Yeah, you don’t understand the basic issue. Here, let me break it down for you because I suspect you mean well, but you just don’t know any better.
You obviously want to be able to drag-n-drop defenses on the map because you think it’s such a chore to confirm tap. The drag-n-drop is how most tower defense games work, so after poking around at Defender Chronicles and not digging on it for whatever reason, you fall on this as the cornerstone for an extended post on why you don’t like the game. It’s hardly surprising. A lot of people get attached to a particular way of playing something. Any game that deviates seems to them inherently flawed.
But here are few reasons why the usual drag-n-drop won’t work in DC:
The building graphics aren’t as intuitive as icons used for the actual buttons. So what are you going to do, drag an icon and have it turn into a building?
The game needs the button interface for upgrading buildings anyway, so it makes intuitive sense to build from this interface as well.
Unlike many other tower defense games, the monsters path directly over the spot where defenders are located, as well as the node where you place defenses. It gets crowded. So why not let the player get his finger out of the way to see the precise placement, as well as the attack radius?
To some folks, tapping is much more precise that dragging. This is particularly true when the “hitbox” for the tap is as generous as it is with DC.
These things obviously didn’t occur to you in the five or ten minutes you spent poking around in Defender Chronicles before passing judgment. If a game doesn’t work for you, Hugin, all you have to say is “ehh, it didn’t work for me”. No one’s going to call you out for that. But if you instead feel compelled to come up with a list of complaints that are either wrong (“the RPG system has minimal effect on gameplay”) or specious (“you shouldn’t have to confirm tap to place a building”), don’t expect that you won’t be called out by the folks who really dig the game.
There. So I’ve seen your Billy Zane and raised you an Udo Kier.
Drag and drop isn’t necessary. A couple of the games I listed earlier have you tap a spot on the board, then choose a tower from a palette just like Defender Chronicles does. I’m fine with either convention. The fact that you’re bringing dragging up at all makes me worry we’re still not even talking about the same issue.
Unlike many other tower defense games, the monsters path directly over the spot where defenders are located, as well as the node where you place defenses. It gets crowded. So why not let the player get his finger out of the way to see the precise placement, as well as the attack radius?
It’s very rare in TD games for anything to happen when you click on Creeps. So if they overlap with towers it’s pretty irrelevant in terms of selecting the tower. You see this most commonly with aerial units in TD games where flying units don’t have to follow the path, or in games like Elemental Monster TD where the melee units run out and physically touch Creeps. It’s just not a problem. Especially with Defender Chronicles where the build locations are fixed.
These things obviously didn’t occur to you in the five or ten minutes you spent poking around in Defender Chronicles before passing judgment.
C’mon man, really? I’d had the game for a day and played it for several hours before I made my first comment. Like I said in the other thread:
“Cumulatively the game has several UI choices that deviate from the norm in TD games, and which don’t add to the gameplay in any way I can discern. If the underlying game were awesome in a way that made up for that I’d ignore them, but IMO, it isn’t, so the UI bits stand out for me.”
At this point, we’re not really talking about whether I like Defender Chronicles or not. I think it’s mediocre, or, to be more positive, I think it’s decent enough. Either way it doesn’t matter much, I think Fieldrunners is pretty meh too and a lot of people seem to love that game. I just think it’s weird that you’re defending this bit of UI clunkiness as not say, ignorable or not a big deal or whatever, but actually necessary, when there are example games you can check out that demonstrate it isn’t.
The bolded part is key. It’s pretty amusing that you claim to have played for “several hours” and you still failed to “discern” some key points about the game. The most we can do is explain them to you. At which point you still write paragraphs about failing to “discern” what was just explained to you.
Something comes to mind about leading horses to water…
Good lord, I almost missed this because I was trying to explain the game to freakin’ Hugin. Dude!
My experience is that you shouldn’t have to ever tear down a building. Just make sure you have a good balance of forces and try to get some overlapping areas of effect going. For instance, have archers positioned so they can attack a wave at two different levels, preferably while a warrior is engaging it. Pretty basic stuff.
Also, an important thing that you’ll learn quickly: upgrading most defenses to their third upgrade gives them an extra defender. This is huge.
I’m not sure how far into the game you are, but after hitting a fifth upgrade, you can change some defenders to an upgraded class with a special ability. You can then upgrade the new class even further. And some classes get special upgrades you have to buy.
The slimes are a challenge because they break into so many tiny bits, but I find that enough archers can handle them.
Perhaps the most important thing to know about Defender Chronicles is that the difficulty levels are horribly misnamed. Novice, Casual and Master suggest that they have something to do with player skill, when in fact the deciding factor is how many upgrades you have already unlocked or bought.
flyinj, did you by any chance try to play every map on Casual right away because you figured you weren’t a “novice?” That’s wrong. You see, “Novice” actually means “normal difficulty for the first time on a map and the straight path through the game”. “Casual” means “hard difficulty for when you’re coming back to a map”. And Master means “extra-hard challenge for completionists”.
So overall I’m liking the game quite a bit. Not terribly complex but very addictive. The developers appear to be Russian or something, judging by the occasionally amusing Engrish, but the advisor sounds like the Shcottish narrator from Majesty which is an instant plus in my book.
Hugin is right about his interface complaints, by the way, but I don’t think they detract terribly from the game.
I actually made it through most of the maps playing casual, although I had to do a few of them more than once. It’s only on the later maps that I’m dropping down to novice to unlock them.
Have you gotten the archmage, by the way? Yow.
Exactly! I was thinking it’s gotta be the same guy. That’s some dude somewhere whose niche is a Sean Connery impression for relatively low budget strategy games.
If you don’t think they detract from the game, then you’re disagreeing with Hugin, who contends his interface nits outweigh any appeal the game may have.
But since you’ve actually played the game, how do you think building placement should have been handled? Since they’re not using a drag-n-drop interface like other tower defense games, I maintain that third tap is necessary to keep from accidentally building and upgrading defenses when you scroll the map around.
Looks like a cool game (from the video I watched at their site). Too bad I don’t have an iPhone, but if I get an iPod touch someday I have a feeling this will be the first thing that it’s used for.
Actually, that looks pretty cool! Just from looking over it briefly, I’d say the main difference between Protector and Defender Chronicles is that there’s a much heartier meta-game in Defender Chronicles. Also, production values, of course. And the fact that DC is on the iPhone.
Not yet, but I just got a very cheap sword that supposedly makes my warriors go berserk as if they were berserkers, and I can’t wait to try that. :)
But since you’ve actually played the game, how do you think building placement should have been handled? Since they’re not using a drag-n-drop interface like other tower defense games, I maintain that third tap is necessary to keep from accidentally building and upgrading defenses when you scroll the map around.
Even tower defense games that use drag & drop for tower placement usually have a single-click interface for tower upgrades. That’s basically what I would have expected here, both for placement and upgrades. Just click on the site or tower, then on the type or upgrade button.
You’re right that this would make an accidental build/upgrade somewhat more likely, but not very much so – how often do you accidentally upgrade towers in other games? I think the extra confirmation should be an option, that would make everyone happy.
I prefer the extra click confirmation…though that may be because my large sausage like fingers end up selecting the wrong place/entry sometimes so a little extra click to make sure means less mistakes made.
As to the game itself, it is one of my favorite games that I’ve gotten. I picked it up in july on a 99c sale and have lost count of the hours I’ve sunk into the game. I’ve managed to beat most of the maps up to Heroic (still working on the new Siria map) and have got a few of the early ones done on Legendary using the archmage (whose name is Melwyn BTW). I’m working on doing the same with the General but its slower going due to the need for me to find him some better gear.
I highly recommend the official forums if you are looking for tips or information. In particular I recommend the guide located at http://www.defenderchronicles.com/forum/index.php?topic=665.0 It’s a little out of date as its missing some of the maps/features that have been added in the last couple updates but it does provide a good bit of info that I would consider good to know for new players to the game.
The number of stars you get in Defender Chronicles affects a lot of things, like hero reputation, tokens/exp earned, and map unlocks. If you have to sell a tower you lose a possible star, making mistaken tower placement a bigger deal than something like field runners. At heroic level and up, game balance is also a lot closer to GeoDefense than field runners. You really need to plan out where your towers go, in what order, and which upgrades to buy and when. With caps on item stats and hero skill levels, heroic and legendary can be pretty razor thin as far as what you need to do to beat the map. I couldn’t beat Legendary Silverkeep until I changed my strategy pretty significantly, for example. And I’m still struggling with Heroic Siria with a level 110 Melwen and top notch gear. I’m losing mostly due to the timing of my spell and where I place my melee guild before level 30.
Beating all available maps on a certain difficulty unlocks things. Could be a new map, a new hero, a new difficulty, new items, new secrets, new skill point cap, etc.
Protector’s balance is atrocious. As a good TD, it leaves much to be desired, even in comparison to, say, GemCraft Chapter Zero (the “prequel” which is, iirc, the sequel to ArmorGames’ GemCraft).
Different in Defender Chronicles: Legend of the Desert King:
1.It’s not Flash-based.
2.It’s on the iPhone.
3.It’s not isometric.
4.Troop progression is more linear.
5.You choose a hero, which also participates in the battle with his/her stronger attacks.
6.Your hero is trained up as experience is gained, with skills which affect both personal attacks and the troops.
7.Your hero can also buy artifacts to boost skills and defenses.
8.Better graphics :)
