Genre Discussion - Strategy/RTS/Tower Defense

Strategy / RTS / Tower Defense

            I absolutely love this genre. It's also probably the easiest genre to "get right". The mechanics seem to always be evolutionary as a standard across the genre since the mechanics are really what define the genre. That being said, the thing that sets games stand apart from each other tends to be the art, level design, and story. While my experience with Stategy and RTS games is on the more "hardcore"/AAA side of games, Tower Defense games are probably the only games I play that could be considered "Casual" or "Mobile".

            The "good games" of this genre are the ones that really balance gameplay mechanics and a pleasing art style. Since Strategy and RTS games tend to be based around multiple races/factions it is absolutely fundamental that they be balanced. This usually comes down to having "rock-paper-scissors" balancing, but it works and why try and improve an already perfect system? As far as pleasing art style is concerned, this is a consideration because the most successful Strategy/RTS/Tower Defense games have a pleasing art style that is obviously developed along side the game's mechanics and lore. Included under the umbrella of art is level design, a factor which really sets each game apart. A large part of the gameplay in this genre, especially in the pro-circuit, is dependent on the game's levels and environments. For example, in StarCraft there are preferred multiplayer maps that are used in the pro-circuit due to their balance; while other, poorer-balanced maps, are banned from tournament play. Good level design in a Strategy/RTS/Tower Defense game varies the player's experience and allows for very repetitive gameplay to be extremely fun.

            As mentioned above, I believe that the StarCraft Franchise is a genre leader in RTS, the XCOM series is a best example of Strategy, and BloonsTD is the best Tower Defense game I have ever played. StarCraft is a very obvious choice because each iteration features amazingly appealing art assets, industry defining cinematics, a compelling story line, a variety of fun levels, and perfection of the "rock-paper-scissors" mechanics. XCOM features the same things as StarCraft, but in the world of Strategy, a game can make it or break it based on its pacing; something which XCOM does a fantastic job of. The combat is relatively fast-paced for a Strategy game and is quite frankly a more exciting version of Chess. Lastly, I included BloonsTD because it excels at having a giant assortment of balanced towers/enemies. The player has a ton of control as there is no "one best way" to beat each map. The art and setting also helps the case for BloonsTD dominance because of its comical and cartoony fun.

            Frankly, I cannot think of a "worst example" of a Strategy/RTS/Tower Defense game. I have not played a lot of Strategy games, and the ones that I have played are wonderful. I have played a lot of RTS games and since the mechanics are all extremely similar, all of the ones I have played are great. However, I am not a fan of the WarCraft series, simply because I played StarCraft first and I just don't like the visual style of WarCraft. As for Tower Defense though, there are a seemingly infinite amount of Tower Defense games. This oversaturation is bound to produce some stinkers which are usually in the form of free Tower Defense games. A single title does not come to mind, but I have played some poor TD games on newgrounds.com which did a poor job of balancing the towers and enemies, had unattractive visuals, and ridiculous level design that involved poorly designed enemy paths.





Derek holds a Bachelor's Degree in Game Design and has two and a half years of game development experience. To view other work please visit www.dereksinex.com or his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/JDKevlar