Tower Defense

In the process of doing research for this blog post, I got sidetracked... for a long time. If you don't know, Tower Defense is a new genre of game where you erect towers that shoot at groups of enemies. The enemies walk, fly, ride, or sail from one end of the map to another, and your objective is to prevent them from getting there.

Apparently the original tower defense game, aptly named "Desktop Tower Defense," is a flash game that can be played in any computer's web browser at http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/Game.asp. Until about thirty minutes ago, I hadn't played this version at all. But through my iPod Touch I've become quite familiar with its successors/homages. Here are three iPhone/iPod Touch games that have really been stealing so much of my free time over the break.

First, Tap Defense. Tap Defense has become very popular and is very accessible because of its price. Yup, it's totally free for iPhone/iPod Touch users. There is a set path that leads from Hell to the gates of Heaven, and you place towers along the path to prevent the monsters of hell from invading. You get 20 lives, and each enemy that enters Heaven takes one life away. The game is over if you lose all 20. There are various enemies, including gremlins, locusts, cerberuses, demons, succubi, firecats, and the Devil himself. Gremlins and cerberi have average amounts of health and speed, whereas firecats are weaker but extremely fast. The Devil, demons, and succubi are very slow but can take a lot of hits. Fortunately, you have different types of towers to counteract these enemy attributes. The standard arrow tower is fast-firing but somewhat weak. Cannon towers have a slower refire rate but do good damage and also affects an area rather than just a single enemy. Water towers shoot water, which is helpful for slowing down faster enemies. Money is earned by killing enemies, and is used to buy or upgrade existing towers, making them faster, stronger, and/or give them longer firing range. You can sell towers you built previously to recoup part of its value if you need the spot or the money back.

The enemy and tower types, as well as the concept of money and upgrading towers is common to just about all tower defense games, but there are some things that make Tap Defense unique. First, halos. You obtain halos by completing certain levels. Halos can be used to "research" new tower types beyond the basic three - once researched, a tower will be permanently available for purchase if you have the money.

Halos can also be used to increase your interest rate - which is another thing unique to Tap Defense. Let me explain. The enemies come in levels, or waves. Once a wave of enemies has gone by and you still have 1 or more lives left, you are shown a "level complete" screen, where you earn bonus money equal to (your current money) x (interest rate). On the easy difficulty level, interest rate starts at 10% so if you end a wave with $90 you get $9 bonus and will start the next level with $99 to spend. This encourages players to conserve money and take extra care to place towers strategically so as to get more bonus cash. If you have an iPhone/iPod Touch I strongly encourage you to try Tap Defense. The price is right.

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The next game is Fieldrunners. Fieldrunners is currently $4.99 but they claim the price will go up soon, so grab it now. FR has been very highly touted on the Internets since its release in late November. I was hesitant to spend the money until recently, because at first I didn't know if I'd like the genre, and then after I got Tap Defense I figured Tap Defense would be all I needed. But I decided to take the plunge in a moment of adventurousness and spend-thriftiness. Unlike Tap Defense, which has a set path whose shape is determined by what difficulty level you're playing on, Fieldrunners is more like Desktop Tower Defense in that it's a wide open field and YOU determine what path the enemies take.

How does this work? Well, enemies will walk around your towers in a path that will take them to their goal in the shortest distance possible. So it's up to you to place the towers in the most winding, circuitous arrangement possible so enemies will take longer to get to their destination and to give your towers more time to shoot the enemies down. In FR, the enemies are human soldiers of different sizes that are on foot or on motorcycles, as well as small tanks and flying vehicles. Like in Tap Defense, they have different speeds and strengths and weaknesses. FR has only 4 tower types, as opposed to Tap Defense's 7. The basic machine gun is weak but fast, the goo tower does no damage but slows enemies down, missiles home in on enemies and do high area damage, and the expensive lightning tower does massive damage to a single target. Like in Tap Defense, you spend money to upgrade towers all the way to a max of level 3, which increases firing rate and damage (or slowdown in the case of the goo tower).

Flying enemies totally circumvent your tower "maze" so it's necessary to add some extra goo, missile, or lightning towers along the straight path from the enemy's entrance to their goal. Another thing that makes FR more like Desktop Tower Defense and less like Tap Defense is in between waves, the game does not stop for a Level Complete screen, but instead simply gives you a short countdown to the next wave. However, both FR and Tap Defense allow you to pause the game while you strategize and remove or place more towers.

FR comes with two different maps: a grassy field where the enemies go from left to right, and the "Crossroads" map, where one group of enemies goes from north to south and the other goes from west to east at the same time. This one is tricky because you have to cover both the south and east exits with your towers. This idea of having to use the right combination of tower type and tower location added an extra dimension not present when I was playing Tap Defense. And another neat feature is that you can use the pinching motion that all iPhone/iPod Touch users are familiar with, in order to zoom in on the action.

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Finally, there's 7 Cities TD. Like Tap Defense, 7 Cities enemies move along a set path. The premise is that you're in charge of protecting 7 cities, each of which is situated along a river and each of which corresponds to a unique map. The enemies are pirate ships and sea creatures, and your towers line the coastal path leading to a suspiciously Mayan-style temple. Like FR, 7 Cities does not stop in between waves of enemies but gives a countdown to the next wave to let you make upgrades and modify your tower arrangement. Unlike both FR and Tap Defense, however, 7 Cities does not allow you to perform actions while the game is paused, making it a significantly more frantic game.

A unique aspect of 7 Cities is that, like in RPGs, your towers gain experience points from doing damage to enemies. At levels that are multiples of 5, your tower is eligible to be transformed into a modified version of itself: arrow towers can be transformed into "Ballista towers," which are like giant crossbows, and cannon towers can be transformed into trebuchets which cause burning damage. Defeating enemies also rewards you with blue gems, which are used to do normal upgrades to your towers.

One more thing that sets 7 Cities apart from the other two games is its music. It's strictly synthesized midi-quality music, but all things considered it's not bad and it really adds to the atmosphere of the game. So far I have completed 6 of the 7 city maps on easy, but the 7th one seems significantly harder as there are three paths for the enemies to approach along, and thus three paths among which you must divide up your firepower.

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I'm not prepared to declare one of them a winner, as each has its own unique gameplay elements. Tap Defense has recently been given five new gameplay modes which adds some replay value to the main game. In "This is Sparta" mode, you start with 3 halos to use as you please, but instead of the normal 20 lives you only get 3. And only 9 towers are allowed on the map at any given time. You may still sell existing towers to make room (and cash) for others. In "Sudden Death," the game is like normal except for your number of lives, and in "Ten Towers" you get only 10 towers while everything else is the same. The "Silver Spoon" mode is exceedingly easy, as you start out with tons of cash and extra halos, and if you can manage to keep your cash reserves up, even a 10% interest rate can make you rich very quickly. Finally, "Credit Crisis" mode gives you $4,000 to start with and that's it... no money from enemies nor from interest. All these new modes are pretty fun, though Silver Spoon is just way too easy.

Fieldrunners has classic and endless modes for both maps. Endless mode needs to be unlocked through completing classic mode once, and differs from classic in that it keeps going past the standard 100 levels until you lose all your lives. 7 Cities also has an endless mode, though I have not given that a try.

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These three games have cost me a total of $10, and for all the fun I've had with them, I'd say it's been worth it. If this has interested you at all, please check them out. If you don't have access to an iPhone or iPod Touch, at least check out the Desktop Tower Defense flash game linked above.

Happy new year to all, and Go Bruins!

Conference Play

I finished this whole thing earlier but LifeCast decided to a) not post it and b) forget the latter 70%. So I'm rewriting this and it's probably going to be much crappier than the first time.

Well, it's been a terrible year for UCLA football, and a much less terrible year so far for basketball. Actually it's been a pretty darn good year for basketball.

One thing that has become glaringly apparent is that the 08-09 Bruins are very different than the teams of the last three years that played in the Final Four. The team is 10-2, and after seeing twelve non-conference games we have a pretty good feel for what type of team this is.

The Bruins are notably Kevin Love-less this year, but the losses of Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to the NBA have noticeably diminished the team's defensive prowess. We do seem to be more of a running team though, especially with the addition of Jrue Holiday, Malcolm Lee, and Jerime Anderson and the return of Darren and Josh.

With the Pac-10 conference season quickly approaching, here's a quick run-down of the players and their performances so far:

-Darren Collison: It's a good thing Darren returned to UCLA for his senior season. Not only is it better for Darren, but it's better for the team. He's been shooting well and for the most part, leading the team very well. His court vision has improved a bit, as well as his body control. He's become a very solid floor leader, and the perfect guy to teach the newbies how things work around here.

-Josh Shipp: He puts up valuable scoring numbers with his aggressiveness, but after four years in Howland's system, I really would expect his defense to be better. Plus he's a lazy dog.

-Alfred Aboya: Unlike Josh, Alfred has really really really improved over his four years at UCLA. In fact, he's improved a ton in just this past offseason. His free throw has gained a better arc and is up from 52% last year to 66% this year. Most importantly, he's maintained his unparalleled toughness on defense while greatly reducing the fouls, which has been a major problem his whole career.

-James Keefe: He may provide a few intangibles on defense, but for a starter, he sure doesn't contribute much. I remember his stellar games in the past two NCAA tournaments, but so far this year, when he's had the most opportunities to shine, he hasn't shown anything close to that. I look for him to start playing well any time now, but even if he doesn't I'm not sure who would replace him in the lineup.

-Mike Roll: He's been on a roll for the past few games. Mike plays solid defense, is a good passer, and his shot has improved. And that's good, because he's mainly there to play defense, play smart, and shoot the ball. He needs to get more playing time, because his contributions will be needed greatly down the stretch of conference play.

-Nikola Dragovic: "Drago" as some call him, has been surprisingly decent in the post and on defense. He's still not the best defender and his shot could use more consistency, but hey, I'll take what he gives the team if it's positive.

-Jrue Holiday: The lone starter of the freshman class, Jrue is a definite talent bonus. He has a good eye for the passing lanes and great body control. He has the uncanny ability to drive through the lane and evade defenders when necessary. Jrue is very active on defense, but sometimes overly so, and sometimes he forces things with his passing. These are things that can easily be improved with experience, and experience he will receive. He doesn't seem the one-and-out player that he was originally projected to be, but selfishly that's a great thing.

-Malcolm Lee: My brother described Malcolm Lee best when he said "Mal Lee has two speeds: all stop and full speed ahead." Early on, his tendency to overdo things cost the team a few turnovers, but he has since learned to temper that a bit. Nevertheless, he brings great energy and aggressiveness to the court and is not afraid to attack the opponent. He will be making great contributions to the team in the near future, but for now he has an undetermined knee injury.

-Jerime Anderson (pronounced "Jeremy"): I feel comfortable leaving the reins in his hands in the absence of Collison. Jerime is not flashy, but for a freshman he's shown pretty good poise and control. He can shoot the ball pretty well and will turn on the afterburners if necessary.

-Drew Gordon: He's shown flashes of brilliance, but honestly, from what I'd seen of his high school playing, I thought he'd be further along at this point. Still, he has the potential to be a big, powerful Dan Gadzuric type. Well, at least, he got rejected by the rim like Gadzuric did.

-J'mison "Bobo" Morgan: He's definitely a project. He needs to work on his stamina and his fundamentals. And he needs to get better at moving.


Happy new year, everyone, and be sure to check out the next game: UCLA at Oregon State, Friday, 1/2 at 7:30 p.m.

iPhone app sales and new games

I've been totally remiss in posting anything at all, partially because I've been out of town. So I thought I'd put up this quick one. If you like the recommendations, please leave a comment.

Since the inception of the iPhone/iPod Touch app store in July, developers have been running limited time sales on their apps to bring in more customers. Sites like appshopper.com are great to follow if you want to know if the app you've been considering has come down in price, or just to see what's out there, available for cheap or even for free. The App Store provides a really really convenient way to get apps on your iPhone or iPod, but the sheer number of cool apps can help you to empty your bank account really really fast. That's why I check sites like appshopper as well as The Unofficial Apple Weblog at tuaw.com (i.tuaw.com for a special iPhone-formatted site) and toucharcade.com, which focuses more on games.

Speaking of Touch Arcade, today they posted a link to NewYearAppBlowout.com, which is a collaboration between several app developers to celebrate the new year by discounting their apps. If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch I encourage you to check them out. Five of the apps offered are free, including DuckDuckDuck, a casual tilt-game where you maneuver rubber duckies onto miniature whirlpools in a pond. I definitely recommend that one, especially because the price is right.

Finally, there's a new game that's been announced called "Rebel Onslaught," which will be a 3-D space shooter which seems to be in the vein of the Starfox or Star Wars: Rogue Squadron games. Screenshots are available here. Definitely looking forward to this one!

iPhone growth and iHeartRadio

When was the last time you heard a radio commercial for a Blackberry or Palm or Windows Mobile app? That's right, never. But in the five months since the opening of the iPhone App Store, there have been over 10,000 apps released and 300,000,000+ downloads as of December 1. And now, there are radio ads for iPhone apps. That's right, I was listening to AM570, my local UCLA and Lakers sports station, and during the commercial break they aired a 30-second spot for the iHeartRadio app.

iHeartRadio is a free iPhone/iPod Touch app that connects you to many, many stations that are part of the ClearChannel networks. Most radio stations these days have an internet streaming version of their broadcast which you can usually access through their website. But now, this app allows iPhone users to access those streams from wherever they get an internet connection, combined with the convenience of being able to change stations at will. No having to go to the station's website and click through the countless junk pages just to get to the Listen Live link.

Perhaps it is a no-brainer that a ClearChannel affiliate station would put out an ad for an app that plays ClearChannel stations, but I say kudos to them for recognizing the opportunity to target the millions of iPhone customers that also listen to the radio.

I'd consider this app in my top ten if it weren't for the fact that I can't ever find wi-fi around town to connect to this.

Top 10

Well, look what we have here. It's the end of 2008! Where has all the time gone? What have you done? Blah blah blah. Well, I hope all two people who even read these things have had a megafantasticool year. That's right, megafantasticool. Look it up.

I was reading the latest issue of TIME Magazine, which is their apparently annual Top 10 Lists issue. It has lists of all kinds of crazy things pertaining to 2008, from discoveries to breakups to olympic moments to bank slogans. There's even a Top Ten Fashion Faux Pas list that I really, really, really couldn't care less about.

But I thought I'd comment about some of the things chosen for these lists.

From "Top 10 Discoveries"
1) Snow on Mars - I love space but honestly I don't remember reading or hearing about this one.
3) Fetus in a man - That's just wrong. Don't eat unborn babies, people.
6) iPhone "Kill switch" - This was the thing where Apple said they could remotely disable an app that it deemed unworthy of living. Interesting news at the time, but so far nothing has come of it. Not a top 10 discovery for sure.
7) Seven human feet washed up on Pacific Northwest coast - This is what happens when you protest the Supersonics leaving Seattle.

From "Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs"
5) New Genes Unlock Alzheimer's - I hadn't heard of this, but we've apparently kinda sorta figured out why Alzheimer's causes brain cells to die. Very encouraging.
All the rest) I have no idea what kinds of implications they have. Can someone please explain them to me?

From "Top 10 Quotes"
1) "It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America." - I don't think the impact of these words by President-elect Obama have really hit me yet.
3) "Think of us like a coast guard." - Yeah, Somali pirates who hijack other people's ships should be thought of as a crew of respectable officers keeping the peace in international waters. Nice.
8) "I thought I'd host an end-of-the-world party, but the media might take it seriously." - Stephen Hawking apparently said this regarding the enabling of the Large Hadron Collider. You know, I missed this at the time, but I'm just so amazed that the guy is still kicking and has a good sense of humor.

From "Top 10 Movies"
I haven't seen ANY of these movies they listed!!! How lame am I?

From "10 Coolest iPhone Apps"
3) AP Mobile News Network - Last I tried it, it took forever to "refresh" news and even then the stories were days old. Deleted it the next day.
4) Ocarina - Are you serious!??!?!
6) Adrenaline Pool Lite - You can actually play a very fun pool game online in real time w/ others. Not on my top 10 though.
7) Instapaper - Allows you to download and view web pages offline. Haven't tried it but I heard it's good. Definitely handy for a not-always-online iPod Touch.
10) Fake calls - Really, how often do you need to pretend you're getting a call? Terrible list, TIME.

From "Top 10 Green Stories"
7) Polar Bear Listed - the polar bear is now listed as "threatened" on the Endangered Species list due to global warming. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! ManBearPig!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10) Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Year: Hypermilling: driving to get extreme mileage out of your gas - I've NEVER heard of this term. Have you?

From "Top 10 songs"
I have not heard any of the songs on this list, with the exception of Beyoncé's "Ladies (Put a Ring on it)" at #7. Am I totally out of touch?

From "Top 10 Gadgets"
1) Optoma Pico PK101 - A $400 pocket-sized projector that connects to your iPhone/iPod and projects pictures/movies on a wall up to 8 feet away? Frakking cool!
3) Apple iPhone 3G - Yeah, iPod Touch's big bro.
6) Sennheiser MX W1 Wireless Headphones - Wireless earbuds. I've been asking for these for years, and now they finally have 'em! And they can be had for.. only... $499...
8) Amazon Kindle - Amazon's eBook reader is pretty good, I hear, but sadly I don't read books these days.

From "Top 10 Animal Stories"
2) New First Pup - An online poll suggested the Obama kids get a poodle. F*ck no!! Not a DAMN POODLE! WHO WANTS A FRAKKING POODLE?!!? AAAAAHHHHHH! If I'm forced to see news stories about the presidential poodle... ARRRGHH!
4) Navy Trumps Whales - "studies have shown that some sonar pulses may damage whales' and dolphins' hearing.." as well as their "ability to mate, find food, and navigate." ...thus begins the story of Ecco the Dolphin.
7) World's Longest Insect - Phobaeticus chani is 22 inches long with its legs fully extended. That's two inches longer than the diagonal of the computer screen I'm looking at right now.

"Top 10 Food Trends"
Take a look for yourself. I've never heard of any of them. Have you?


Well, there we have it. If you want to read the complete lists, go to http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/top10/.

Next, if I can work up the time and creativity, I'll make some top 10 lists of my own, starting with the easiest: top iPod Touch apps.

Thanks 3 - Work

I've been sick the past couple days, so I've had a little bit of spare time for reflection. I sometimes feel like it's a pain to have to get up early to go to work and go to sleep early so I can wake up the next morning. After about four months of this "employment" thing, I'm still trying to adjust to the system. I have a much greater awareness of time, and how little of it that I have, but I'm still working on how to manage it. Despite having an 8-6 schedule everyday, it feels like life is more open-ended than ever before. In school, things were very tightly scheduled and I always knew what needed to be done and when. Work has definite goals in place as well, but the difference is that in school my life basically revolved around these deadlines. Studying, homework, and projects filled the copious amounts of free time in between classes, meals, and sleep. While I have much less free time with the job, the free time I do get is generally mine to use as a I please. And I'm still trying to figure out how best to productively use that time and do what I want to get done.

It may not be readily obvious why I am giving thanks to this. Well, first, the job has given me an entirely new perspective on just about everything. Whereas before I had my experiences with family, friends, and school to color my views, I now have a fourth vantage point from which to look at life. I think there's a greater sense of freedom, but also a greater sense of responsibility. Do you get this sense too? Am I just late to the party?

The other reason I'm grateful is that I have a job at all, especially with the mass layoffs going on everywhere. I don't want to jinx anything, but having a steady stream of income not from my parents is great to have as I explore this new episode in my life. And I'm not even a big spender.

The coolest thing

What's the coolest thing you've ever received from someone else in the mail? Tell your story in the comments!