Offworld Defender - Game Concept

Working Title:

Offworld Defender

Concept Statement:

Offworld Defender is a Tower Defence game where you, the player, are a space colony’s last hope against an invading horde of aliens. The player starts off with nothing but a gun – no defences, no backup. Killing the invaders rewards the player with points to spend on personal upgrades or automated defence systems, to help combat the increasingly aggressive attackers.

Genre:

Sci-fi Tower Defence Shoot ‘Em Up

Concept creation process and influences:

Tower defence games can be lots of fun. There’s just something satisfying about building up an impenetrable defence and constantly upgrading things to keep up with the increasing difficulty of the aggressors. However, one problem some people have with the genre is a lack of excitement, since most of the time you will just be building defences and not actually interacting with the enemy yourself. This is where I came up with the idea of a tower defence game where the player gets to fight alongside their defences as a playable character. One game in particular that helped define the genre for me is Kingdom Rush (Ironhide Games, 2011). This game is a great example of a classic Tower Defence set in a fantasy realm, where the player uses towers and certain powers to defend their kingdom from attacking enemies. While the game does implement certain “heroes” to help you defend on the battlefield, I believe this feature was not as fleshed out as it could have been, as they only defend certain areas that you task them to. This aspect is something I hope to emphasize in Offworld Defender.

Audience and Competitive Analyses:

This game is aimed at those familiar with Tower Defence games looking for a more exciting and interactive take on the genre. The darker Sci-Fi theming may make the game less appealing for a younger audience, especially young girls. Looking at some successful Tower Defence games, such as the previously discussed Kingdom Rush, we can compare and contrast features and analyse what makes those games fun. Kingdom Rush has a wide assortment of towers and upgrades, each complementing different strategies. For example, the magic towers are high damage but slow to fire, meaning it’s best to use them on higher defence enemies than weaker, faster ones. In contrast, the archer towers are low damage but very quick to fire, meaning they should be used on hordes of weaker enemies. Combining these strategies and deciding on the placement for each tower is one of the most fun aspects of this game. Another very popular Tower Defence game is Bloons TD (Ninja Kiwi, 2007). This game, while brighter and more simplistic than others in the genre, still manages to create fun and (and at times hectic) gameplay. Having the enemies as balloons that can be popped by towers is a very simple approach, yet it makes the gameplay much easier to understand for beginners to the genre. This game also has different coloured balloons with varying speeds to mix up the gameplay and introduce some difficulty.

Game Treatment and Concept Art:

Premise

Offworld Defender is set on a distant lunar colony that has become under attack by alien invaders. You are the last remaining marine able to defend the entrance to the colony, and must rely upon your own shooting skills, as well as backup from some of the bases automated defence systems, in order to succeed. Though it might be tempting to try and defend all by yourself (with the help of personal upgrades), you may find it fruitless as the invaders have more than one path of entry. Killing enemies will earn you points to spend on extra defences or upgrading existing structures.

Towers/Upgrades

There are three types of towers that will help in your defence:

• Armour Piercing Railgun: High Damage and armour piercing, but slow to fire.
• Heavy Machine Gun: Extremely fast fire rate but very low damage, especially to armoured invaders.
• Impact Missile Cannon: Large Area of Effect damage, extremely slow to fire.

There are also numerous upgrades available for towers as well as the player’s equipment, including extra abilities for towers such as improved fire rate, as well as extra armour and health for the player.

Enemies

The enemies in Offworld Defender are an alien race hell-bent on the destruction of all other lifeforms. They will stop at nothing to breach your defences and wreak havoc on the inhabitants of the colony. You will encounter enemies of varying strength and speed. Some may be tougher with high armour and health, but expect weaker enemies to come in large numbers that can quickly overwhelm the unprepared.

The Map

The path forward for the invading force can be thought of as a sideways ladder, with two ways in (on the right), two ways out (on the left), and smaller paths connecting the two main ones. Below is a mock-up of the map, with white being the paths, and yellow being the potential tower positions:

You can go anywhere on the path, while the enemies will always advance forwards. Keep this in mind when coming up with a defensive strategy, as towers only have a limited effective range.