Tower Defense

Water warfare game types, ideas, rules, organization, etc.
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wetmonkey442
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Tower Defense

Post by wetmonkey442 » Wed Apr 27, 2011 5:55 pm

I was thinking today about game types that are optimized for large (>15) groups with a wide-range of water weaponry. In order to make sure everybody has fun and the rules are both easy to understand and easy to enforce, the game type has to be tailored to the lowest common denominator. One possibility is a modified version of tower or objective defense.

In this gametype, a centralized headquarters is defended by 4 or 5 people. One or more respawn points are placed around the perimeter of the field or, in a linear field, opposite the headquarters. The offensive team is tasked with destroying the objective located at the headquarters. One idea I had for an objective could be a moderately heavy object suspended by a foot of tissue-paper. When the tissue paper is touched by water, even lightly, the paper would tear and the object would fall to the ground. When the objects hits the ground, the objective is effectively "destroyed". At this point the objective would be reset or the teams would change or whatever suited your own tastes.

The attacking team would have water-soluble targets (perhaps again tissue paper) affixed to their fronts and/or backs. When hit with water in these spots, these members would be "killed" and would have to return to their respawn location to get a new square of tissue paper. The defending team would be invulnerable to water, their only limitations being their smaller size and availability of water/reloading etc.

This gametype if very flexible and could be made much more interesting with obstacles, barriers, dyed water for increased visibility etc. In addition, the defending team could have a slingshot or pneumatic water balloon launcher with a limited supply of water balloons, making the attacking team have to consider the best approach to the objective.

In my mind, I figured this would well with 4-5 people on defense, 10-12 people attacking, and maybe a referee or two patrolling to check for hits. Of course, the size and rules could be modified for any situation. I just like the idea of a clear objective that is not-subjective and does not limit people who do not have access to the best weaponry, etc.


Thoughts?
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HBWW
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Re: Tower Defense

Post by HBWW » Wed Apr 27, 2011 6:14 pm

I've posted a ton on objectives and game setups, as well as gametype classification earlier which you can go through if you want. I focused on separating gametypes with objective types, as they can be mixed and match amongst different game types. (i.e. a game may feature a CTF component as well as capturing/destroying some objective.)

The objectives I've listed:


Flag/Flag Capture Point: Fairly straightforward but important to note that flags and capture points can be mixed around. (i.e. neutral flag CTF where teams fight over a flag in the middle of the field.)

Container Target: Represented by any container that can hold water (i.e. water bottles, buckets, etc.), any team that fills up an opposing team's Container Target completely using water will score against it.

Attack Target: Similar to the Container Target, but easier to score against. It is any target that can be soaked or blasted by water directly, such as a square of toilet paper. When the target is soaked or destroyed, it is considered scored.

Bomb & Target: Basically the bombing game in Halo, Counterstrike Source, Call of Duty, etc. There are different ways to represent a bomb and to time it though.


Your objective idea is probably a better substitute for the Attack Target.

As for counting hits against players, that is a different matter, as it is not the same kind of objective as what I mentioned above. The only way hit rules and objectives tie into a gametype is when hits count as points which can contribute to a team winning or loosing (i.e. get a kill = 1 point, capture the flag = 5 points, as opposed to standard CTF where kills are not counted, other than having teams share a pool of limited lives), as well as objective completions.

Invulnerability is something I've some experience with, particularly with infection. My approach is a lot different though; the defending team (or survivors in Infection) are vulnerable but get as much waterpower as anyone could ask for (two hoses, CPS's, etc.), and the attacking team is invulnerable but is limited to piston pumpers and less. (Water bottles, squirt guns, etc. are also acceptable.) The idea is the same however; make one team invulnerable and balance the game setup accordingly, then allow the teams to swap roles. However, this works best with evenly numbers of players on each team instead of using staggered/unbalanced team numbers. That said, if you divide the teams accordingly, you can still have teams swap roles and give everyone a chance to play each role. For example, if you have 12 players for an 8v4 assault game, you can have several rounds where groups of 4 take turns playing the small team. Essentially, you are dividing the whole group into 3 teams of 4 each, and have the team of 8 simply be an alliance of two such teams. The group of 12 could obviously also be divided into 4 groups of 3 each, making for 4 rounds of 9v3.
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scottthewaterwarrior
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Re: Tower Defense

Post by scottthewaterwarrior » Wed Apr 27, 2011 7:23 pm

wetmonkey442 -- The offensive team is tasked with destroying the objective located at the headquarters. One idea I had for an objective could be a moderately heavy object suspended by a foot of tissue-paper. When the tissue paper is touched by water, even lightly, the paper would tear and the object would fall to the ground.
Very good idea on destructable objectives, I really like it. If I can get my friends to be pataint enough to set it up I might just try this.
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Re: Tower Defense

Post by cantab » Thu Apr 28, 2011 9:41 am

I wouldn't bother with targets on the people. Just play that if you're hit, you're eliminated. People tend to be sporting.

To be true to the tower defence video game concept, I think you need the following:

Defenders cannot move, or have very limited movement - that's what makes it tower defence.

The defenders need to be affected in some way by being hit, otherwise the attackers' weapons are pointless. A few ideas:

- Defender is simply "stunned" for a fixed time period. The most obvious option
- Defender must empty their pressure chamber into their refill bottle. As well as disabling them for the time period, this also inhibits the defender's ability to fight on, which might be interesting.
- If an attacker hits a defender, that attacker is from then on immune to that defender. Would require everyone to recognise each other.

Attackers should be limited to following a "maze". In an urban area, this could just be natural streets. In a park, paths could be used. Or routes could be marked out using cones, tape, etc. In many cases, it's important to keep the attackers at a sufficient distance from the defenders, or the attackers can essentially spawn camp the defenders at point-blank range. (With attacker immunity from defenders they shoot, this isn't needed, since there's no reason for an attacker to shoot any defender more than once, except distraction.)

Instead of a final target, there could simply be a count of how many times an attacker has made it through the maze. This would work well if you had multiple teams chosen to begin with, and then each time-limited round has one team on attack and all others on defense.

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Re: Tower Defense

Post by marauder » Thu May 12, 2011 8:51 pm

We did this all the time in battles between the Vermin Wars... just not nearly as well defined. We didn't have any clear objective. Just, eliminate the people in the fort, etc. I like your specifics. It would be a lot of fun.
cantab wrote:To be true to the tower defence video game concept, I think you need the following:

Defenders cannot move, or have very limited movement - that's what makes it tower defence.
You could put it this way "Defenders cannot leave the tower." I have a tower er tree fort in my back yard.
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HBWW
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Re: Tower Defense

Post by HBWW » Fri May 13, 2011 12:12 am

I have designated your objective as the "Hanging Target" and it is being added accordingly to HBWW's games directory.

Cantab presents interesting alternatives to elimination (both temporary and round-permanent) for getting hit. Perhaps instead of making hit players empty the reservoir and wasting water, jinxing them could be better; they may only use certain blasters for X amount of time.

For my own intents and purposes, I consider the Headquarters game to include an element where teams need to rush to capture an objective before holding it. Oddly, I never added that to my game listings.
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K3YD0N
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Re: Tower Defense

Post by K3YD0N » Sat Jun 11, 2011 8:37 pm

what i have found good for timing stuff is to have a water balloon slowly filling at a trickling rate. only problem it that its kinda unpredictable and could go pop before and not the same time exactly for both teams if you switch sides ( with the popping it dose help because it wets everything nearby.
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