SaED Week 4: Wave Pacing

29/03/21

Waves Breakdown

With each wave being introduced to players, I want each one to be more difficult than its predecessor. I think that ten is a reasonable number of waves, with which to begin a round, as it gives me an ample time to gradually introduce each new creep to the players, while also allowing a comfortable period of time for players to set up their towers. Each wave will be set at a pace in a way that demonstrates a new creep’s ability, without it being overwhelming for players to comprehend.

Starting with Wave 1, it’s very simple. Six basic creeps come out, one after the other, leaving plenty of time in the round for players to carefully build towers around the map. These creeps have no abilities as such, their only goal is to reach the end without doing anything substantial. Players will learn at this stage that these creeps do not pose much of a problem and will build towers accordingly to their function. Arbalest and Arrow are the best towers to build here, due to their low cost and fast build time. Players should save the rest of their resources for the more disruptive creeps that lie ahead.

Wave 2 contains the same number of basic creeps from before, but on this occasion it contains speed creeps. This was done to show the contrast in their speed compared to the basic creeps and how they can reach the goal at the end in a much quicker manner. Players may start employing frost towers at this point, as they should have the resources to build them and will bring their speed down significantly, allowing them to get in more hits at any one time.

Wave 3 is a combination of the above waves, along with the introduction of the heavy creep. This creep will immediately strike the players due to it being much larger than anything they have seen thus far, making it double the surprise considering they appear right at the end of this wave. Players may have to employ more fire power than ever before at this point, due to the amount of HP the heavy creep has. Now with two creeps spotting in with unique abilities, players should now be braced for further ones.

Wave 4 may seem like it is back to basics. Ten basic creeps, rather than the standard six, are spawned. Five appear initially, along with the new creep that is the HP buffer. Players will quickly realise that whenever a creep enters within its radius, their towers seem to be less effective in destroying them. They must figure out a way to lock onto the HP buffer as quickly as possible, which is very possible to do since it is slightly slower than a basic creep. Using this to the players’ advantage, they can place towers slightly behind the line of basic creeps to quickly destroy it. This plan will eventually become disorganised however, due to the second part of the wave. Again with five basic creeps being spawned with the Speed Buffer, these creeps, which players would consider easy to destroy due to their late entry to the wave, these creeps will be quickly catch up with the initial first half due to the Speed Buffer. Players must think of ways to divide their fire power evenly between both halves of the level, as by this point, if they have invested all their resources into the first half only, a lesson will be quickly learned by them during this wave.

Wave 5 introduces players to how buffers can be used to enhance creeps with already powerful abilities. When the wave starts, heavy creeps are spawned along with two Speed Buffers. While heavy creeps did seem daunting initially, once players took advantage of its slow speed, it became relatively easy to deal with. Now a walking tank with the speed of a basic creep, players will have to quickly scramble their resources in order to take down these foes. It is around this time that players may realise the importance of upgrading their already existing towers. With these quickly passing by, as well as the towers, which have already been built, blocking the way and not being sufficient enough to bring down these creeps, an upgrade can provide an excellent solution. While the players may be preoccupied with the daunting and fast-moving heavy creeps, another new creep type is introduced, known as the portal creep. These creeps can quickly reach the end, if players do not remain aware of them. This is to teach the players another lesson about upgrading. If players have decided to only upgrade the towers that are closest to the heavy creep’s location, then these portal creeps can quickly reach the end, where the placed towers may not be enough, therefore resulting in players quickly losing many of their lives.

Wave 6 is similar to wave 5, but it now shows the impact of HP Buffers on speed creeps. Speed creeps, like heavy creeps, have a similar flaw in that they have very low HP. Now with HP Buffers in tow, speed creeps are fast and tough, requiring multiple towers to be taken down due to being able to outrun their range of fire. Again, players will have to employ similar strategies to the one above and find the right balance of placing new towers and upgrading the ones in vital spots. Portal creeps appear here again to reinforce the same sort of lessons players must learn in order to achieve victory.

By Wave 7, players should be competent in balancing their resources, as well as their tower to creep ratio, well. Both heavy and speed creeps enter the fold, both being buffed with HP buffers making heavy creeps even more difficult to take down. Players may get into the comfortable position of dealing with creeps at this stage but at the end of the wave, a new creep is introduced, the doll creep. This creep seems harmless at first, they look similar to basic ones and can be damaged easily, however, once they become damaged enough, the number of creeps on the board triples. At this point in the level, players should have ample towers to deal with this introduction. It was placed here at the end of the wave just to make the players aware of this creep’s presence. Because if this creep was to appear hidden within other enemies or was able to make its way near the end, then it would be significantly harder to deal with.

Wave 8 is pretty much the standard when it comes to wave pacing from here onwards. If I decided to make these series of waves longer, they would follow the format of this one closely, as it gives enough creep variety and pacing to make the players confident in their current structure of towers. It is set up in a way that if players have been playing strategically, they will be able to handle situations like this quite well, otherwise, they will falter and will likely die before this wave even occurs. If not, then waves like this one will be constantly pushed as a way for players to find the right balance of resources to tower presence. The reason I have not continued to place more waves similar to this is because I want to polish ample waves of high enough quality that will keep players within a positive feedback loop of gameplay and teach them the importance of balancing.

Wave 9 is designed to be the penultimate challenge for players. Every form of creep is thrown at players to make sure they have mastered all the mechanics that the game has to offer. Their strategic placement of towers and use of upgrades are put to the test to see if they can handle a variety of creeps all at once. The only new creep introduced here is the upgrade to the initial doll creep that spawns five new enemies instead of three. This is used only to enhance the ongoing chaos and used as a potential omen.

Wave 10 is the final wave. This wave introduces the boss to players. Essentially it is an upgraded version of the heavy creep only with far more health. Players must be able to maximise their damage per second (DPS) here in order to be successful. In order to make matters worse, both Buff Creeps surround the boss for most of the level’s duration and they should be dealt with immediately to ensure the boss is easier to take down.

Whenever this wave is complete, I am hoping players are satisfied with their victory and understand how they got there. Towers should be balanced along with the creeps to make sure the victory was neither trivial nor too difficult to be unfeasible. The number of resources, which players should have by the end of the game, should be very small as no other creeps within this wave will be spawned, therefore allowing players to continue to build. Everything leads up to this final encounter and only those players who have understood the game’s systems will be able to succeed.

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