press control on a square that is land, then press tab to find a tower, then press enter to build.

Quasar, if you just recently tried to download then the problem is probably because I'm uploading another update.  The other possibility is that the zip got corrupted somehow during transfer... can someone else give it a try to see if they have the same problem?  I think I'll try downloading it too.

*nevermind* I tried and the zip is corrupted.  I'll upload it again.

Actually I tried to download and got the same error, so it isn't that.  I must have had a corrupt zip that I uploaded... I'll upload it again.

Oh crud, this could be an issue... I wasn't going to update the beta again until after I had people try out the newest version with the online high score list.  I'm a little worried it might not work and then no new people could play the game.  I suppose I don't have much of a choice on that now though, since I screwed up the main beta's zip. 

Give me like 5 minutes and it'll be uploaded.

ok, it should be ready.

Guys, the new update has been posted.  I'm REALLY hoping no one ends up with any "unregistered ocx" errors because I've added in a lot of new stuff that hasn't been tested for compatibility.  Please let me know if you guys run in to any errors.  The high score list is pretty basic but I'll clean it up as the game continues development.  Whenever you die your score will automatically be submitted to the online top 10 list.  Each difficulty level has its own top 10 list.  Currently, if you want to check the high scores you must be in a game... checking the list has been added to the main menu, and it will read off the list for the current difficulty level you've selected.  While I work on cleaning this all up, you guys can finally battle it out on the top 10 lists. 

how do you sell towers? And why would you want to? And I think you should be able to get just a bit more gold for each monster death so you can build more and upgrade more towers because I seem to lose between 9 and 15 lives on l3 with the boars.

Aprone, I know that you recorded oll tehevoices and stuff, and there is a lot of silence in between each word and sutff. I am working to trim all the silence down. Would you be happy if I sent you za ip file with tll the trimmed down sounds?

Sorry for the double post, but you guys are going to want to know about an update I just posted.  Yeah I know, I know... I've already said I was done for the night TWICE Haha!    Well After beating the game on easy, for the first time woo hoo, I noticed a typo that can cause the game not to see your internet connection if you've loaded from a saved game.  I fixed that and also finished up the balancing for Normal and Hard mode.  This is definitely the last update tonight since my wife wants me to get off the computer.    Happy gaming everyone, I'll be back tomorrow.

Please post the error so we can help you figure out the problem. You can also try redownloading the zip file, and looking back through the thread to see if anyone else has had the same error.

Good Grief! I'm busy for one evening and this happens?

unfortunately the last beta I tried was the one from saturday, so I can't say precisely if this is any help, but I'll give info anyway.

I noticed the tower stats reading issue and the upgrade problem. Also, for some odd reason the coordinates of the grid didn't read as I moved around wih the arrow keys (not sure why), I tried pressing A, and the game told me the grid announcements was either on or off but this made no difference.

For audio I do stil wonder if some more battle review commands are needed, eg, knowing what towers did what to what monsters (perhaps the route curser to lead monster option I mentioned earlier, or just a more complex review mode).

For instance this would've removed a rather odd issconception of mine. I thought (goodness knows why), that frost towers could only slow down monsters while the monsters were within their range, and after passing outside their range the monsters would return to normal speed.

Thus, i was placing frost towers near to cannon towers in order to have monsters in range of the cannons for as much time as possible. But now, I know to place frost towers urther down the path so that monsters get slowed by them initially and all towers I place further on will gain the bennifit.

Oh, and I deffinately think the game should now have the ultra powerful spam tower, which coats monsters with so much fowl smelling chopped ham and pork products that they turn around and run off the path in the other direction like wimpy little cowards ;D.

Just to put on my audiogames.net admin hat again, The game will be getting an entry on the database as soon as I can get off my lazy behind to make one.

Given this it needs first, an actual name for the game. Second, you'll need a name for the developer, I could stick you in as Aprone, but if you'd like to either use your actual name, or some more jazzy sounding developement type name, eg, something or other:
games/software/company/programming/inc/entertainment/interactive, just let me know. There's no set rule about this as to whether the games are free or not, Jim kitchin for instance is listed as Kitchins inc despite producing free games just because it sounds good.

Then, i assume sinse your having an online score list, your also planning a webpage for the game? This would be cool as well.

Accept for the name of the game though, everything else can be pretty much added in later, so if you don't come up with a company name or write a webpage immediately, don't panic.

Bogdan, it sounds you have the same problem Niklas and Aminiel were having.  Windows 7 doesn't naturally ship with Direct X 7 and that is what my game uses for sound.  I don't know if they fixed the problem... have we heard back from them?  Sorry I can't remember if either of them said it was working now.  Anyways, the suggestion to them was to try using Jim kitchin's winkit file from www.kitchensinc.net .  It installs various Visual basic files that don't ship with Windows 7 but are required by some games.  I plan to make one of these myself, but in the mean time there's no reason not to benefit from the one Jim Kitchin already made! 

Hey Niklas and Aminiel, did Jim's winkit fix the game for you guys?  Actually it would be cool to get confirmation from either Aminiel or Balliol since they have multiple operating systems to test on.  *Hintidy hint hint* 

Welcome back Dark.
Yep I think those bugs you've mentioned have been fixed since the Saturday version.  Sheesh you were using a version like 10 updates old haha!    Originally the frost tower did only affect units in its range, but I found it was far too difficult to use.  I tried to balance it to be useful but once I had enough I just made the crippling effect permanent and instantly found the tower worth buying in the game.  Sorry about that confusion though.

Spam tower eh?  Rofl

I'm still trying to find a good name that hasn't already been used by some other game, book, or movie lol.  It isn't easy!  Could I cheat and have both in under developer?  Something like Aprone (Jeremy Kaldobsky)?  If not I'll just go with my real name.    Having a website for the game is probably a very good idea.  At the very least it'll be a good spot to post what the object of the game is, what each tower does, statistics on the towers, and some strategies.  I'm pretty sure I do NOT want to set up a message board for the game though!  It is easy enough to do, so that is not the issue, rather the problem is that I want to keep people chatting here (audiogames.net) instead.  While sometimes it is good, too often people develop games and excitedly set up a new place to talk about their game.  This requires people to spend time in 2 different places, which ultimately leads them to spend more time in one and less in the other as time goes on.  We've all been there... you get pulled among several online communities and eventually you stop visiting some.  I really don't want to contribute to that if I don't have to. 

I want to congratulate Karl who has beaten the game on easy (I think), and almost completely DOMINATED the top 10 high score list lol!  You guys need to push him out of there so he has some competition! 

Now seems like a good time to talk about the progression of the game and points, since the top score list is up.

When you first begin playing, you are in a battle against the computer.  The computer knows what to do to defeat YOU, but you are still trying to figure out what the heck is going on.  For some time this will be a struggle understanding how the game works, the layout of the path, where to put towers, and which upgrades you should get.  Sooner or later though, you will gradually become comfortable within the game.  You will know exactly how the computer is going to behave when that next round starts, you know your options with the different tower types, and it doesn't take you 2 minutes randomly pressing keys in order to find the option you wanted... but you still can't beat the game.  Playing is no longer a struggle against the computer, it is a struggle against yourself and your strategies.

Once the struggle has shifted to yourself and your strategies, reaching new levels becomes your goal.  You will die on level 9... again... and you'll ponder your layout, and you'll brainstorm some new way, and you'll tweak your plan until you beat that stupid wave of Ogres and move on to level 10!  This back and forth battle will continue, and your strategy will evolve and define itself as you reach the end of the game.  The first time you beat the game you'll be excited and think you've ended your struggle against yourself, but you haven't.  You haven't defeated yourself yet because it is going to start nagging you... what will nag you?... questions.  You'll start asking yourself questions, "Could I still win if I didn't use those frost towers?", "Was it a good idea to upgrade the sniper as early as I did?".  These questions will inevitably lead you to start over again to develop more and more strategies that can beat the game.  Once you've answered the questions that were nagging you, you've finally ended the struggle against yourself and your strategy.

While conquering the opponent of your last battle, you were actually setting the stage for your final battle... the battle against your community!  At each victory in the game you heard the voice submitting your score to the community's top 10 high score list, and each time it didn't say "First" it was another invitation to this last battle.  You understand this game, you are sitting on multiple strategies that can slaughter the 20 levels, and yet... there is someone clearly better than you.  Not ONLY are they better, but a list makes sure everyone knows it!    Now is the time to focus your strategies on points, maximizing them as much as possible so you can claim your rightful place on top of that list!  This is a battle that will rage on for as long as others are willing to do battle.  The fight for the top brings friendly competition to the community and strongly promotes the sharing of strategies and tips.

An experienced warrior may do battle on multiple fronts, and so will you.  The battle against your community may never end, but you are free to strike up a new battle against yourself and your strategies on each additional difficulty level and map!  Enjoy! 

lol, I got carried away and wrote a lot. 

I don't suggest you worry too much about your score until you've gotten in to that third stage of battle.  Even if you masterfully gain points and die at level 12, you probably won't beat the guy who ignored points and survived until level 16.  Focus on strategy before fine tuning it for max points. 

- For each monster that you kill, you will gain points.  (The farther a monster walks, the less points it is worth)
- Completing a level earns you points (100 for easy, 200 for normal, and 300 for hard)
- For each level, you actually lose a small number of points for every tower that you have.  (This rewards people who use less to accomplish more)
- You gain the same number of points as the amount of gold interest you earned.  (Saving money is always rewarded)
- Beating the last level (level 20) grants you an extra 1000 points because you didn't die.  (When's the last time someone handed you a reward because you weren't dead? lol)

There's your guide to a higher score, good luck and I'll see you guys on the top 10 list.

P.S. How does "Invaders on the Path" sound as a title?  I've been trying name after name but always find some game/book/movie that's using it already.  This one isn't used yet.

Yeah when I first saw KeyisFull's Battlezone thread I thought it was for an accessible version of either the old 3D Battlezone stragety game or the really really old Battlezone game from the pac man era.

I suppose you're right that no one is likely to care if I use their name... and honestly I think "towers of war" is better than "Invaders on the path" lol!  Lets make it official, this game is now called "Aprone's Towers of War".  I have a habit of sticking my name at the beginning of stuff, and this will slightly change the name away from the stuff already using that name.

I believe my next major addition will be more levels, and then different game modes.  I've planned to have them and each will dramatically increase the content of the game.  Mastering one level will be different than mastering another, so it gives people a lot more to do.  The same will hold true for the game modes.

Hey niall, I have another thing to try.  Right click on the executable (towerdefense.exe) and choose "Run as", and then choose "Administrator".  I was talking with someone and they said that usually works on windows 7 since the operating system should register any unregistered drivers automatically when you execute specifically as an admin.  Worth a shot I suppose.  He said that after that's done, it should be fixed and you shouldn't have to run it as administrator any more.

Once we have someone 100% confirm that one of these methods fixes all errors on windows 7 (and vista) I'll breath a sigh of relief.

Dark, did you mean level 9?  If the bugs are giving you trouble I'd imagine the Imps and Dragons will too, once you get to them.  Imps are a little slower than the bugs, Dragons are a little faster, but all are quite quick compared to things like beasts and ogres.  Since enemy speed is clearly your weak spot, I'd normally suggest frost towers but they won't help against the overwhelming number of bugs.  Hmmm, what types of towers are you mostly using?