Game Concept
Title
PapPanda TD
Concept Statement
Finding a place to live as a panda is difficult. In PapPanda TD the player is a well-established panda defending their tree. Hostile pandas are trying to invade your space but masterful training in bamboo tossing will help you defend your tree.
Genre
PapPanda TD is a solo tower defence game and wave defence. The main panda and his tree will be the solo tower of the game and the defence point. Enemy pandas will follow the path towards your tree, and you will have to use skilfully targeted bamboo throwing to defend it. Enemies defeated will increase your skills with bamboo to help with the increasing horde of invading pandas.
Concept and Creation
The concept creation for PapPanda TD started with the thought of recreating elements of Warcraft 3. Blizzard Entertainment had published Warcraft 3 in 2002 and released with it a custom game option where users could build their own maps and game modes to play within the engine of Warcraft 3. These user-created maps ranged in many game genres, but I was most interested in the Tower Defence games. These maps usually entailed a defence point which had to be protected from waves of invading enemies with increasing difficulty as the waves went on. Towers were built to defend the defence point and a resource was collected from killing enemies to upgrade your towers (Figure 2). To achieve victory the player or players would have to defeat all the incoming waves of enemies by managing their resources to build effective towers. A player or team who failed to defeat all enemies would incur damage to the defence point and once reduced to 0, lose the game.
Like most TD’s, variation from the game basics of building structures and defending a base is what makes different TD’s unique. Many TD’s that were created within Warcraft 3 showed diversity by implementing mechanics such as different builders which had specialized towers for unique enemies, adding PVP to a game where players spawned the enemy waves instead of static spawning enemies, and rare resources that could be used to build towers with higher damage to defeat boss mobs. I was left to think how I could build a unique variation of an already diverse game genre and then Ian mentioned pandas in week 5.
PapPanda TD takes some of the essential elements of a tower defence game where the main player, a panda, will be trying to protect his home from invading pandas. The panda’s home will be the main “tower” of the game and the defence point. Instead of fully automated towers, this tower defence will have elements of skill engaging the player in a “point and shoot” skill shot to defeat enemies and automation once the tower has been upgraded by spending bamboo sprouts. This game is designed to be addictive and have elements of cute pandas which are irresistible. Many skills learnt in KIT109 Games Fundamentals tutorials will be implemented to make the game fun, challenging and strategic. The final product was established. PapPanda TD would be a solo Tower Defence / Wave Defence where the player will have to protect his pristine panda paradise from invading pandas. Each successful wave of defence will increase the difficulty and number of pandas and even introduce new animals trying to take your space.
Game Treatment and Concept Art
Setting
You are a panda in the thick of a bamboo forest. You have finally found the panda paradise with lots of delicious bamboo to crunch on. Unfortunately, you are not the only panda looking for panda paradise! Using your bamboo building and throwing skills, defend your pristine panda paradise from the invading hordes of pandas. But beware, as you defeat the incoming waves, the pandas will go back and spread the word, bringing back their mates to invade your space. Even other animals will start to catch on! Collect bamboo sprouts from defeating enemies and grow more bamboo and upgrade your paradise into a bamboo fortress!
Mechanics and Gameplay
The main controls of the player will be clicking left mouse to throw bamboo and aiming towards the cursor position. A clickable interface will be used for selecting upgrades to your base and panda.
Enemies will spawn in waves at a set location and follow a path towards your tower. Enemies that reach your tower will deal damage to your base (occupy space). Defeating all enemies of the current wave will progress you to the next wave which will have increased number of enemies and new types of enemies in later waves. Defeating an enemy will give you bamboo sprouts which can be used to purchase upgrades.
The player will have to defend their base against different speeded enemies by carefully throwing bamboo whilst spending resources to help with the increasing difficulty.
Key Features:
- The ability to aim and shoot from your main tower.
- Multiple waves of increasing difficulty and speed.
- Interactable UI for unique upgrades to player and base.
Concept Art
Above are some concept art ideas that have been sourced online. The main character will be a panda like the one on the left and the scenery would be a bamboo forest with bamboo trees and lots of greenery and water. There will be several visual indicators on the screen for wave number and health, additionally a UI with clickable buttons that has a bamboo outline and follows a similar texture style.
This backdrop gives a great example of the colour scheme I will be using for the game and menus.
References
Warcraft 3, Battle.net – game publisher, viewed <https://playwarcraft3.com/en-us/>
Danielmahon, 2014, Panda Character 32x32, viewed 20 August 2022, <https://opengameart.org/content/panda-character-32x32>
Sevarihk, 2022, Bamboo Tiles, viewed 20 August 2022, <https://opengameart.org/content/bamboo-tiles>
Craftpix.net, 2019, Bamboo Mountain 2D Game Tileset, viewed 22 August 2022, <https://craftpix.net/product/bamboo-mountain-2d-game-tileset/?num=1&count=2&sq=bamboo&pos=1>
Pixel Frog, 2019, Pixel Adventure 2, viewed 24 August 2022, <https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/characters/pixel-adventure-2-155418>
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