Game Dev makes Kingdom Rush but its 3D!

I spent 6 months recreating kingdom rush as a 3D roguelike game. Here it is.
Wishlist Castles on Clouds on Steam: store.steampow...
Playtest the game by joining the Discord: / discord
See Daily Devlogs on Twitter: / tjgamedev
Contact me for freelance work: [e-mail]
Check out the Synty store by using my affiliate link to support the channel! syntystore.com...
About me -
Hi I'm TJ, an indie developer primarily developing games in the Unity Engine. I left a career in software to focus on my passion of game dev and am enjoying every moment of it.
Software Used -
Unity Version: 2021.1.22f1
Visual Studio Code: code.visualstu...
Adobe Premiere Pro: www.adobe.com/...
Adobe Photoshop: www.adobe.com/...
PC Specs -
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080
AMD Ryzen 7 2700x
32GB RAM
Way too much caffeine

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

Wow the game has improved a massive amount since I last saw it, great job! I love all the polish in all Card Select screen, looks really juicy!

[@TJGameDev]

Thank you so much sir, you’re a huge inspiration to me

[@obrooks]

The airship looks sick, and perfectly fits the rest of the game's design too. Keep it up man

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks man!

[@MichaelKocha]

I'm sorry for having to shatter everything you've ever known to be true.... but the word is "Bestiary". I know... I know. I hate it too.

[@TJGameDev]

lol I didn’t know thanks!

[@MichaelKocha]

@@TJGameDev lol no problem. Loved the video by the way!

[@quintonlim4275]

Wishlisted Kingdom Rush is honestly one of my favorite games of all time. And definitely the best TD game there is. I am glad you're adding a diverse profile of inspiration for this project. Best of luck.

[@TJGameDev]

Thank you so much man!

[@weeknight74]

Hearing your thought process through the dev process helped spark some good ideas for my own game. Thx!

[@SebastianGraves]

Wish listed. Great video brother. I wish you luck with the launch.

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks as always Seb ❤️

[@bpdhoplite]

Another banger dev log brother man. Best of luck with this game big fan of yours

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks man!

[@tristanhatfield24]

i love seeing this format come back. i have needed this return for so long

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks man!

[@FanaticChain]

Banger video. I don’t think tourney manager is coming back but this is great

[@TJGameDev]

Appreciate it!

[@DanQZ]

Love this idea. Kingdom Rush devs always had this strange design philosophy of making extremely in-depth systems and then making like only 15 total levels where replay ability comes from self imposed challenges.

[@TJGameDev]

Couldn't agree more!

[@dustintaub]

The most inspirational dev out there. Nice work, fellow idea-goblin.

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks man!

[@josealmanza148]

Oh wow This looks great

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks!

[@Geeze]

Game is looking great, nice work!

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks!

[@kacper8708]

Game looks amazing

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks!

[@hansfritz6026]

I just bought it on steam will play a little when i have some time off

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks so much!

[@Redymare]

If you haven't already, another tower defense game you should probably have a look at is Arknights. Yes, it is also an anime gacha game and has RPG elements, but it's still one of the best tower defense out there. With some good, yoinkable gamedesign choices. 😉 And it also has two different roguelike modes: The major one being Integrated Strategies. And Stationary Securitiy Service, which has some minor roguelike elements.

[@TJGameDev]

Never heard of it! Thanks for mentioning I’ll definitely look at it

[@myk3l9675]

Awesome work brother! I can't wait to try it out!

[@TJGameDev]

Appreciate it!

[@jojoviviator9258]

Wow, I will definitely check this out. Also, as a game designer with limited coding ability, please know that there are people out there (like myself) with an overabundance of creativity looking to work together with people with the know how, in order to channel that creativity into finished products. Hint, hint, I'm open to collaboration (A)

[@XadegamerOfficial]

Please how did you display the 3D models in the UI, I am thinking render texture but would like to hear your approach. Also are you using ECS?

[@TJGameDev]

World canvas in unity

[@pzeub]

Hi TJ, very nice video. I'm also someone nostalgic of a game that didn't have new release since ages... I was just wondering about IP challenges you might face? is that common in the industry to openly copy other games? If that's the case it's a good news to me!

[@TJGameDev]

Nah don’t worry as long as I don’t copy the names and exact models I’m fine 🙂 probably lol

[@vincenthaynes3603]

your game is in the Ironhide Discord server now

[@TJGameDev]

Oh cool, I’ll have to swing by and say hi

[@Jabawheezy]

I’ll do my best to share the word as a small creator

[@TJGameDev]

Appreciate you

[@lildgamedev6885]

Played the demo man, really good work!!

[@royalcheetah17]

You made my dream come true❤

[@TJGameDev]

Aww thanks! Should be even better soon

[@royalcheetah17]

@@TJGameDev 🤩🤩🤩🤩

[@dobrx6199]

Just wishlisted it!

[@TJGameDev]

Appreciate it!

[@Derpyisdead]

Yes just yes

[@Monte_Carlo451]

HI MEB!!

[@343guiltyspification]

Great fun so far! I have especially fallen in love with the UI presentation. Looks so smooth...🤌 Regarding constructive feedback, I have spotted a few small spelling mistakes so far: The end screen text reads "Our defenders has [should be: have] fallen..." The card "Idol of the Sun Maiden" reads: "Its [should be: It's] only paganism..." Also, the developer console menu opens up when the merchant arrives. Don't know why, it's also not particularly bothersome but I thought I'd point it out. All in all: Good job with the game, it's great fun!

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks man! I appreciate all the feedback I’ll take a look at it!

[@5minutemovies977]

Try to reach out to Nookrium and Splattercat, they may be the type of youtubers who would play your game.

[@TJGameDev]

Will do thanks!

[@NKCubed]

return of the track and field coding king 🙏

[@TJGameDev]

Haha thanks man!

[@Zharkan16]

Are you using navmesh agents for the enemies?

[@TJGameDev]

Yes

[@miachristensen5444]

im sooooo proud of hobgoblin omg :,)

[@TJGameDev]

me too

[@milas6487]

such a cool game, very nice

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks Milas!

[@servitorhosted]

Take all my money right now

[@Derpyisdead]

5:21 erm actually it’s 3 type of damage, magic,physical and true damage. True damage ignores armor and also it isn’t a type of magic damage it’s still do 100% damage to magic resistance enemies 🤓☝️

[@da_dogbar]

uhmmm actually, artillery and poison count as their own type of damage🤓

[@Derpyisdead]

@@da_dogbar erm actually artillery damage is a type of physical damage and poison is a type of true damage 🤓

[@da_dogbar]

​@@Derpyisdead urm actually enemies can have seperate resistances to artilery and poison, making them both a seperate damage type

[@TJGameDev]

Umm acksuly you’re right

[@da_dogbar]

@ZivkoPerisic776 erm yes it does

[@willnoyes7019]

very cool

[@berkeunal5773]

I am curious how the enemy movement/pathing works. And how the wave spawner stores the data of waves. May you explain these two? (I can give discord/steam if you prefer)

[@TJGameDev]

Yeah just join my discord and I’ll send you the code

[@berkeunal5773]

​@@TJGameDev Ty!

[@UsmanDev]

Huge W

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks Usman!

[@spencerdunn2313]

did you make all the character models?

[@TJGameDev]

No I bought them from synty

[@nguyetle9867]

You can sell source code on unity strore or tutorial video code game on youtobe, i want learn and code it

[@TJGameDev]

selling the source code wont do much for you, since you wont know how it all works together. Id recommend checking out some of codemonkey or sebastian graves tutorials!

[@hansfritz6026]

Looks very neat, you maybe could port this to mobile also. Would be an extra source of income

[@TJGameDev]

Probably won’t run on mobile unfortunately

[@hansfritz6026]

@@TJGameDev you can never know unity has nice assets to make it somehow run on mobile will require some optimization from your side of course for example mesh baker, mesh animator, optimizers asset just to name a few

[@spencerdunn2313]

i wanna be you

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks!

[@tiptopmainiac5261]

The defenition of quality over quantity.

[@TJGameDev]

Haha thanks

[@SporianSummit]

If you want real quality over quantity look to toby fox

[@EK-ep1cv]

Bloons is better

[@Derpyisdead]

:mern:

[@TJGameDev]

Bloons is good, kingdom rush is better 😉

[@5minutemovies977]

There are mods for the first 3 Kingdom Rush games that make all of their towers available in one another. You can increase replayability with goofy new strategies

[@TJGameDev]

Oh sick I’ll check them out!

[@veznan3510]

Character assets looks like from hexapolis ( a Mobile game) Am I correct?

[@TJGameDev]

Maybe, I got them all from Synty

[@Mitsoumi21]

not even close to the best.. Dungeon defenders will always be the best tdm bloons in 2nd :D

[@Zharkan16]

I have tried with navmesh agents, object pooling and and stuff but the fps drops quite alot for me. I tried a Dots project but it is complicated I think, and seems like you need a hybrid solution for animations to work with dots anyways etc. I also tried flow fields but the fps is not the best there either, not sure what to go for...

[@NeolineTheChaos]

TJ, i've been playing the temo for Castle on Clouds, i think de UI is a bit confusing, does someone already tell u that ?

[@TJGameDev]

What should I change

[@LucasAzzi]

Great video TJ. I think it might be a good idea add a controlabe hero to this game

[@TJGameDev]

That would be cool!

[@conradosylla9111]

Loved the video, but why did you put an alarm sound on repeat as background sound, so anoying lol. Ps not trying to be a pain in the ass, just to give you a feedback. The game is dope

[@TJGameDev]

At what time? Sorry didn’t know it’s an alarm

[@bananadev]

Looks awesome but you should put a toon shader on the buildings- it would look so much better than the Unity default materials :)

[@bananadev]

Just tried it out, you did such an awesome job I'm super excited to see where it goes!

[@TJGameDev]

Great idea! I’ll give it a shot

[@wibranden]

Since crops don’t grow during winter, wouldn’t it be cool for the “fields” to be replaced with some sort of animals during this time?

[@TJGameDev]

Oh great idea

[@nicholasjackson8709]

I've been following this game for a little while now and I cannot wait to get into the demo. TD games are one of my favorite genres, but most titles are either hit or miss from me. This looks like it'll be a gem.

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks man!

[@x_vye]

1. Add Asmongold as a minion 2. Put it on r/Asmongold 3. Profit

[@TJGameDev]

Hmm, not a bad idea!

[@genericusername9299]

I wonder if there are like, summoning spells in the game, or even a way to turn enemies into allies

[@TJGameDev]

Oh that would be a fun addition

[@techyte]

These videos are an amazing inspiration, loved what you said about feeding creativity, can’t wait to play!

[@TJGameDev]

Appreciate it!

[@VaibhavShewale]

good old days

[@Ralke1]

look so cool!

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks!

[@colinforaker1143]

Glad to see all the hardwork paid off!

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks man

[@problemsome]

another banger 👏

[@TJGameDev]

Always

[@TitanLordofPizza]

Looks nice.

[@TJGameDev]

Thanks!