Genre: Tower Defense

Strategic placement, resource management, and escalating difficulty define tower defense.

Core Loop

1. Prepare: Build/upgrade towers with available currency
2. Wave: Enemies spawn and traverse path toward goal
3. Defend: Towers auto-target and damage enemies
4. Reward: Kills grant currency
5. Escalate: Waves increase in difficulty/complexity

NEVER Do in Tower Defense Games

• NEVER make all towers equally viable — If Sniper = same DPS as Machine Gun, no strategic choice. Each tower MUST have distinct niche (AoE, slow, armor pierce, anti-air).
• NEVER use synchronous NavigationServer baking for mazing — NavigationRegion2D.bake_navigation_polygon() blocks main thread. Use NavigationServer2D.get_maps() + worker thread OR fixed paths.
• NEVER let players fully block the exit path — In mazing TDs, validate NavigationServer2D.map_get_path(start, goal) before tower placement. Empty path = illegal build.
• NEVER use Area2D.get_overlapping_bodies() every frame — 500 enemies × 60fps = 30k collision checks. Store bodies_entered in array, remove on body_exited. Query once.
• NEVER make early waves feel like busywork — First 3 waves should introduce mechanics, not bore. Start timer at 50% or give "early call" bonus to skip.
• NEVER allow death spirals without catch-up mechanics — 1 leaked enemy → less money → harder next wave → inevitable loss. Add interest on saved money OR discrete wave difficulty.