I mean set straight by the developer. The samething should also applied to inferno.

As a matter of facts, if you observe closely, you should see that a canon does not always target the fastest alien. Sometime when the fatest is too close (which means a short wait must be taken before the canon can actually shoot it), it will instead shoot a slower one immediately. I mean some basic smartness should also be made to laser and meteor. (and it shouldn't be something that you and I need to set)

Hence, my first prioty request is to make the above minimum intellegence available to laser and meteor then only we talk about more complex situation like when you face a big boss and small group of fast aliens at the sametime. Choosing which to target first should be more effective then setting one by one of the towers as how and what they should target.

The most obvious diffence between you and I is: You keep thinking of the more relaxing time in a level, I mean when situation is not critical where you can take your time to set towers targeting priority. But for me, I am more consern on critical point of time, panic time, where human decision should be allowed to instantly overwrite machine hardcoded formula... just for that short period, after which I am no more interest in how aliens are being shot to dust ;)

[hiclass]

Just let me quote an example:

Imagine a few tough aliens among which one of them is holding your lossing cores and they are approching the exit. Let say you have guns right before the exit (you last line of defense to stop the cores from being stolen)

In my case:
I will double-right-click that particular alien with the cores. that is it. I know if it can be taken down, then it will be for sure because all guns will aim at it.

For your case:
I am sorry, I think you will need to ask for another additional choice of the so call targeting priorty options that read no5 below:
1) First Alien
2) Fastest Alien
3) Strongest Alien
4) Largest Group
5) Alien with core. <-- add this

and 5) won't work if in the above example you have one weak alien (but slightly faster) and one tough alien but slow both holding cores.

So, you see, you priority need to become:
5) Fast alien with core
6) Tough alien with core

Trust me, your list of priority never ends and is therefore impractical in a fast motion game like DG.

[Destructo-Bot]

There should not be user targetable aliens outside of the orbital laser. The abstraction is there as part of the gameplay, you need to use proper tactics to PREVENT that scenario! If you don't you are going to have to use the "fix it" button and nuke the sight from orbit and accept the resource penalty (or rewind ;))

I agree that laser towers firing on shields and meteors/infernos not aiming for groups is a bug. I wouldn't mind a targeting scheme like dustyshelves suggests but micromanaging on the individual alien level should be a huge no. If an alien has a core, that situation should override all tower commands and work like it does now, towers kill first alien out no matter what. That gives even more of a reason to keep the cores housed... so your tactics list stay active.

[fortunz]

The biggest inferno tower bug is targeting when it's right next to another tower: it basically stops firing because as aliens pass the time it takes it to retarget as they pass out of its area is so long that the alien it tries to target also passes out of it's area, so it sputters out. As a result, I only use inferno towers in areas where I can get an angle that prevents the never-ending retargeting process.

I could live without group targeting on it if you could either fix it's target parameters or if it wasn't so stupid as to stop firing in the above scenario.

My second complaint with meteor towers (other than not targeting the biggest groups) is that they can't anticipate the effects of temporal towers until after they hit. This leads to meteor towers constantly overshooting the aliens just before they hit a temporal tower, and then undershooting them as the effects wear off. Because the meteor tower is such a slow shooter, this dramatically decreases it's effectiveness map-wide, especially when you have multiple temporal towers that don't overlap (sometimes necessary). It should be aware there is a temporal tower upcoming and chart it's target according to when the temporal wave will hit and when it will wear off. I can think of no immersive reason a tower on a defense grid wouldn't be tied to another tower like that. Given the cost of the meteor tower, I don't really think that effect should throw off game balance (though it would given that balance has been built around these sub-optimal conditions).

[Destructo-Bot]

Oh yes, I'd like for the tower radius range highlight to be more representative of their true coverage. What is shown in game can be VERY different from what the tower can or can't actually hit.

[Mondak]

The biggest inferno tower bug is targeting when it's right next to another tower: it basically stops firing because as aliens pass the time it takes it to retarget as they pass out of its area is so long that the alien it tries to target also passes out of it's area, so it sputters out. As a result, I only use inferno towers in areas where I can get an angle that prevents the never-ending retargeting process.

I could live without group targeting on it if you could either fix it's target parameters or if it wasn't so stupid as to stop firing in the above scenario.


This is a great point. I can't totally predict what positions will cause the retargeting though. It seems hit or miss, although it is likely knowable since it either retargets all game or not at all.

[scottmcg]

Like another user said, just go play the free game "Bloons Tower Defense 4"

It does not have the visuals like Defence Grid, but it has excellent game play, including tower priorities and individual tower stats.

[hiclass]

There should not be user targetable aliens outside of the orbital laser.

Sure!No targeting by user.
But I am suggesting tagging one or few aliens to be primary targets. You don't need to aim at them like using the orbital laser, just mark them once.


I wouldn't mind a targeting scheme like dustyshelves suggests but micromanaging on the individual alien level should be a huge no.

I don't see why huge?


If an alien has a core, that situation should override all tower commands

I don't agree. Sometimes, killing the fastest alien is more important than a big boss alien with core.
The latter can be easily bounced back (since it moves slowly) but if you have a number of fast aliens holding cores... I think it is almost sure you will need to replay.


and work like it does now, towers kill first alien out no matter what. That gives even more of a reason to keep the cores housed... so your tactics list stay active.
hehehe!
The reason why we suggest certain level of user control in what and how aliens are to be destoryed is because we know there won't be a fix formula smart enough to handle all situations. Let user decide, at times would be the best solution... of course with the condition that its mechanism is simple and effective.

[Destructo-Bot]

Micromanaging in such a way really isn't what I'm after in Defense Grid. The abstraction between the player and towers is part of its appeal. The focus isn't about individual enemies, it's about the big picture. A few tweaks to tower AI would be fine, but if you are needing that kind of high-level control then your build tactics are waaay off base.

We're just going to have to disagree here.

[jimmirock]

I'd like to see a multiplayer mode, not necessarily a "death match", but more like a co-op. 2 core-station things for each player, 2 entrance points for enemies.

I'd also like to see more maps with Grinder and Super Grinder, with an unlimited Wave option too. Enemies would get tougher exponentially. You'd lose eventually but the leaderboards would display how many waves you beat - not the score.

[Tannekr]

(iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)

Am I the only one who thinks that Defense Grid: The Awakening would be a perfect match for the iPad? I don't know about the rest of you, but being able to play Defense Grid on an iPad seems like it would be pretty sick.

[Verbal1970]

Am I the only one who thinks that Defense Grid: The Awakening would be a perfect match for the iPad? I don't know about the rest of you, but being able to play Defense Grid on an iPad seems like it would be pretty sick.

Defense Grid for the iPad sounds great as long as the hardware will support it. I'm sure they've looked at getting this game on Apple's App Store in some form.

Still, I'd love to see a map editor with all game modes available for user created maps on the PC. I know I already suggested this somewhere earlier in this thread, but I can't be the only one here who wants this. lol Sell us the editor as DLC and allow other players with the editor to play user created maps. That way almost all of us will buy the editor if only to be able to play those user created maps.

[DaveERazor]

1. I love this game :)

2. I see there's already been requests for image capture...I'd like to be able to save the entire grid in one image at the end of the game, so I can analyse my failures or gloat over my successes :)

3. Maybe an 'Instant Replay'?

[hiclass]

I have 2 wishes:

1. Many great suggestions in this thread can be implemented as soon as possible. I don't mind paying for the improvements, just don't want to see them only in a totally new game DG2.

2. I hope to hear something from the developer regarding user suggestions. I am quite disaapointed with the lack of response from the developer. It makes me feel stupid to make any suggestion here again.

[Tikbalang]

I'd like to have the ability to select a tower and manually fire it within its range and LoS. This would allow me to focus on a priority target without having to muck around with settings or be at the mercy of the tower AI.

[Destructo-Bot]

I have 2 wishes:

1. Many great suggestions in this thread can be implemented as soon as possible. I don't mind paying for the improvements, just don't want to see them only in a totally new game DG2.

2. I hope to hear something from the developer regarding user suggestions. I am quite disaapointed with the lack of response from the developer. It makes me feel stupid to make any suggestion here again.

The devs are quite active and have already commented on suggestions.

[hiclass]

The devs are quite active and have already commented on suggestions.

I don't find any dev comment on suggestion, at least not with this thread.

[Destructo-Bot]

They have addressed comments such as this before and do keep an eye out on the forum. They are quite well aware of the topic and have shown that they will work on DG with customers when needed. They very likely can't say that they'll be able to do a specific feature or even if it's feasible for DG2 until they are closer to development. Adding features to an existing title past bug fixes is nice but should really be considered a bonus.

[PolarisOrbit]

I thought of another thing I would want. I don't really like the way interest works in this game because it makes the game less strategic and more twitchy (ie. you have to time when you place towers to optimize your cash flow, as opposed to just placing them when you decide where you want it to go). It also leads to a snowball effect where the first few rounds are more pressure because they determine how hard the last few rounds will be (when not attacking score) and it gives novices a harder time because they don't know to leave some cash unspent. On the plus side, interest adds something to refine when attacking leaderboards.

So my idea is to have interest rate based on number of cores ONLY, instead of number of cores AND current amount of money. This eliminates most of the negatives I have with how it's done currently, but there is still some way to refine your score by keeping your cores in the housing as much as possible. On the leaderboards, it doesn't matter if you're ahead by 1000 points or 1 point, if you can't figure out how to improve past the next person then you can't rank up. So even though the scores would be condensed, there would still be separation, and that's all that's necessary for competition.

[fortunz]

I thought of another thing I would want. I don't really like the way interest works in this game because it makes the game less strategic and more twitchy (ie. you have to time when you place towers to optimize your cash flow, as opposed to just placing them when you decide where you want it to go).
...
So my idea is to have interest rate based on number of cores ONLY, instead of number of cores AND current amount of money.

Just to go on record, I think that would be a horrible dumbing down of the game. And it most definitely would not increase how "strategic" the game is, indeed, it would decrease the level of strategy, because as you say, it removes from your consideration when you place towers, simplifying your considerations. This is a pure "make the leaderboard competition easier" request.

Resource management is a time honored part of the most strategic games on the planet from Risk to Civilization to Axis and Allies. The more strategic depth a game has, the more likely you are to need to manage resources to improve your standing. One of Defense Grid's biggest strategic advantages over ordinary Tower Defense games is its dual-pronged interest mechanism.

[Farting bob]

Just to go on record, I think that would be a horrible dumbing down of the game. And it most definitely would not increase how "strategic" the game is, indeed, it would decrease the level of strategy, because as you say, it removes from your consideration when you place towers, simplifying your considerations. This is a pure "make the leaderboard competition easier" request.

Resource management is a time honored part of the most strategic games on the planet from Risk to Civilization to Axis and Allies. The more strategic depth a game has, the more likely you are to need to manage resources to improve your standing. One of Defense Grid's biggest strategic advantages over ordinary Tower Defense games is its dual-pronged interest mechanism.
Agreed, as it stands now to maximise your score you need to leave tower building/upgrading as late as possible but still keep as many cores in the housing as possible. Often these 2 objectives go against eachother so its a fine balancing act. You can leave it really late and have alot more money earning interest on fewer cores or you can have less money earning interest on 24 cores. Neither is guarenteed to be better for score.
And that is what makes it a great game mechanism.

[Destructo-Bot]

I would like a better way to differentiate specific tower AoE radii when the AoE & flight path overlay is turned on. It can be practically impossible to determine what is what in a dense build. For the longer range towers if you click on them you can't always see to the end of their effect radius because you are locked onto the tower.

[hiclass]

I wish if a meteor shoots aliens in the range of a Missle it will never miss its targets (or alien will get harder strike in missle range). That make a missle useful even after the last wave of flyers...

I also wish to know if any of the suggestion made in this thread has catch the eyes of the DEV...

[pobst]

Of course we read and appreciate this a lot! :)

What can and will happen in the future involves more than ideas, but having you guys share what you like, don't like, and think you might like, is very helpful.

Thank you all!

Jeff

[PolarisOrbit]

Just to go on record, I think that would be a horrible dumbing down of the game. And it most definitely would not increase how "strategic" the game is, indeed, it would decrease the level of strategy, because as you say, it removes from your consideration when you place towers, simplifying your considerations. This is a pure "make the leaderboard competition easier" request.


As was mentioned by one of the developers earlier in the topic, that's more of a tactical consideration. Not a strategic one.

Resource management is a time honored part of the most strategic games on the planet from Risk to Civilization to Axis and Allies. The more strategic depth a game has, the more likely you are to need to manage resources to improve your standing. One of Defense Grid's biggest strategic advantages over ordinary Tower Defense games is its dual-pronged interest mechanism.

Resource management can be strategic if there are tradeoffs to be made. There are no such tradeoffs in this game. "Spend at the last second" is not a tradeoff.

[fortunz]

As was mentioned by one of the developers earlier in the topic, that's more of a tactical consideration. Not a strategic one.

The idea that timing is not a strategic consideration is incorrect (it's also not what the dev said). Something being "more tactical" doesn't mean it's "tactical" as opposed to strategic. There is overlap.

Is the timing of tower placement more tactical than building your entire maze before the first alien wave and just watching it (akin to practice mode)? Yes, from a gamer perspective. Is a game that has both tower timing for resource management purposes and maze making more strategic than a game that has only maze-making? Yes.

Resource management can be strategic if there are tradeoffs to be made. There are no such tradeoffs in this game. "Spend at the last second" is not a tradeoff.

When is the last second? You are of course trading off maintaining lower firepower and having the aliens overwhelm your defenses beyond your ability to catch up against maximizing interest. Further tradeoffs take place when maintaining a command tower killzone. Take a look at the leaderboards -- most people are not buying at the last second. Backspace might make the game less strageic because you don't have to live with every decision (which is HP's tradeoff to make the game more friendly to more casual gamers), but the interest mechanism HP has designed absolutely makes the game more strategic. Losing it would be tragic.

[zenpunk]

My most wanted feature, by far, would be live, constantly updated statistics for each tower as you're playing a level. The most important stats would be...
- total damage done to aliens
- % up time (vs idle time with nothing to shoot at)
Several other tower defense games do this, and I find it very interesting, and useful, to see what towers are doing well and what ones aren't. It teaches you a lot.

[PolarisOrbit]

Ok fortunz, I will concede that it is enjoyable for some people to be able to improve their score based on the timing of when a tower is placed. However, I will also point out that there is no reason that score and resources have to be identical values. I stand by my suggestion to make the income rate should not be based on current resources because of the same reasons I posted before, namely that it makes the game simpler and easier to understand for novices.

Whatever crazy extra criteria they feel like adding to the score is fine, but I don't think that weaker players should be punished twice (ineffective maze designs and reduced money to make said designs) solely because they are poorer at the game. That's bad design. Do whatever with the score, but make the money supply fair.

On a related note, I thought of yet another thing based on someone else's comment how everyone always sells all their towers at the end to improve score. My suggestion would be to towers which are still standing at the end of a map be worth more than their corresponding sell value if they were to be sold instead. This way one doesn't come out ahead by selling everything at the end.

[TcoNL]

I'm not a novice or weak player but I simply don't care for highscores so I agree.


No idea how it all works in DG1 but scorewise you could have;

Less towers = higher score

The less time aliens spend/the quicker you kill them - on the map the higher the score

No core touching or less time carriering cores = higher score

Less towerselling = higher score

No/less use of the laser = higherscore

Pressing backspace (often) = lower score

[Verbal1970]

I like those scoring ideas TcoNL. They would definitely add another level of strategy to the game. I think I'd also like to see this added as well.

Kills made with more expensive towers = higher score

I'd add that just to bring a extra wrinkle to the juggling that's already done here. As it stands, if you have a well developed and thought out maze setup for juggling, it basically benefits you to have nothing but green gun towers in your killing zone of your maze that you juggle the aliens back and forth across. This is so because the longer you can make each level last, the more time you're spending making interest on your current money. This is the case up until the last level on some maps because they will eventually cut off the interest income made. However as long as you can earn interest, it benefits you to keep a cheap and weak killing zone. This gets boring to me at times. I like using some of the more expensive and advanced towers too. The current scoring system penalizes you for spending the extra money to do this which makes going for high scores a bit boring. Maybe its just a matter of balancing out the towers more to make it possible to have a multitude of solutions to climbing up the scoring list just as there are a multitude of solutions to completing each level.