Working title: Beach Defense

The concept statement

Beach Defense is a roguelite tower defense game where you must maintain constantly eroding towers to stop hordes of beach critters.

Genre

Tower Defense, Roguelite

Concept Creation Process

The concept creation process began by selecting a genre for the game; I decided it was going to be a tower defense game. My next step was to develop on this genre by brainstorming creative and unique ideas to do with the genre, for instance you only get towers that randomly come via a conveyer, or you can only place towers on the enemy path. After deciding on a unique idea, which was that the towers would be destroyed over time, I explored a theme for the game that would help encapsulate the genre and unique idea into a cohesive idea, in this case a beach theme.

Once I had a basic theme and genre I looked at and explored other games within that genre. In the case of the tower defense genre I looked at the three biggest games that have had an impact on me, these games are: Bloons TD 6 (BTD6), Kingdom Rush, and Plants vs Zombies (PvZ). I first decided that PvZ was not a good fit for the style of game I wanted and, I decided on more of a Kingdom Rush feel for the game, with an enemy path with tower plots on the sides of it.

I also preferred the enemy style in Kingdom rush which is various enemies with different stats and a health bar, compared to BTD6’s enemy style, which is a multilayered enemy where every layer takes one damage to be destroyed.

Once the basic idea of the game was fleshed out, I designed rough concepts for attacking troop, towers and used an AI generator to create some images to further develop and envision the game. Throughout this process I developed different ideas on how to expand and make the game work in a feasible and enjoyable way, which is when I decided to incorporate elements of a roguelite into the game design. These roguelite elements are gameplay paths which change every run and run resets on game loss (i.e. permadeath).

Audience and Competitive Analysis

The target audience for the game is teenagers to young adults who enjoy strategy, roguelite, or tower defence games. The game is targeted towards people who enjoy strategy games. This is because players need to devise optimal tower placements as well as time upgrades and tower placements in order to win the game. The game is aimed at people who have a longer time to play due to its longer time per run.

Similar tower defence games have a record of doing well on mobile and PC. Bloons TD 6 was the top selling app on the IOS app store and google app store within the first week (Harrowell, 2018). Plants vs Zombies was the top grossing game on the IOS app store when it was released (Snider, 2010) and has an overwhelming amount of positive reviews on steam (Plants vs. zombies goty edition on Steam). Roguelike tower defence games like Beach Defence games have also done well. RogueTower and Dungeon of the Endless both have a very positive rating on steam (Rogue Tower on steam) (Dungeon of the endless™ on steam). The closest game I have found to my vision of Beach Defence is Tower Tactics: Liberation on Steam which has a very positive review, but not that many players (Tower Tactics: Liberation on Steam).

The game does not have any direct counterparts but it does have many competitors that are within the same genre. I believe that the game’s concept is unique enough that it would standout from the others, but it is not too unique that there would be a large learning curve

Game Treatment & Concepts

Setting / Plot

Pesky beach critters are coming to steal your food. Build sandcastles along the beach to stop those pests but be careful of the tide because it may wash away your towers.

AI generated beach front concept (https://creator.nightcafe.studio/, Generated 22/2/2023)

Key Features

• A range of different tower designs
• Multiple levels to defend against the hoards
• Multiple post game events
• A selection of powerful effects cards
• Customize your deck
• Fight hordes of unique enemies

Overview of mechanics

Deck

A storage space from which you can play tower and effect cards. The cards would cycle when the player has no more to draw, and the player would draw a card whenever they play one.

Card concept art, created by me

Towers

A placeable object that will attack enemies in a multitude of ways. Towers will be a valuable commodity and you will only have a few of them on the screen at once.

Enemies

The enemies with move with a path follower to the end of the track. When the enemies reach their goal, they will damage the player. The enemies will have various stats, including speed, health, damage, and special characteristics (like flying).

Level Design

The levels will consist of one exit where the enemies’ goal is and at least one entrance where the enemies are spawned from. The levels will all be left to right oriented with a focus on the top of the screen.

Concept of a basic level design, created by me

Additional Concept Art

Concept of the UI design (overlayed over the level design), created by me

Path concept art, created by me

AI generated cover art concept (https://creator.nightcafe.studio/, Generated 22/2/2023)

References

• Kingdom Rush: Vengeance (no date) Kingdom Rush Vengeance. Available at: https://www.kingdomrushvengeance.com/ (Accessed: April 7, 2023).
• Harrowell, C. (2018) Kiwi-designed online game 'bloons TD6' tops the worldwide paid App Charts, Stuff. Available at: https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/104765530/kiwidesigned-online-game-bloons-td6-tops-the-worldwide-paid-app-charts (Accessed: April 7, 2023).
• Snider, M. (2010) 'plants vs. Zombies' makes an iphone killing, USA Today. Gannett Satellite Information Network. Available at: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2010/02/plants-vs-zombies-makes-an-iphone-killing/1#.ZC3hq3ZBzIU (Accessed: April 7, 2023).
• (no date) Tower Tactics: Liberation on Steam. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1709900/Tower_Tactics_Liberation/ (Accessed: April 7, 2023).
• Plants vs. zombies goty edition on Steam (no date) Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition on Steam. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3590/Plants_vs_Zombies_GOTY_Edition/ (Accessed: April 7, 2023).
• Rogue Tower on steam (no date) Rogue Tower on Steam. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1843760/Rogue_Tower/ (Accessed: April 7, 2023).
• Dungeon of the endless™ on steam (no date) Dungeon of the ENDLESS™ on Steam. Available at: https://store.steampowered.com/app/249050/Dungeon_of_the_ENDLESS/ (Accessed: April 7, 2023).