3D Tower Defense Starter Kit

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3D Tower Defense Starter Kit is designed for all users of Unity, who ever wanted to create a tower defense game. The goal of this project is to deliver you a game-ready prototype including resources and an extensive documentation, so you are able to integrate your own assets and adjustments easily, on your way to your own tower defense game - this project has all you need to do so.

Features:

• Unity UI integration - no third party UI plugins needed
• Full source code in C# - object-oriented programming, every line documented
• All game files included - models, sounds, effects, ... free for commercial use
• Advanced Tower Logic - several tower settings make up hundreds of combinations
• Self Control - interactively control your tower in a 3rd person perspective
• Multiple Projectile Variations - e.g. "Area of Effect", "Damage over Time" or enemy slowdown
• Simple Enemy Logic - movement using Simple Waypoint System
• Wave Settings - normal spawning or endless waves with increased enemy properties
• Battle Power-ups - initiate special abilities during the game, which affect enemies or towers
• Passive Power-ups - one-time abilities with requirements, allowing talent-tree like setups
• Custom editor widgets - no need to code, if you don't want to
• Sample GUI including menus - uGUI integration, track your game status and enemy progress
• Smartphone support - touch screen controls including mobile joystick
• Additional documentation - example scenes and Step-by-Step Guide for your own TD game

Game Instructions:
Move Camera - arrow keys or scroll wheel pressed
Rotate Camera - hold right mouse button
Zoom in and out - scroll wheel
Control tower - rightclick on tower (+200-300% damage)

ArrowTower: quickly shoots one arrow
MultiTower: shoots multiple arrows
CannonTower: deals explosion damage on impact, ground only
BallistaTower: shoots one large arrow, air only
FrostTower: deals frost damage on impact and slows enemies down
FlameTower: deals area-of-effect and damage over time, ground only.

 

Would we be able to use all music and art on commercial projects?

 

Yes! All included assets are free for commercial use. Please just don't resell or distribute them separately.

 

Nice, and would it include touch input? (just to make sure what you mean by smartphone support)

 

Thanks for your interest, touch input is also included. In fact, the game will be fully playable on mobile devices - this means that you are able to navigate through the scene, place/sell towers and control towers on smartphones.

Again, I would like to point to our product page for more information. Maybe that's hard to see in the text.

 

Do you have a solid release date? My credit card is ready now.

 

Also waiting for this kit, love TD-games

 

Hi everyone,

we are looking forward to release this kit at the end of June. Right now we are fixing a few animations and bugs, to give it a solid start.

Cheers Mig

Rebound Games

 

I tried the free version for nGUI and I was thinking to buy the full version. Do you intend to add support for nGUI? Or are you going to use your own gui solution? Thanks

 

Hello again taku,

currently we're using Unity's built-in GUI. I know it has a lot problems in its current state performance-wise. We decided to use Unity's GUI, because it will be a Starter Kit for Unity and there shouldn't be any hassle with external plugins, so nGUI isn't on the list for now. However, we are very excited about upgrading our GUI to the new GUI system when it comes out.

Note:
In the past weeks we made some great progress on shuriken particle effects, so a release by the end of June still stands.

Regards,
B.

 

Wow looks good. What will the price be? How is it going to compare to songtans tower defence kit?

 

Thanks for the fast answer.
I asked the question about nGUI because I`m interested in the mobile platform. And there you need performance and nGUI can deliver that.
Also, a tower defense game is almost 100% meant to be a mobile game. There is the free version NGUI which can be used and also I`m sure there are many people who bought it. Maybe these are not solid enought arguments for you, but I would love to have the freedom ( even for a tower defense game) to build my own interface and game mechanics. How much freedom I will have using the GUI solution provided with the kit? I mean, I`m an artist, not a programer.

Glad to hear you`re on schedule.
Keep up the good work and looking forward to the final release.

 

Hi aiursrage2k,

thanks. The price will be about $60, like nearly any other Starter Kit on the Asset Store.

I mentioned a 'prototype' in the description, but it's a full game. We will include all models, creatures and soundtracks, so you can see how your game could look like in a production scenario, when the webplayer is online. I think Songtan's kit also do not provide the ability to control a tower and shoot enemies on your own. I can't really say anything about script-comparisons, because I haven't seen them, but let me tell you that we have ensured a variety of flexibilities with a minimum amount of public variables. Our one-fits-them-all projectile script for example, handles all impact behaviour - one script for explosions, damage over time, slow, area damage, or all of it by simply toggling checkboxes.

Besides of that, you do get everything what you need for getting started: wave management, pooling management, movement management, tower management, etc. There's a whole list of information on our product page. And the cool part: Once set up, you can change every necessary value and behaviour without coding. I think it will compete well with other kits

 

These are arguments for me and good feedback as well. Unfortunately we can't learn implement an other GUI solution so close before our release date. All our scripts are method-based without a whole series of if-else queries. Every button has a custom texture and position, for only calling the right method. You can switch textures, layouts or the complete design if you take these methods into account. The documentation will also provide a good overview of all script connections and necessary settings. You don't need to be a programmer for changing game mechanics, that's our motto and I will make sure of it.

 

Thanks for the detailed answer.
Looking forward for the final release
Cheers,

 

Hi all,

are there any other interested parties in an integration of NGUI? We're now looking for a solid GUI solution for our Starter Kit and are curious if it would be a good idea to distribute it with the free version of NGUI. We would like to release the kit within schedule, gather more feedback and maybe integrate NGUI a month later.

What is your opinion?

 

Tried the free version of NGUI, 10 minutes later I bought it so I vote to integrate NGUI into this kit since I simple love NGUI (but that's my opinion)

 

Thanks, dukieee.

Further proposals regarding NGUI? The kit is for the community, you decide what goes in.

 

What is the price? When will it be available?

 

Having a NGUI interface version looks much more interesting to me. Definitely +1 for NGUI!
And a pdf tutorial with steps to build the level from scratch, kind of "Build a 3D Tower Defense for Dummies" will be highly appreciated.
Ah, and one question: will the NGUI version provide the same approach scripting wise? I mean, the NGUI interface elements will have the corresponding scripts attached to perform the needed actions?
Thanks.

 

Hey rockysam,

the price tag is still placed at around $60-65. We plan to submit it by the end of June, but it will likely take up to two weeks until it gets accepted on the Asset Store.

 

Hello Mark_T,

thanks for your vote!

We know that assets without proper documentation can be annoying, so we definitely take this task very serious. A good tutorial is essential for such a big project, you can count on it!

If we'll implement NGUI - actually, before we release anything, we clean up our GUI methods to provide maximum generalization, so we simply can call all the same methods via NGUI's widget system. We will also try, that with NGUI, our GUI looks the same as before (or even better!). Did I answer your question?

Regards,
B.

 

Are you still on track for release by the end of this month?

 

Since we curtly decided to integrate NGUI into it for delivering the first release with a mobile-ready GUI-solution, unfortunately this brings a short delay. Our submission date is now 2 weeks later, around July 15. At that point, it will likely take a week until it gets accepted, depending on the Unity Asset Store team.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience.
We don't want to rush it and deliver a well polished, fully documented mobile-ready product instead.

Still, a development build of our webplayer will be up in the course of next week.

Regards,
B.

 

I don`t wanna say that I enjoy waiting a few more weeks, but this is really good news. Just bought NGUI and now this. It`s just perfect. More power and freedom. Really appreciate for taking this decision.

 

Hi all,

I uploaded a development build of our kit, waiting for you to play it!
You can find it in the announcement post.

Still working on enemy models, we're nearly there.
Hope you like it so far! All feedback welcomed.

Best regards,
Baroni

 

Hehe, nice surprise. I loved it.
Guys, you have to hurry up! My wallet is to heavy. :}
I was a bit clumsy with the UI buttons in the beginning. I was expecting after I upgrade the tower, the upgrade interface to go away. After a while I`ve seen that it`s possible more than one upgrade, which is good of course. Basically you can build and upgrade any time. There is no build/upgrade mode or a play mode. Nice.
Congrats!!

Keep up the good work!


P.S. - And again, hurry up!

 

Ohhh, and I have to say that I won!!!

 

Haha, thanks taku, congratulations for winning the game! I'm sure we can do something about your heavy wallet

Currently the GUI utilizes one script for the buttons (another two for other GUI elements), that hooks up callback messages for all NGUI buttons involved. Modifying this toolset of course needs programming skills, but hiding the upgrade menu after an upgrade was processed would be a 2-liner due to internal methods.

Yes, build and upgrade time aren't separated as well as build or play mode. This gets controlled via the wave start options, of which 4 are available by default. The webplayer uses "waveCleared", that means the wave manager component will wait until all enemies in the current wave are defeated and add a slight delay (increases per wave) before automatically starting the next wave. Custom types are also possible and should be easily integrated.

Thanks! We'll do our best

Greetings

 

Hello again,

here's a quick shot of our mobile version while controlling a fire tower:



On the right side, you see the joystick component for positioning and rotating the camera, along with a button to leave the controlled tower. To the left there is a button to shoot. Of course you can aim and shoot at the same time (multitouch). Stay tuned for more news!

 

Lightmaps and enemies are now in place.
Good luck beating them!

Hint: Assist your towers by controlling them where necessary.

(Webplayer in the first post)


I'll start working on the documentation tomorrow, which should give you a complete overview on every component and every setup needed for building your own tower defense game, supported by many example scenes for important manager objects involved.
Next week the kit will be available through paypal first, then hopefully after some days in the Unity Asset Store as well.

Thanks for reading and playing,
B.

 

Nice improvements in this latest build. I enjoyed the multiple creep types and animations, the multiple spawning points, the minimap is a nice implementation.
A few observations though. After upgrading a tower and my resources are 0, the upgrade button is going away. After killing a few enemies and my resources are enough to upgrade again, the upgrade button is not coming back. I have to deselect the tower and select it back to have the upgrade option available again. I expected the very moment I have the resources to upgrade, the button will come back on screen. A second thought is that after selecting/building a tower a expected that clicking somewhere in the game the upgrade tower interface will be deselected automatically. It took me a while to fins the x button.
These are not critics in any way, because the demo is really impressive. These might be just a different way to see the game mechanics for this particular example. I might be biased here, I know.
One question: will it be possible to come up with a totally different UI? I mean the way the GUI mechanics are working, not only the visual appearance and placement.
I`m more and more curious how the kit is built. How things will work for me, the indie developer with no scripting knowledge.

Do not hurry up with the documentation. Or .... No no. Hurry up! Hurry up!

Keep up the good work guys.
Looking forward to the moment I`ll have to contact you through PayPal.

 

Thanks taku

I'll get your suggestions integrated over the weekend. Regarding GUI mechanics: Well, that's a very broad question... You likely don't need to change the information shown in the top left and top right corner, so you are left with the button mechanics. I'm a programmer, even if I tried to make the most competitive all-round GUI solution out there, this would result in a script with 200 checkboxes... It really depends on what you're after, but I can't see how it would be possible to come up with totally different UI mechanics with no visual scripting tool or something else, I mean, Unity works like that. You need a script that knows when and where it should instantiate a tower if a (mouse) button is pressed.

All that functionality goes in the current GUI script and I tried to outsource it as much as possible. If you wish to build a complete different UI, you propably don't want to use it at all and only investigate the methods it is calling, for your own mechanics. I'm eager for your feedback on how I can improve it to make it more artist friendly! Hope that didn't sound too negative

 

Too negative? Haha, that`s a good one. I really appreciate your answers.

I was thinking something like using more than 2 resources for the towers. In the demo example you`re using gold and resources. Maybe I want 5 resources: iron, wood, stone, water, and fire. Or maybe specific resources for each tower. Or maybe I want to group the text I want to display on the screen differently: icons for each resource and the text showing the amount of each resource on the right of the icon. I was thinking that for each displayed component it`ll be a script attached to that NGUI element. A modular approach.
I hope my answer makes sense.

 

Actually, the demo only uses 1 resource, gold represents your health. Multiple resources are definitely easy to implement, I'll write that down for an update. Basically you would just have to change the variable for resources to an array on each side, enemies, towers and GUI. Enemies drop resources, the GUI accesses towers to visualize what you need to build them. The grouping and ordering of resources on the screen would be up to you. Either way, they need to be connected to the GUI script. With a modular approach, the GUI wouldn't know the amount of each resource. Instead, all of them are placed in one script, easily accessible at once, so you only have to distribute them to many NGUI elements by drag&drop an UILabel in the corresponding resource slot. Yeah, this idea manifests itself We absolutely need to stay in contact for more awesome ideas

 

This looks great! One question: How easy would it be to replace the enemy models and/or the tower effects (frost, fire, etc.) with my own? For example, if I wanted to shoot whip cream out of one of the towers, and replace the flying dragons with balloons (I'm just making these up .

Thanks!

 

Very easy

I programmed two editor widgets, one for enemies and one for towers, that saves a bunch of dragging and dropping components around so you can setup them within minutes. They do not have that much restrictions and everything will be described in the documentation.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the quick reply. Looking forward to purchasing this!

 

Cant wait to buy this!!

 

So... Ready for purchase now?

 

I'm really working day and night on the documentation, so it's just a matter of hours
Currently there are 20 pages of documentation, with 7 pages left to go.

It will be ready on PayPal tomorrow, promise! I'll update this thread and let everybody know.

 

Please don't overwork to get it out! Quality takes time, and it also takes rest. We can all be patient.

 

Everybody can be patient, but presumably don't want to wait

It'll be out today, working on the final page. It's 16 pm here, I would say be patient till 19-20 pm

 

Finally, it's online!

After 1 year of work, I'm proud to announce our

3D Tower Defense Starter Kit Release

It comes with 44 pages documentation, all models and game files, NGUI integration,
advanced tower logic, interactive self control, enemy logic and path behavior using our Simple Waypoint System,
multiple projectile variations, 2 game scenes with intro and gameover menu, 6 example scenes,
a bunch of handy components such as a Pool Manager, Audio Manager, Wave Manager
and more!



Go get it now from our store. Unity's Asset Store will follow soon!




Almost forgot it, if you buy this Starter Kit now you also get our Simple Waypoint System for free!
Save $15! This offer will last at least until 3 weeks after the kit is available on the Unity Asset Store.
Please pm or email me your invoice number and you will receive a free download link within 24 hours.

 

Bought it!!!!!!!, I couldn't resist to this cake hehehe

 

Ah! 44 pages of Baroni's documentation are sweet I got Simple Waypoint System a while ago, and was really impressed by its clear and comprehensive documentation, which is a thing I found very rarely within Unity's Assets.

 

Thank you very much Eskema and Daniele!
This documentation is indeed a sweet thing, took me 4 days with 14 hours each, so I'm proud of that too

Here's a little teaser:



Thanks to those who bought a copy within minutes

 

I'm reading the documentation and everything makes perfect sense and very detailed, also I've found a couple of minor optimisation details, I will send you my modifications to improve a bit the poolmanager (maybe it's just me being too lazy about that... hehehe)

 

Haha, sure, I will look into them

Glad the documentation makes sense, I tried to keep it simple.

Thanks

 

So far it looks great! The docs are great, too (although there are a few grammatical errors, but nothing big)! I can't wait to get through the docs and get all of the assets and code that I've got sitting here waiting to be integrated in place. Maybe you should add a 'showcase' section to your site for those who use the kit to link their final games upon?