Tower Defense
Steam page
Planet TD is a fun game. With shallow mechanics beneath the hood, it offers enough features that keep you coming back for a while. Once you get the hang of it, the game is very easy to beat. It can be done with only three out of five Towers.
For each map you earn skillpoints, depending on the number of enemies that slipped through the battlefield. If you destroy them all you’ll receive four skillpoints which you can spend for numerous traits like cost of towers, shooting range, tower quality, etc. Towers can be upgraded three times.
Controls
Planet TD can be played with only the mouse, LMB- and ESC-Key.
The mouse is not captured inside the game window.
Design
The game’s design is low-poly. Maybe a bit retro, but not shabby. It reminds of the classic TD-Hit Defense Grid, against which Planet TD cannot compete.
There are five screen resolutions to choose from and you can decide if you want to play in windowed mode or fullscreen:
1280 x 720 | 1356 x 768 | 1920 x 1080 | 2560 x 1440 | 3840 x 2160
I was missing a resolution of 1680 × 1050 sorely, because with this one I could have left the game without quitting. 1920 x 1080 in windowed mode does have borders and it’s not possible to switch to desktop with a simple click. If you can’t use a hardware keyboard you will be unable to enter the game menu. Therefore you might consider to utilize an on-screen keyboard or an ‚Alt Controller custom window‘.
In-game controls are straight forward. Click one of the cylindrical baseplates and select your tower of choice. In order to upgrade, just click and select the respective button.
Accessibility
Overall in regards of mouse controls. Accessibility of Planet TD is quite good for people with reduced mobility. The only button you’ll ever need ist the LMB (left mouse button).
Gamers with visual issues may encounter difficulties with the overlay menus when upgrading towers.
Gamers with so called coloblindness will be able to decipher the overlay menu but the contrast issues are the same.
This is the case with all status indicators like enemy units that made it to the exit, attack wave number, cash, the pause button, fast forward, and the three buttons of slowdown, smartbomb, as well as air-strike.
The contrast issues apply to any buttons in game. A good alternative would have been to remove transparency or to create a black background inside the overlay graphics.
Accessibility Apps
Enable Viacam Headmouse works in windowed mode.
OSK works in windowed mode.
Windows Magnifyer works.
Alt Controller works in windowed mode.
Voice Activated Commands not tested, yet.
Gameplay
Video on Youtube. Click.
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