Tower Tanks began as an Advanced Game Workshop project in September, 2022. My inspirations behind the idea came from multiple sources. I'm a big fan of couch coop party games such as Overcooked, Unrailed!, or Gang Beasts and the chaotic experience those games provide when you hand four people a controller and tell them to "figure it out". Often what I find makes these games fun and memorable for players, though, is when things tend to go wrong and the players are able to laugh at themselves and the wacky situations they find themselves in.

My goal when designing Tower Tanks was to mix this chaotic group energy with a more strategic management game. My biggest inspiration for this side of the game was Steamlands, an old flash title by Nitrome from 2011 that featured fully customizable tanks made of blocks. I remember thinking to myself: "This seems like it would be REALLY fun to play multiplayer."

Though I was convinced combining dynamic strategy elements and chaotic coop gameplay would work, I figured out early on in our project's initial 5 month development period that it would take some creative problem solving in order to make it actually fun to play.

As my team's lead designer and director, it was my job to find these problems and communicate our proposed solutions to the team. I did this through constant QA and playtesting, getting people together for playtests whenever possible. I would then communicate with my team through weekly standup meetings, illustrated design graphics, and milestone lists, as these were the best ways to keep my particular team on the same page.

I always kept the core vision for the project in mind, with the players' experience being at the forefront of my decision-making.

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As of spring 2024, Tower Tanks is in continuous development by a new team consisting of myself and 8 other talented devs. Many players supported Tower Tanks 1.0 and I felt like the project was worth continuing, so I took the time to ask around and onboard some new people to help our small team achieve our goals.

We are currently in the process of overhauling the game's gameplay, art style, and scope. Directing a team of 9 people who are all working fully remote is no easy task. Thankfully, we are utilizing professional tools such as Jira to better organize the next couple sprints and speed up production. It's been going very well so far!


Sneak peak of recent development:

We hope to bring the game to more players by the end of the year via kickstarter and indie showcase events. I plan to start a DevLog in the near future for anybody interested in learning more about Tower Tank's development.