Hello everyone! I'm Andras Klujber, the lead designer of the Defenders of Ardania. Let me introduce you this mindblowing game!
Probably all of you have already met one of the many kinds of tower defense games. You know, where you have to build towers to defend your base from the bugs, aliens, zombies, and other things swooping down upon you. Well, Defenders of Ardania belongs to these games, with a small addition.
I remember how frustrating the oncoming flow of enemy forces rushing against me has become after a while, and I was always wondering how it is possible that so many enemies could come forth from such a small castle. We went along this chain of thought somewhere around the early planning stages of Defenders of Ardania and came up with the conclusion:
The enemy base must be eliminated!
The characteristics of the tower defense games do not allow the players too many possibilities in this area, since, as it can be easily inferred from the name of the category, everything is about defending here. But if the enemies and us both have a base, and „good will” is spewed forth against us in endless hordes, why shouldn’t we return it in kind?
This is how it came to be that Defenders of Ardania put a little twist in the tower defense style and smuggled in the possibility of sending units.
Just think about it! The enemies attacking us in waves are still there, but being forced to defend is now extended with the possibility of striking back.
Obviously this would not be enough to beat our chests proudly. The idea is fine, but it should be realized somehow. What else remains?
Well, we need a world where the story – because we need that, too – takes place. Ardania.. Majesty.. Funny, good looking, exciting – we couldn’t expect more in a partner either. Perfect! Thanks Paradox!
Yes, the world brings along its history, races, environment, and hopefully a fanbase as well, that is a huge help, but what makes it better than any other tower defense game? Sending units is a good idea, surely it will be interesting for a while, but we need more than that.
Races. There are three of them already . Classic RTS feature . The good, the bad and the ugly, or let the story decide that.
Towers and units en masse? Check, we were not looking for that, it is quite basic in a tower defense game.
Heroes? Not bad, quite a lot of games benefited from them, nowadays it is essential to have someone in a game you can relate to. Excellent! There will be two dozens of them right away, so that everyone can find one to their own liking.
A Fantasy world cannot exists without spells and upgrades, so we put a lots of them into the game. There will be classic ’boost your tower’ types, and unique spells and upgrades too, but hey, there will be more developer diary. We’ll talk about these tasty details later.
Well, so far we have a well rounded game with loads of interesting features and an intriguing idea, but we still do not feel it to be so much different from other tower defense games… and then Big Chris enters and says: the word you are looking for, gentlemen, is Multiplayer.
Yes! Yes! Yes! It’s so evident! What else could be more enjoyable than crushing evil AI monsters and burning their castle to the ground if not doing the same to our best friends? I sit back a bit, imagine the faces of my friends, as we smash each other in Defenders of Ardania at the weekend LAN parties or over the internet from our homes. All kinds of game modes flash before my eyes, competitions and rankings… I am satisfied.
Probably all of you have already met one of the many kinds of tower defense games. You know, where you have to build towers to defend your base from the bugs, aliens, zombies, and other things swooping down upon you. Well, Defenders of Ardania belongs to these games, with a small addition.
I remember how frustrating the oncoming flow of enemy forces rushing against me has become after a while, and I was always wondering how it is possible that so many enemies could come forth from such a small castle. We went along this chain of thought somewhere around the early planning stages of Defenders of Ardania and came up with the conclusion:
The enemy base must be eliminated!
The characteristics of the tower defense games do not allow the players too many possibilities in this area, since, as it can be easily inferred from the name of the category, everything is about defending here. But if the enemies and us both have a base, and „good will” is spewed forth against us in endless hordes, why shouldn’t we return it in kind?
This is how it came to be that Defenders of Ardania put a little twist in the tower defense style and smuggled in the possibility of sending units.
Just think about it! The enemies attacking us in waves are still there, but being forced to defend is now extended with the possibility of striking back.
Obviously this would not be enough to beat our chests proudly. The idea is fine, but it should be realized somehow. What else remains?
Well, we need a world where the story – because we need that, too – takes place. Ardania.. Majesty.. Funny, good looking, exciting – we couldn’t expect more in a partner either. Perfect! Thanks Paradox!
Yes, the world brings along its history, races, environment, and hopefully a fanbase as well, that is a huge help, but what makes it better than any other tower defense game? Sending units is a good idea, surely it will be interesting for a while, but we need more than that.
Races. There are three of them already . Classic RTS feature . The good, the bad and the ugly, or let the story decide that.
Towers and units en masse? Check, we were not looking for that, it is quite basic in a tower defense game. Heroes? Not bad, quite a lot of games benefited from them, nowadays it is essential to have someone in a game you can relate to. Excellent! There will be two dozens of them right away, so that everyone can find one to their own liking.
A Fantasy world cannot exists without spells and upgrades, so we put a lots of them into the game. There will be classic ’boost your tower’ types, and unique spells and upgrades too, but hey, there will be more developer diary. We’ll talk about these tasty details later.
Well, so far we have a well rounded game with loads of interesting features and an intriguing idea, but we still do not feel it to be so much different from other tower defense games… and then Big Chris enters and says: the word you are looking for, gentlemen, is Multiplayer.
Yes! Yes! Yes! It’s so evident! What else could be more enjoyable than crushing evil AI monsters and burning their castle to the ground if not doing the same to our best friends? I sit back a bit, imagine the faces of my friends, as we smash each other in Defenders of Ardania at the weekend LAN parties or over the internet from our homes. All kinds of game modes flash before my eyes, competitions and rankings… I am satisfied.
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