{"author_link":"\/author\/optimality\/","author_name":"optimality","author_uid":"20946","comments":[{"author_name":"ndssia","author_uid":"22566","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 3:27pm","epoch":1367248920,"text":"Interesting take on TD :)"},{"author_name":"Fervir","author_uid":"20857","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 3:27pm","epoch":1367248920,"text":"cool interpretation of the theme"},{"author_name":"techmonkey","author_uid":"21970","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 3:31pm","epoch":1367249160,"text":"Cool game, I enjoyed the concept of a backwards TD and you executed it well."},{"author_name":"tiffi","author_uid":"21552","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 3:31pm","epoch":1367249160,"text":"love the idea, if you put an slow tower in, it would be much more complex"},{"author_name":"Gama11","author_uid":"16160","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 3:32pm","epoch":1367249220,"text":"The game mechanics aren't really properly explained in-game. The crucial part, namely that waves are getting easier and that it's a risk-reward thing - because without knowing that, the player will just remove all the towers, lose and wonder what the point is.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>That being said, I found this to be quite an interesting concept."},{"author_name":"bummzack","author_uid":"23197","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 3:32pm","epoch":1367249220,"text":"Really cool idea. Presentation\/Design could be improved."},{"author_name":"kochb","author_uid":"16872","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 4:12pm","epoch":1367251620,"text":"It was hard.... very hard."},{"author_name":"Masadow","author_uid":"22572","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 4:40pm","epoch":1367253300,"text":"Very nice concept !"},{"author_name":"cadin","author_uid":"7233","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 4:44pm","epoch":1367253540,"text":"It took me a few tries to figure this one out. \r<br\/>It's a really interesting concept. \r<br\/>I think if you improved the UI it could help make it easier to understand how the game works."},{"author_name":"Merkoth","author_uid":"22272","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 4:45pm","epoch":1367253600,"text":"Very interesting take on tower defense games. Well executed and fits the theme greatly. Excellent work :)"},{"author_name":"adnzzzzZ","author_uid":"7173","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 4:47pm","epoch":1367253720,"text":"Like others said, it is a nice idea with not so good presentation\/explanation. But after you get it it's quite challenging. More towers types would make it even more so."},{"author_name":"optimality","author_uid":"20946","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 6:01pm","epoch":1367258160,"text":"Thanks for the feedback guys :).  I was trying to keep the UI small to fit better with the theme and relying on the player to experiment to understand the gameplay.  That's also why I didn't add more tower types - minimalism."},{"author_name":"SomeNetworkGuy","author_uid":"21998","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 8:48pm","epoch":1367268180,"text":"A very challenging and different way to think about how to win! Nice job innovating and coming up with such a neat interpretation of the theme."},{"author_name":"ataxkt","author_uid":"14547","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 9:39pm","epoch":1367271240,"text":"Ahaha, nice one! Like the twist on the genre! Destroying an empire doesn't feel as fun as building one though."},{"author_name":"sfernald","author_uid":"258","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 9:40pm","epoch":1367271300,"text":"Pretty cool concept. I like it."},{"author_name":"r3d5","author_uid":"5042","time":"Apr 29, 2013 @ 9:50pm","epoch":1367271900,"text":"After I win a level and I have the choice to select the next Wave, no towers appear and I lose the game anyway. Did I skim over a instruction or it this possibly a bug of the level not resetting it's towers?"},{"author_name":"optimality","author_uid":"20946","time":"Apr 30, 2013 @ 2:17am","epoch":1367287920,"text":"@r3d5 can you give me a few more details?  You beat a level (like &quot;Straight Shot&quot;), selected another level (like &quot;Zigzag&quot;), and no towers appeared?  Or are you saying you beat a wave and no new towers appeared before the next wave?  If you mean the latter, that's the point of the game.  Try destroying fewer towers in the early waves - you'll need them later."},{"author_name":"Logun","author_uid":"8007","time":"Apr 30, 2013 @ 8:21am","epoch":1367309760,"text":"Interesting. But very hard to handle ! It fucked a bit my brain :)"},{"author_name":"Jubjub.","author_uid":"18307","time":"Apr 30, 2013 @ 5:10pm","epoch":1367341500,"text":"really nice concept here. I like the little bippity music, too."},{"author_name":"pansapiens","author_uid":"198","time":"May 1, 2013 @ 1:57am","epoch":1367373120,"text":"Great idea, although it was hard for me to get my head around the scoring. I thought I was doing pretty well, but I was always rated terrible :)"},{"author_name":"optimality","author_uid":"20946","time":"May 1, 2013 @ 2:04am","epoch":1367373540,"text":"@Jubjub You might be the only person on the planet that likes the music :).  One of the most frequent pieces of feedback I've received is a request for a mute button.\r<br\/>\r<br\/>@pansapiens Yeah, the scoring is a bit unusual - there's a risk reward tradeoff where removing lots of stuff early and taking a lot of damage early makes it easier to get good ratings but harder to survive later waves (even though later waves are smaller).\r<br\/>\r<br\/>Thanks for playing!"},{"author_name":"enzo","author_uid":"2074","time":"May 2, 2013 @ 5:16am","epoch":1367471460,"text":"Oh my. Risk vs reward to the extreme! Now, if only there was a 'holy crap, I removed too many towers and I can see my impending doom' button... (just kidding!)"},{"author_name":"hamster_mk_4","author_uid":"4265","time":"May 11, 2013 @ 4:19am","epoch":1368245640,"text":"Interesting take on tower defense, but I did not feel very invested in my defense grid."},{"author_name":"Erunaamo","author_uid":"22869","time":"May 19, 2013 @ 8:10pm","epoch":1368993900,"text":"Neat idea, simplifying at just the right rate suits the theme in an interesting way. Gameplay is certainly a fresh take on resource management. The (convincingly old-school) sound effects get annoying pretty fast. (It's ok, so do mine!!)"}],"images":["ld26\/20946-f9a3ab7d660cce8c092c08f189a36010.jpg","ld26\/20946-7a2ef98b814c42b8378a2a60608c536d.jpg","ld26\/20946-650c63b8faeb13a1b22614d13f2f2e28.jpg","ld26\/20946-3234ba34bd961883df8929fe6fe8a15e.jpg","ld26\/20946-e24e3b08065882726bb64ba98597f92d.jpg"],"links":[{"url":"https:\/\/dl.dropboxusercontent.com\/u\/27145935\/Tower%20Defense%20Rewind\/Tower%20Defense%20Rewind.html","text":"Web"},{"url":"https:\/\/dl.dropboxusercontent.com\/u\/27145935\/Tower%20Defense%20Rewind\/Tower%20Defense%20Rewind.zip","text":"Windows"},{"url":"https:\/\/dl.dropboxusercontent.com\/u\/27145935\/Tower%20Defense%20Rewind\/TDR.app.zip","text":"OS\/X"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fQQmox51dzg","text":"Timelapse"},{"url":"https:\/\/bitbucket.org\/realityfoil\/ld26-optimality","text":"Bitbucket Repo"}],"metadata":{"g_key":"25009","g_author":"20946","g_event":"LD26","g_eventkey":"16","g_subevent":"COMPO","g_urlkey":"25039","g_title":"TOWER DEFENSE REWIND","g_status":"UCHK1","g_place":"948","g_commentcount":"24","g_site2_node_id":"0","g_hide":"N","g_has_icon":"Y","g_rqueue":"0","g_random":"0"},"nds":[],"node":null,"orig_images":["http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/233892\/20946-shot0.png-eq-900-500.jpg","http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/233892\/20946-shot1.png-eq-900-500.jpg","http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/233892\/20946-shot2.png-eq-900-500.jpg","http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/233892\/20946-shot3.png-eq-900-500.jpg","http:\/\/ludumdare.com\/compo\/wp-content\/compo2\/\/233892\/20946-shot4.png-eq-900-500.jpg"],"text":"Tower Defense Rewind\r\n====================\r\n\r\nGameplay\r\n--------\r\n\r\nThe player starts with a \"complete\" tower defense system.  They start with the toughest wave of enemies and face successively weaker waves.  The only action the player can take is to remove their own towers.  They get points each wave for the number of towers they have and the amount of health their base has left.  The goal is to get the *lowest* score without losing.\r\n\r\nTheme\r\n------\r\nThe theme of LD26 is \"minimalism.\"  Minimalism involves reducing something to its barest essence.  In TDR, the player has an overly-complex tower defense system and is tasked with reducing it to the barest form they need to survive.\r\n\r\nThe player has a minimal set of actions he or she can take: removing towers.\r\n\r\nOne of the most basic gameplay mechanics is the risk\/reward tradeoff.  In TDR, the player can take larger risks by destroying towers earlier in the level and reap a larger reward by having those towers counted in fewer waves.  Destroy too many, though, and the player risks losing.\r\n\r\nRepetition is an important part of minimalism and is incorporated into the game through the wave structure and successive levels.\r\n\r\nTools\r\n-----\r\nI used Unity Free, Reaper, BFXR, and Pickle in the making of this game.  Thanks to their creators.\r\n\r\nProduction\r\n----------\r\nThe creation of this game was streamed on twitch.tv\/optimality, blogged on realityfoil.com, and a timelapse video is posted at http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fQQmox51dzg.\r\n\r\nThanks to all of my playtesters for your excellent feedback.","title":"TOWER DEFENSE REWIND"}