Flash Element TD
Encyclopedia
Flash Element TD is a Flash
-based browser game
of the tower defense
game genre created by first-time game designer David Scott in January 2007. The game had been played over 140 million times as of March 2009.
The creeps come in waves at set intervals. Each wave of creeps has different characteristics, such as their speed, armour and resistance to certain types of towers. For each wave, the game rotates among the types of creeps. Several times during gameplay, boss waves will appear. These waves consist of just one large creep and are extremely difficult to defeat.
Every time a player defeats a boss they earn coins which they can spend on increasing the interest earned on money not spent or to unlock new towers.
The player has a set number of lives
that diminishes every time a creep gets through the defenses the player has built and reaches its objective. Upon loss of the last life, the game is over.
game Warcraft III, David Scott created a much simpler version of the map that could be played using only a browser. The game was launched in January 2007 and still has growth to this day.
. It eventually found its way onto several flash game sites, 4 years later can be found on 25,950 sites and has had over 183 million views.
In December 2007, Scott and Paul Preece also created the Casual Collective, whose flagship game was a multiplayer version of Desktop Tower Defense
.
On the 12th of January 2008, 1 year after its release, version 2 was released.
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
-based browser game
Browser game
A browser game is a computer game that is played over the Internet using a web browser. Browser games can be created and run using standard web technologies or browser plug-ins. Browser games include all video game genres and can be single-player or multiplayer...
of the tower defense
Tower defense
Tower defense is a subgenre of real-time strategy computer games.The goal of tower defense games is to try to stop enemies from crossing a map by building towers which shoot at them as they pass. Enemies and towers usually have varied abilities, costs, and ability costs...
game genre created by first-time game designer David Scott in January 2007. The game had been played over 140 million times as of March 2009.
Gameplay
The game is played on pre-defined path of dirt with grass banks on either side. The player must prevent a set number of enemies, known in the genre as "creeps," from reaching the exit. This is accomplished by building and upgrading towers that shoot at, damage and kill the enemy creeps before they are able to reach their objective. The player can not change the path of the creeps but must instead select where to place towers, which towers to use and which towers to upgrade to defeat each level. But at some times, though, the player gets unlimited money when they play. This is still unknown to people why this happens.The creeps come in waves at set intervals. Each wave of creeps has different characteristics, such as their speed, armour and resistance to certain types of towers. For each wave, the game rotates among the types of creeps. Several times during gameplay, boss waves will appear. These waves consist of just one large creep and are extremely difficult to defeat.
Every time a player defeats a boss they earn coins which they can spend on increasing the interest earned on money not spent or to unlock new towers.
The player has a set number of lives
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
that diminishes every time a creep gets through the defenses the player has built and reaches its objective. Upon loss of the last life, the game is over.
Development
David Scott got the inspiration for Flash Element Tower Defense in 2006. He noticed that no one had created a Tower Defense game using Flash and only started work on FETD as a technical exercise to see if it was possible. The map and name is based on the "Element TD" map created for the RTSReal-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
game Warcraft III, David Scott created a much simpler version of the map that could be played using only a browser. The game was launched in January 2007 and still has growth to this day.
Distribution
Originally, the game was promoted through the web service StumbleUponStumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that finds and recommends web content to its users. Its features allow users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos that are personalized to their tastes and interests using peer-sourcing and social-networking principles.Toolbar versions exist for...
. It eventually found its way onto several flash game sites, 4 years later can be found on 25,950 sites and has had over 183 million views.
Updates
The original release version of the game, version 1.0 was released on the 12th January 2007. New versions were uploaded daily with the final version released on the 22nd of January. FETD has not been updated since and still increases in popularity some 2 years on.In December 2007, Scott and Paul Preece also created the Casual Collective, whose flagship game was a multiplayer version of Desktop Tower Defense
Desktop Tower Defense
Desktop Tower Defense is a Flash-based browser game of the tower defense game genre created by first-time game designer Paul Preece in March 2007. The game had been played over 15.7 million times as of July 2007, and was one of Webware 100's top ten entertainment web applications of 2007. DTD is...
.
On the 12th of January 2008, 1 year after its release, version 2 was released.