The development path of tower defense games has not been as smooth as that of other games.
In fact, it remained stagnant for a long time after the birth of Rampart.
Ultimately, it may be related to the gaming style of this era.
Tower defense games are essentially a game genre with very low input dimensions.
The vast majority of travel costs actually occur at the decision-making level, rather than the operational level.
This kind of game genre that focuses on subtraction doesn't really fit with the developers of the golden age.
Just like Pizza Tycoon for many subsequent flash kitchen games.
Developers in this era generally still prefer to add features.
It's like an American pizza piled high with toppings.
The portions are generous and filling, but something just doesn't feel right.
The Gem TD in Warcraft III can only be considered an introduction.
What truly propelled the development of digital graphics games was the later Flash era. This was due to Flash's script-based development and primarily graphical development model.
Flash games are usually not too complex; they are more often a means for animators to express their imagination.
In a sense, Flash is the true inheritor of the spirit of "interactive impact".
The absolute classic is, of course, a game like " The Shit " that's purely for watching animation.
While games like Bloons Tower Defense offer significantly higher levels of real-time interaction, they are essentially still the same thing...
Set up a tower and watch a show.
At most, you can upgrade the tower and use some active skills.
Games like Kingdom Rush have further enhanced interactivity by adding playable hero units in subsequent sequels.
However, once you peel back the layers of these toppings on the pizza, it's not hard to see that tower defense games are actually very similar to idle games.
David held his cup, taking sips now and then, listening to Lin Lixin's narration.
"So... it's a simpler version of Command & Conquer, more suitable for Volkswagen."
"That's one way to understand it. Gamenova will be releasing a sequel to Command & Conquer at the end of the year, so this project can be seen as a warm-up." Lin Lixin nodded.
The time is almost here.
It's time to bring out the more mature version of this work, which has been dormant for some time.
"RTS games are very fun, highly strategic, and offer a great sense of control, but they also suffer from a problem common to most competitive games."
"People with poor technical skills will find it difficult to get started and will experience a strong sense of frustration."
David took the initiative to continue the conversation.
This is no secret within the industry.
Let alone Command & Conquer: Dawn of the Kyber Crystal, it's Quake, Street Fighter, the King of Fighters...
In any game involving competition, feelings of frustration due to skill differences are inevitable.
If we win, the other team will be in a bad mood.
Losing makes me feel bad.
In any game, someone will always get hurt. The only way to optimize these issues is to adjust room mechanics and the negative feedback experience.
But how to completely avoid it?
It's practically impossible.
Everyone says friendship comes first, competition second, but when you're actually there, there's one in a hundred gentle players who can control themselves and not get red in the face.
"Yes, this has always been a problem for casual gamers."
That's why there's a mode for playing against the computer!
"That's right, but this time it's different. From the very beginning, it's designed for casual players. You can think of it as a highly simplified version of an RTS game designed for casual players."
The two went to the television and inserted the Command & Conquer disc into the machine.
"But what should be deleted? Like in Rampart, to remove unit movement?"
David stared at the game screen, pondering Lin Lixin's words.
Simplifying is nothing new to them.
This has always been a design pattern advocated by Lin Lixin. "Of course we need to delete things, but that's not enough. We need to strip it down to its most basic state."
The core of tower defense lies naturally in the word "defense".
The function of proactive offense must naturally be removed.
Multi-threaded operation... will be preserved in another form.
Any micro-management can be eliminated or simplified as much as possible.
This game can have depth, but it shouldn't require too much micromanagement.
Because it targets casual gamers rather than hardcore gamers.
"Then let's delete all operable units and only keep the concept of 'tower'?"
"Hmm... let's leave it at that for now."
Lin Lixin nodded slightly.
In terms of how different works are handled, the methods used by different organizations are quite different.
Classic games like Kingdom Rush feature towers like barracks that produce soldiers, allowing players to gather a few soldiers along a path to block the enemy.
There will also be mechanisms where defensive towers have their own active skills that require manual triggering.
However, these things... are still a bit too early for now.
As the first game in the series, it's best to simplify the mechanics as much as possible.
This not only reduces the learning curve for players, but also leaves room for future sequels to add features.
Unlike games like Papa's Pizzeria, which can be easily remade with a different theme, this type of game is different.
Simply reskinning and making some new towers can bring a sense of novelty, but this novelty doesn't last.
In this context, the introduction of new mechanisms and the gradual refinement of worldviews become increasingly important.
As the concept of tower defense gradually matures within the player community and players become more accepting of it, adding features will become a viable approach.
"So... we need to design a framework specifically for it, like the Papa's Series. Let me think... maybe we need a Tile Map system?"
David pondered.
These types of games have a very troublesome task: map design. With the competitive element lost, map variety becomes even more important.
The players are still essentially competing, only their opponents have changed from other players to the designers.
Therefore, a Tile Map system is necessary to facilitate and expedite the iteration of new maps.
This technology was already in use when Lin Lixin and his colleagues were just starting out in Southern California.
Metal Gear Solid manages to cram so many maps into such a small file size thanks to the high resource reuse of Tile Map.
"No, no, no, David, this time we have an even better plan."
Lin Lixin laughed heartily.
Next comes the difference between tower defense games and traditional RTS games, which is also the core essence that Rampart lacks to be a true, typical tower defense game.
"We'll use bitmaps directly; one background texture corresponds to one map."
"Huh? Why not use roof tiles?"
Why use roof tiles?
Lin Lixin didn't answer directly, but instead asked a question in return. Tile technology has always been a very important technology in single-player 2D games.
Its existence has helped many developers to fit larger worlds into limited capacity.
but...
This is not a single-player game.
"Of course, it's to save space and facilitate development!"
David was somewhat puzzled by Lin Lixin's question.
Because there's really nothing to ask.
This is the consensus within the industry; it's a set of unwritten rules and consensus.
Using tiles means that a map can be compressed to only a few kilobytes, or even less, under extreme conditions.
Developers only need one set of tile assets to create an infinite number of maps.
Just like Fire Emblem.
Even today, player-designed levels remain engaging and challenging, thanks to the remarkable advantages of the tile system.
"Think more, David, think more."
Lin Lixin shook his head.
"What you said is absolutely right. Compared to tiles, a single map might use tens or even hundreds of kilobytes, which would have been enough for an entire game in the past."
At this point, he changed the subject.
"But... who said we need to conserve capacity?"
Web-based games have a significant disadvantage compared to traditional single-player games.
All of its resources reside on the server side.
The larger the file, the more bandwidth the player needs to consume, and the longer the loading time will be.
Once the game's size increases, players will have to spend a long time for the game to fully load.
However, if viewed from a different perspective, this terrible flaw can be transformed into the most powerful weapon in web games.
"Can you play 100 maps at the same time?" "Uh... probably not, but if it's two..."
"That solves it; players will only play on one map."
David paused for a moment, then his eyes lit up.
Lazy loading!
Non-critical resources are loaded late, and only when needed are network requests made to fetch resources from the server.
Although each map takes up a lot of storage space.
But... who says everything has to be fully loaded when you enter the game?
"We only need to load this map when we enter the map! Yes, that's right, we should definitely do that!"
David shouted excitedly.
He suddenly realized the infinite possibilities hidden behind the seemingly weak platform of web games.
Despite the significant performance limitations, the system needs to consider the different PCs of different players, minimizing configuration requirements and designing it in an animated style. However, in terms of storage capacity...
Oh my god!
In theory, they could even obtain a capacity far exceeding that of a CD.
"Wait, what if this technology..."
His pupils contracted sharply, and a terrifying thought flashed through his mind.
"Shh, let's focus on finishing the game first, okay?"
Lin Lixin stared at him, blinked a few times, and then suddenly burst into laughter.
At this moment, it was as if they had both seen the other person with the character "fire" written on their hand.
Everything is understood without words.
David nodded slightly.
Behind Papa's Pizzeria is Gamenova's strategic layout for web-based GameG.
Behind this game lies a much larger future world.