During GDC I got to sit down with David Whatley of Critical Thought Games to discuss what he has upcoming for the next year. The big news is that he's making geoDefense 2, and it will be a dual platform release with two different builds, one for the iPad and one for the iPhone. The iPad version will be more than just an upscaled version of the iPhone build.
geoDefense is a fixed path tower defense game with a geometry wars type theme with tons of particle effects. It's most well known for the sheer difficulty of the game. Creeps move along a fixed path, and you place towers on hexagon shaped spots on the sides of the paths.
geoDefense 2 on the iPad will mean more hexagons on screen resulting in longer paths, and more places to put towers. In total it will be a whole new more expansive experience that any tower defense fan will absolutely love. Also David is considering a new style where there will be more towers with less upgrades instead of fewer towers with many upgrades like the current version. On top of that he's considering adding many more particle effects to really take advantage of the iPad's internals as much as possible.
Critical Thought Games is also considering moving to a potential freemium model, or at the very least having more in app purchases for levels. This is at most just in consideration to have a free geoDefense 2 with a few levels, and have all the rest via iap. The development is just beginning, and it will be about 5-6 months before it will be ready, but it definitely is coming.
Other iPad news from Critical Thought Games is that geoSaprk will be made to run on the iPad in native resolution. On top of that there will be a similar aspect ration meaning there will be more sparks, and consequently more action on that bigger screen. The game is expected soon after the iPad launch, as it runs in the simulator now, but there will be some testing on the actual device once they can get their hands on one.
Critical Thought Games overall is excited about the potential of the iPad, and will support it fully, as you can tell from above. David's business is changing as well, as he's leaving the company he founded, Simutronics, and bringing 20 people of the game development sector with him to put all his attention to Critical Thought Games. This will lead to more people working on the geo series, as well as other gaming ventures including facebook games. This can only be good news for geo fans, tower defense fans, and idevice gaming in general.
