Island Hopping


Posted by Marty, November 6th, 2009 | 7 Comments

High Scores

Rank User Score Level Wave Time
1 h.patisa 419183 ADDICTIVE 100 0:09:00.66
2 h.patisa 417814 ADDICTIVE 100 0:09:12.86
3 h.patisa 417814 ADDICTIVE 100 0:09:12.86
4 h.patisa 415327 ADDICTIVE 100 0:09:39.78
5 h.patisa 415327 ADDICTIVE 100 0:09:39.78
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Overview

Full Map View

Island Hopping is one of the larger maps in ATD, at 16x16 tiles. To get a sense of size, with no maze at all it takes a soldier approximately a minute to walk from one corner to the opposite corner. The idea behind this map is that you must use the terrain to your advantage to win. The five islands and multiple bridges will prove a challenge for all but the most clever defenders. The map was designed so that, if you are careful, you can get the attackers onto each of the islands exactly once; once they have left the island, there is no way for them to return. This means that mazing will play an important role, and tower placements will have to be chosen carefully. An effective use of tower upgrading in your maze will lead to victory, as often towers will only get one chance to shoot at the invaders.

Strategy

The map features a set of five islands, connected in various ways with bridges. Enemies spawn at the top left and march their way down to the bottom right corner. Individual islands are too small to build an effective maze, and the main key to success is to maze the enemy through each of the five islands by blocking certain bridges with your towers. Just doing this will double the length of the path that the enemy must march.

Tower range is also quite important here, as your maze will likely by quite tortuous and it will be difficult to place towers in optimal locations; unless you take care, the coverage of your wide-ranged towers will not be as large as in a more open map.

Experiment, have fun and try to have a plan of your maze before the first wave even begins. Remember that before you start the waves, towers can be sold for no loss of gold, so it is key to play around and find something that works.

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7 Comments

  1. 7
    MoneyMike (January 12, 2010)

    I tend to make the majority of my damage dealing towers in the original island. I usually max out 2 Gun towers to handle early fliers, then I quickly max out a Missile Tower. I use Frost towers appropriately to slow things down.

    Once the first Missile Tower is maxed, I work on my first air tower (I make an air death box on the island just east of the first). I upgrade my first Flak Tower and a second Missile Tower at the same time (Flak 2, Missile 2, Flak 3, Missile 3, etc.).

    The air units become problematic, so once I have 2 Missile Towers I get out a second Flak tower ASAP. Once I have 2 of each, I upgrade all the Gun towers that will hit both air and land units. Try to end up with 2-3 Missile Towers, and at least 3 Flak towers.

    Once I have sufficient damage dealing, I then go for points by making the longest possible maze and upgrading for bonuses. Really, everything should die on the first island. Try using diagonal patterns for ground troops, as that pattern creates the longest path (and longest time in range of the maxed towers).

    Hope this helps!

  2. 6
    paul (January 12, 2010)

    Any tips on how to beat this one? I’m running into a wall…

  3. 5
    smcray (December 15, 2009)

    Love this game. Wish there was more maps like this one.

  4. 4
    Stormin09 (October 26, 2009)

    I know u guys might be busy/hard at work on many things, but is it a chance we can get an update of the progress of the best blackberry storm game ever to be released? I hope that other developers will model their games after yours when its released. This game looks like what storm games should graphically show, the storm is a powerful phone.

  5. 3
    seth (October 26, 2009)

    This is probally my favorite map… Although ur top down shooter is neat too. Its a change of pace! Graffics are really good! I’m very impressed so far!

  6. 2
    Mike (September 30, 2009)

    Thanks Keir! We’re working hard to make sure it will be a polished experience start to finish. I’m definitely a programmer first but I’m glad that my artwork has caught your attention. Working on the art was definitely a fun (and different) experience.

  7. 1
    Keir (September 29, 2009)

    This is definitely the best looking BlackBerry game I’ve seen and from a genre of games I love.

    Definitely looking forward to the release of ATD and can’t wait to get my hands on it!

    Keep up the great work (artwork looks great, maps are original).

    Thanks!

    Keir

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