Age of Defenders: Post-apocalyptic tower defense game launched for tablets
November 7th, 2011
Age of Defenders is a tower defense game for browser (Win, Linux, Mac), iPad, Android and soon to be launched on BlackBerry PlayBook. The game is built with Flash and ported to tablets with Adobe AIR. It has practice mode and multiplayer mode via RTMP (via Flash Media Server) and RTMFP (P2P). Multiplayer is actually pretty unique as you can really play among different platforms, e.g. from Android to iPad or iPad vs. browser and so on.
Play online: http://ageofdefenders.com
Available in Apple App Store
Available in Android Market
Official trailer:
I had a chance to do a quick interview with Tomáš Botek (Head of development team, Age of Defenders):
Me: What is the main idea behind Age of Defenders?
Tomáš: We wanted to create a mix of tower defense and strategy games, where two people will play against each other, including attacking and other bit and bobs. Also, we wanted to create a web based game, which would be closer to serious gaming. And which could be played repeatedly, not just one time.
Me: Where can I get it or play it now?
Tomáš: The game can be played at www.ageofdefenders.com or can be downloaded from Android market and App Store. Also, it will shortly be available in App World. Age of Defenders runs on all tablets with the resolution of 1024×600 and up.
Me: How long have you been working on the original browser game and how big is the team?
Tomáš: We have started with a web version, which took us approximately 1 year. We are a team of 4 programmers and 3 designers. We have spent a lot of time thinking about the concept of the game.
Me: How many lines of code have you written for Age of Defenders?
Tomáš: Every single part of the game together, including the server-side code has around 110 000 lines of code. There are some libraries, which are not ours (e. g. pathfinding), but all of them are edited, so around 85% of the code is ours.
Me: Why have you chosen Flash/AIR for the development?
Tomáš: We liked the idea that you can play straight from the web browser, without having to download or install anything. That’s why using Flash was our first choice. Web-based gaming will change, will become something a lot more serious and we want to be part of this. Also the fact of building an app in Flash and porting it seamlessly to mobile devices with Adobe AIR later on, has proven how lucky choice it was.
Me: How long did it take to port it from iOS to Android with AIR?
Tomáš: When we had the first tablet version ready (iOS version), all we had to do for the other platforms was to work with the resolutions. The transition from the iOS to Android was very quick, took almost no time.
// Age of Defenders running on iPad, Sony S tablet, Sony P tablet, Windows and Samsung Galaxy Tab
Me: What are your next steps with the game and what features do you plan to add?
Tomáš: The game was just born and has got a long life ahead of it. We are creating a long-term profile with a history of matches, leveling up and match-making, so players who are at the same level could play against each other. We are working on different game modes and a lot more towers and units. At the same time a new singleplayer campaign is on its way, which will be very diverse and interesting. Currently, it is the most deprived part of the game, so we want to change it.
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Great work, I’m pretty curious about the optimization taken for running the game fast also on the tablets
Comment by NoriSte — November 7, 2011 @ 3:26 pm
Not entirely sure, but it looks like this game might use AllJoyn for it’s multiplayer connectivity – just based on the AllJoyn logo on the site – can you confirm this from your interview? This is a product out of Qualcomm’s Innovation Center. I met with the AllJoyn team at MAX this year and it looks like a cool product, however when talking to them about RTMFP, because I thought their service leveraged the built-in P2P stuff they had no idea about it. So it looks like they’ve rolled their own P2P system. It does do some cool things, like seamlessly connect over bluetooth.
Comment by andrew — November 7, 2011 @ 5:13 pm
Hi,
Did they use a 3d Framework based on stage3D?
Comment by Hicham Taoufikallah — November 7, 2011 @ 6:18 pm
Hi Andrew,
good question, they are using all 3 things: RTMP, RMTFP and Alljoyn.
Alljoyn implementation is currently not available publicly as far as I know, and it will be of course Android only. But they are working on it.
Hi Hicham,
no, these are all sprites and movieclips on the Display List, so no Stage3D, standard Flash rendering.
Comment by tom — November 7, 2011 @ 7:07 pm
Did you use BitmapData (copyPixels, draw etc) or just regular sprites and movieclips? If the latter then how did you achive so smooth animations and performance? How many fps do you use?
Anyway, I’m very impressed.
Comment by Radosław Bułat — November 8, 2011 @ 10:24 am
Hi, we use the classic sprite sheet. On stage are bitmaps, which will change reference bitmapData.
Comment by Gabo — November 9, 2011 @ 11:45 am
Thanks for the reply. I have one more question. I know a little flash (currently writing first game) but I’m totaly noob at AIR technology. I would like to also port my game to mobile. Where I can find info/tutorial about porting flash game to mobile AIR?
Comment by Radosław Bułat — November 9, 2011 @ 12:50 pm
Hi Tom,
you said to Hicham that all sprites and movieclips are using standard Flash rendering on Display List. I have tried many animations using the Display List, but they always cause major slowdown, even if I blit the graphics.
Do you have any suggestions on this? Could my slowdown be caused by other Flash processes?
Garry
Comment by Garry Law — November 10, 2011 @ 1:38 am
very nice.. the future of flash looks good
Comment by RIchard — November 10, 2011 @ 10:57 pm
Really cool, thanks for the interview. This is an inspiration to many Flash developers, myself included, that production quality games can be deployed across multiple platforms. This is very exciting.
Comment by Benjamin — November 10, 2011 @ 11:00 pm
I read a lot of posts, you know, on just this very topic; and many just leave me feeling as though so much is missing. Not so with this post! What a satisfying read this was! So much so that I read it twice!
Comment by Alec Smith — November 13, 2011 @ 7:11 pm
Hi, which AIR version did the game used ? Did you find any difference in performance between versions ? I think you need to use GPU mode to run on iOS, right?
Comment by Ivan — November 15, 2011 @ 4:54 am
Radosław Bułat,
in case it’s still relevant, try this:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/games/articles/multiplatform-game-development.html
Comment by Eliad — November 22, 2011 @ 3:06 pm
Hello Tomáš !
The job you did with this game is very impressive !
The multiplayer mode is a great feature, I like the ressource managment and upgrades systems.
Graphics are very smooth and the sound is just perfect !
I’m also an independent flash game developer, and I take my hat off to your team !
I’m 27 years old and I live in France.
My last game is a tower defense too, called “Claytus tower Defense”.
I released it this month, with a community website and a level editor coded in Flex.
Players are able to create and share levels with the community.
I’d invite you to give it a try here : http://www.claytus-towerdefense.com
Do you think that the adaptaion of the flex application for android would be difficult ?
I’d really appreciate if you give me your feedback on my work.
I’m a single developer who initiate and manage the project, friends of mine helped me with graphics and sounds assets.
I wish you the best !
- Raphaël Roux
Comment by Rafarel — November 29, 2011 @ 2:17 am
[...] Hier gibt es ein kleines Interview mit einem der Entwickler: http://www.flashrealtime.com/age-of-defenders [...]
Pingback by Age of Defenders – Crossplatform Multiplayer Flash Game | test — December 8, 2011 @ 1:14 pm
Best Game ever i play
Comment by Tahir Alvi — December 23, 2011 @ 4:14 pm
A round of applause for your post.Thanks Again.
Comment by Car Finance With Bad Credit — January 12, 2012 @ 6:45 am
Thanks again for the blog post. Want more.
Comment by Discount Watches 4U — January 19, 2012 @ 12:19 pm
Best multiplayer tower defence game around, all i can say.
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