powerdefense.com

[powerdefense]

Powerdefense
A towerdefense game. Towers require energy. Towers can be upgraded by adding components.

Url: https://www.powerdefense.com

Screenshot:

 

Lemme know what you guys think

 

[TheBoneJarmer]

It is kinda hard to give a review when your 'start' button is not working.  When I click on it the page just refreshes. Let us know when you fixed it, it has been a while since I played a good Tower Defence. So looking forward to it.

[powerdefense]

Yea i butched that one up. 

Agree thats its kind of important button.

Should work now :).

recommend the tutorial to get impression

[TheBoneJarmer]

Well, I started the tutorial and I like it so far but it does not cover the most important part: the input. Like how to connect the tower to the turret for example, or how to get the miner starting mining. I guessed it had to do with the mouse buttons so I managed to got the turret powered on by fiddle around a bit, but I really had to puzzle with placing a wall or the miner. I have yet to figure out how to make the miner working. Also, why the account stuff? First thing I see when I visit the website is a login form on the homepage. It gives me the impression the game is multiplayer. But is it? The graphics are awesome though, kudos for that.

So my advice for now is: Improve the tutorial by being more concrete about which input to use and where. Like in the Age of Empires 2 tutorial campaign, the narrator tells you in detail how to select a group of units and move them around; "Left click near the group of units and drag a box around them, then right-click near the blue flag" could not be more clear. Secondly, if the game is in fact not multiplayer, remove the form from the homepage. Otherwise you'd give people the impression you're hosting a multiplayer game and when they figure out it is not, they'll feel deceived and quit right away.

That being said, it looks pretty impressive so far. Just work a bit more on your tutorial and the account stuff and you're good to go for sure. And if you are clueless on what to explain to players in your tutorial, imagine you give this to a 11 year old kid. He'll make sure to ask the right questions. ?

EDIT:

I was thinking about that form, maybe you should change the title "login" to "member area". That way you don't give the impression the game is multiplayer, but you can also keep the form right where it is and hint the player there is a member area.  

EDIT2:

Again thinking about the tutorial. You use hints to tell the player how to do it if he is stuck. But don't, you should be straightforward about the instruction right away. Imho, a tutorial should not be a guess-game, but a straight-forward manual on how to play the game. I feel like the tutorial right now is not.

[powerdefense]

Thank alot for your time.

I agree that the tutorial should be more helpful towards input and controls. 

I dont want to scare visitors away with a signup / member area. But the campaign can get complicated (inventory, building designs, decisions, tech tree). I want to keep track of campaign progress serverside.

I will definately keep the tutorial and skirmish without user signup.

 

[powerdefense]

So I pretty much implemented all your feedback. 

The tutorial has alot of input help now. 

My wife managed to finish the new tutorial so probably 11 year olds can too ?.

[TheBoneJarmer]

Perfect! One more small feedback, there is a big empty space in the center of the homepage now. What about you place a big fat "PLAY" button over there? I know the nav contains a 'play'-link but you gotta search for it for a sec. It'd be easier for guests if they knew right away where to play the game. But other than that, nicely done! Keep up the good work!