Immortal Defense
December 24, 2009 2:47 PM Subscribe
Immortal Defense, "the 'topping-out' of the tower defense genre," is temporarily available for whatever you care to pay.
Could somebody maybe write a tower defense meta-game where you have to defend yourself against tower defense games? Lots of tower defense games could attack your web browser, and you have to work out how to protect your productivity.
posted by randomination at 3:28 PM on December 24, 2009 [18 favorites]
posted by randomination at 3:28 PM on December 24, 2009 [18 favorites]
Can anyone summarize what makes this game cool? Is it better than Desktop Tower Defense (my favorite that I've played)?
posted by meadowlark lime at 3:50 PM on December 24, 2009
posted by meadowlark lime at 3:50 PM on December 24, 2009
I'll get you someday, Windows!!!
By "get," I mean never get.
posted by cmoj at 4:18 PM on December 24, 2009 [1 favorite]
By "get," I mean never get.
posted by cmoj at 4:18 PM on December 24, 2009 [1 favorite]
2007 strategy game of the year? And "Mac version coming soon."
I'll wait for Duke Nuke 'Em.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:40 PM on December 24, 2009
I'll wait for Duke Nuke 'Em.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:40 PM on December 24, 2009
And "Mac version coming soon."
It's made in game maker, and that doesn't have a mac version, and I think that was said with the expectation that one would be made and they could port it over. Game Makers is still windows only, so this hasn't happened yet.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 5:01 PM on December 24, 2009
It's made in game maker, and that doesn't have a mac version, and I think that was said with the expectation that one would be made and they could port it over. Game Makers is still windows only, so this hasn't happened yet.
posted by The Devil Tesla at 5:01 PM on December 24, 2009
I thought this meant there was a finally defense against Twilight.
posted by dhartung at 5:36 PM on December 24, 2009
posted by dhartung at 5:36 PM on December 24, 2009
I'm glad to read that I wasn't the only one who thought this game was one of the best things ever. I emailed friends gushing about it, and nobody seemed to share my enthusiasm.
posted by hypersloth at 6:00 PM on December 24, 2009
posted by hypersloth at 6:00 PM on December 24, 2009
The demo crashes for me under wine, with and without DirectX installed. The error is GLXBadDrawable. Anybody else had luck getting it to run in linux?
posted by mad bomber what bombs at midnight at 6:20 PM on December 24, 2009
posted by mad bomber what bombs at midnight at 6:20 PM on December 24, 2009
0.31 - 0.31 = 0.00 USD D: why would you do this D:
For this, they got the pity vote: bought.
posted by doubleozaphod at 6:30 PM on December 24, 2009
For this, they got the pity vote: bought.
posted by doubleozaphod at 6:30 PM on December 24, 2009
So in these tower defense games one defends towers?
posted by goatdog at 6:53 PM on December 24, 2009
posted by goatdog at 6:53 PM on December 24, 2009
I love this game, but never got to buy it. Thank you!
posted by flibbertigibbet at 7:34 PM on December 24, 2009
posted by flibbertigibbet at 7:34 PM on December 24, 2009
You defend things with towers, actually -- generally things (generally called creeps) that either move along a predetermined path (e.g. Gemcraft, Gemcraft Chapter 0, Immortal Defense itself) or simply an ideal path that can be adjusted by the canny deployment of towers (the pretty sterling Defense Grid and the venerable Desktop Tower Defense, for example). The PS3 and PSP feature a pretty great and deviously challenging take on the concept called PixelJunk Monsters. It's a fairly popular genre among Flash developers, so a bit of Googling or searching through MeFi tags and whatnot can yield plenty of other examples.
Challenges in the genre are many and varied. If every creep had the same speed and vulnerabilities, it'd just be a matter of exposing the most monsters to the most firepower (kind of a surface area concern) for the longest possible time. This strategy won't get you far beyond the early tutorial levels in most TD games, as not all towers (particularly in an unupgraded state...upgrading towers is a staple of the genre) can counter all enemies. Flying (AA between their entry point into the level and the goal), armored (strong sniper-style towers), fast (freezing towers), and weak-but-numerous enemies (area-effect weapons like flamethrowers and cannons) are common foes.
TD games also have a strong economic element. Some versions of Desktop TD, for example, grant a bonus if you risk the early release of a wave of creeps. It's important to make sure the towers you build will help kill creeps efficiently, ensuring survival and sustained funding for future rounds.
Immortal Defense has a lot going for it -- a sterling story and setting that surprises pretty consistently, a pretty unique graphical style, an interesting and unusual control scheme (the cursor doubles as a weapon, making more demands on the user's attention than most TD games), and a pretty intriguing arsenal of interlocking towers. For possibly $0, so long as you have a Windows box and the interest there's no real reason to turn it down. The demo is pretty generous, as well.
posted by lumensimus at 8:01 PM on December 24, 2009
Challenges in the genre are many and varied. If every creep had the same speed and vulnerabilities, it'd just be a matter of exposing the most monsters to the most firepower (kind of a surface area concern) for the longest possible time. This strategy won't get you far beyond the early tutorial levels in most TD games, as not all towers (particularly in an unupgraded state...upgrading towers is a staple of the genre) can counter all enemies. Flying (AA between their entry point into the level and the goal), armored (strong sniper-style towers), fast (freezing towers), and weak-but-numerous enemies (area-effect weapons like flamethrowers and cannons) are common foes.
TD games also have a strong economic element. Some versions of Desktop TD, for example, grant a bonus if you risk the early release of a wave of creeps. It's important to make sure the towers you build will help kill creeps efficiently, ensuring survival and sustained funding for future rounds.
Immortal Defense has a lot going for it -- a sterling story and setting that surprises pretty consistently, a pretty unique graphical style, an interesting and unusual control scheme (the cursor doubles as a weapon, making more demands on the user's attention than most TD games), and a pretty intriguing arsenal of interlocking towers. For possibly $0, so long as you have a Windows box and the interest there's no real reason to turn it down. The demo is pretty generous, as well.
posted by lumensimus at 8:01 PM on December 24, 2009
...defend from things, that is.
posted by lumensimus at 8:02 PM on December 24, 2009
posted by lumensimus at 8:02 PM on December 24, 2009
((Dammit, Marc, still no Mac version? After ten years?))
posted by erniepan at 8:06 PM on December 24, 2009
posted by erniepan at 8:06 PM on December 24, 2009
Follow through with crazy procedural effects, towers that are actually representations of your personality (Fear slows, Pride grows in power for every kill, Courage shots keep going in a straight line) and a storyline that makes you question immortality, interventionist foreign policy, and the meaning of justice, and you've got yourself one tasty trip.
That sentence is everything I have been striving to avoid as a gaming writer.
posted by JHarris at 9:11 PM on December 24, 2009 [1 favorite]
That sentence is everything I have been striving to avoid as a gaming writer.
posted by JHarris at 9:11 PM on December 24, 2009 [1 favorite]
Steam is having a pretty outrageous sale right now, lots and lots of $2.50 and $5.00 games, but I went ahead and gave this guy five bucks. From what I've seen so far, it's probably worth it.
posted by Malor at 10:22 PM on December 24, 2009
posted by Malor at 10:22 PM on December 24, 2009
*grumble* Oh sure, no one notices when I mention it.
posted by juv3nal at 12:21 AM on December 25, 2009
posted by juv3nal at 12:21 AM on December 25, 2009
That reminds me of the World of Goo "pay what you like" sale. The even posted the results on the blog , pretty interesting if you care about that kind of thing. I'd be interested to know how this one goes in terms of sales and if it really makes sense from a commercial point of view.
posted by wet-raspberry at 2:03 PM on December 25, 2009
posted by wet-raspberry at 2:03 PM on December 25, 2009
Seems like the link I gave to their blog didn't post properly. Should work now.
posted by wet-raspberry at 2:05 PM on December 25, 2009
posted by wet-raspberry at 2:05 PM on December 25, 2009
Is this something I'd have to have a tower to understand?
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:03 PM on December 25, 2009
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:03 PM on December 25, 2009
Well, I've got a few hours in, and it's a pretty good game. It's, you know, tower defense, but the graphics are fairly nice, and the story is interesting.
If I have any real complaints, it's that there's so much going on that it's hard to tell what the priority targets are. And you're so very busy that it's hard to get time to do upgrades and place new 'towers'. But, on the whole, it's worth at least a few bucks, for sure.
posted by Malor at 8:44 PM on December 25, 2009
If I have any real complaints, it's that there's so much going on that it's hard to tell what the priority targets are. And you're so very busy that it's hard to get time to do upgrades and place new 'towers'. But, on the whole, it's worth at least a few bucks, for sure.
posted by Malor at 8:44 PM on December 25, 2009
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posted by Faint of Butt at 3:26 PM on December 24, 2009