don't know why you didn't get front page!
This is a great game! It deserves more views... you should certainly make another :)
Reviews for "PlanetDefender"
ookkkkk
not the best, but definitely addicting. it could use some graphics work i mostly agree with the players below me
Great Game. A few tweaks could really improve it.
Here's some minor tweaks that I think could improve the game a lot:
1. Increase the "Fast Forward" speed. Right now there's barely any difference between the regular speed and the FF speed. And one of the things holding the game back is that it takes too long to play. A full apocalypse game takes at least an hour. And even the Medium/Hard levels take a lot more time than the complexity of the game should allow. PD is a simple, elegant, well-balanced game, so it's better served with the option for a faster game. The FF speed is currently about 1 pulse per 2 seconds. Make that the regular speed, and put the FF speed at 1 pulse per 1 second and the game instantly plays twice as fast. Makes it a lot easier for people to replay the game, and try out new things.
2. Allow us to turn-off the auto-hide of the boxes. I haven't heard from one person that actually likes it when the boxes disappear. I suppose the point is to allow the player to see which box is getting attacked, but I think most people just find it annoying. At least let us give us a choice to turn it off.
3. Allow players to build during pauses. This is a mere convenience that shouldn't have any impact on game balance, so I don't see any reason not to allow it.
4. Number the waves. One of the best things about the original tower defense game was that the enemy waves were numbered and you would know exactly how far you got in the game. It help people strategize easier and gave them a real sense of their progress in the game. A simple "Wave 1 of 50" message would be a great psychological benefit for the player. And you can give an option to turn it off/on to preserve the original gameplay.
5. I think you should tweak the population growth forumla, so that it's inversely proportional to the population. In other words the less people you have, the higher the population growth, and the more people you have the lower the pop growth. Right now it's almost impossible to rebuild after a tough series of attacks. And conversely, if you get past the mid-game and build correctly, you get an obscenely high pop, a ton of money, and there is really no suspense at all in the end-game. Having an inversely proportional pop growth would even out some of the extremes, and give people a fighting chance at rebuilding after a big enemy wave.
6. Energy bars on enemy ships. It's yet another convenience that I don't believe will impact game balance but would be a very popular change. Energy bars are pretty basic game feature. People just like seeing how much damage they've inflicted.
7. Not a change that I'm adamant about, but you might want to consider tweaking the planet shield cost/specs. Maybe make it 50% cheaper but also 50% less effective. Right now there's only one use for the planet shield: as the finishing touch, safety net that you need to finish the game. Perhaps toning it down would give it a bit more strategic value. Just something to think about.
Because the game is so simple and well-balanced, If you were to make a sequel to this game there isn't a whole lot I would add.
1. Obviously you can do all the additional modes of play like tower defense; Fixed gold, no missiles, no econ, fun mode etc.
2. Add one more weapon types. Maybe midrange weapon between the ion cannon and missile in terms of power and rate of fire. Or a gun that shot out a beam that hit everything in it's path. Or a big rock that you throw at ships, which enemy lasers can blow up bit by bit (it would be sort of a combo offense/defense weapon, since it draws enemy fire and can still hurt enemies if it gets through). Now that I think about, a combo offense/defense weapon would add a huge amount to gameplay and would be very fun to play around with.
3. Hospitals which don't provide as much protection as bunkers but can be placed anywhere. This would give players more flexibility with layouts and placement, since they don't need bunkers everywhere. You can have a tech to improve overall defense and then the hospital upgrade attached.
Out of room, so thanks.
Great work!
What a great game! Nice graphics and sounds, simple and logical building system, and a deceptively simple gameplay that has some depth and strategy to it. The difficulties are well-balanced. I'm currently laboring on beating Apocalypse, it's quite tough for me.
One problem I've had is if you choose to try again and you pick your difficulty too quickly, the select screen stays onscreen too long. You might want to streamline this in future games.
I love the missile bases. The upgraded missiles which retask their targets are a real treat to watch and are really gratifying when they take down enemies. If you make more games like this I'd love to see other types of weaponry that show such unique attack methods (weapons that do splash damage, hit everything on a set path, etc... Maybe not as cool as the missiles, but something to think about.)
The missile system was really well done. In some games like this, your heavy damage, slow fire towers will shoot whatever's closest - they'll waste the few shots they have time to make on something tiny and ignore the giant boss. This system was great in that it was intelligent. They'll seek after big targets first, but won't hesitate to take out a small one if that's all that's left. Great job on a system that doesn't make me curse at my own guns.
I do enjoy that there are only two types of offensive guns, and they're appropriate for the two types of enemies, small and large. It's just, you go up against a few HUGE enemies and it would have been cool to have an appropriately huge cannon. Maybe a giant laser that can only fire once every 20 seconds, or it has to choose a target and charge up for 5 or 10 seconds at a time. It couldn't retask, so this would mean it wouldn't waste its shot on a tiny ship - the tiny ship would usually die before it could fire.
I'm not trying to tell you to add all this into the game, as you've created a complete and playable game already. I'm just thinking out loud, don't mind me.
I also like the seemingly randomized enemy waves (they do get harder over time, you just can't predict exactly what you'll face next, or at least, it feels that way to me, I could be wrong.) Sometimes people can memorize the exact order and number of every wave and plan for them, but this game prevents that.
Overall I'm impressed, and I'm disappointed this game hasn't been front paged. In my opinion this is leagues above Xeno Tactics 2, which isn't a very original game anyway.
I recommended this to the Defense Games collection and I suggest anyone who gave it a 10 should do the same, otherwise it will never get the attention it deserves.
justkevin responds:
Thanks for the very detailed review. I'm definitely considering a sequel or update to the game at some point, and it's useful to hear what features people who enjoy the game would like to see added.
I totaly agree with ScythedBlade
This is a damn good defense game theres no way im complaining