Tower Defense Framework – Path Editor & Wave System

Demo WebGL: itch.io

Tower Defense Framework – Path Editor & Wave System

Build and prototype tower defense games in Unity with a modular framework designed to provide the core gameplay systems without requiring you to build them from scratch.

Create enemy routes visually, configure enemies and towers through ScriptableObjects, build complex waves, manage tower placement, control targeting behavior, and extend the framework with your own gameplay systems.

Core Features

Visual Path Editor

Design enemy routes directly in the Unity Scene View.

• Add, remove, and reorder waypoints
• Move waypoints with Scene View handles
• Real-time path visualization
• Spawn Point and Goal Point support
• Path validation
• Custom Inspector tools
• Keyboard shortcuts for path editing

Enemy System

Create configurable enemy types using ScriptableObject data.

Configure:

• Health
• Movement speed
• Damage to base
• Kill reward
• Visual prefab
• Scale
• Debug color

The EnemyController handles movement, waypoint progression, health, death, and reaching the goal.

Enemy Registry

The framework includes a centralized registry for active enemies.

Instead of repeatedly searching the scene for enemies, towers can access registered enemies through the EnemyRegistry.

Features include:

• Centralized enemy tracking
• Active enemy collection
• Enemy count
• Range queries
• Register/unregister events
• Reduced dependency on scene-wide object searches

This provides a more scalable foundation for scenes containing many active enemies.

Tower System

Create configurable towers using ScriptableObject-based data.

Configure:

• Cost
• Damage
• Range
• Attack rate
• Rotation speed
• Targeting mode
• Projectile data
• Tower prefab
• Visual configuration

TowerController handles enemy detection, targeting, attack timing, rotation, and projectile launching.

5 Targeting Modes

Choose how towers select their targets:

• First – Enemy closest to the goal
• Last – Enemy furthest from the goal
• Closest – Enemy nearest to the tower
• Strongest – Enemy with the most health
• Weakest – Enemy with the least health

The targeting system can be extended with custom strategies.

Tower Placement

Two placement approaches are supported.

Tower Slots

• Place towers on predefined slots
• Prevent placement on occupied slots
• Slot-based gameplay

Free Placement

• Place towers on valid positions
• Ground validation
• Obstacle validation
• Custom placement validation

The placement system can also be extended with custom validation rules.

Projectile System

Configure projectile behavior through ProjectileData.

Supported projectile types include:

• Homing
• Straight
• Instant
• Area

Projectile settings include speed, lifetime, impact distance, prefab, scale, and visual configuration.

Wave System

Create configurable waves containing multiple enemy types.

Configure:

• Enemy type
• Enemy amount
• Spawn interval
• Initial delay
• Wave delay
• Completion reward
• Boss wave flag

WaveManager supports sequential wave progression as well as manual wave controls.

Economy System

Manage the game's currency through a dedicated CurrencyManager.

Features include:

• Starting money
• Enemy kill rewards
• Wave completion rewards
• Tower purchase costs
• Currency validation
• Add and spend currency
• Debug money controls

Level System

Configure levels using LevelData ScriptableObjects.

Set:

• Starting money
• Base health
• Available towers
• Wave sequence
• Preparation time
• Time between waves

The GameManager controls the main game flow through multiple game states:

• Preparing
• Playing
• Wave Completed
• Game Won
• Game Over
• Paused

Event-Driven Architecture

The framework includes a generic event system for communication between gameplay systems.

This allows systems such as enemies, towers, economy, UI, upgrades, statistics, and custom gameplay features to communicate without creating unnecessary direct dependencies.

Custom events can be created and subscribed to from your own scripts.

ScriptableObject-Based Workflow

Create gameplay data directly from the Unity Editor.

Included data types:

• EnemyData
• TowerData
• ProjectileData
• WaveData
• LevelData

This data-driven workflow makes it easier to create multiple variations of enemies, towers, projectiles, waves, and levels.

Editor & Validation Tools

Development tools are included to help configure and test the framework.

• Custom inspectors
• Visual path editing
• Framework validation
• Scene setup validation
• Required component checks
• Path visualization
• Tower range visualization

Debug Tools

Built-in debugging tools help during development.

Visual Debugging

• Toggle with F3
• Display enemy paths
• Display tower ranges
• Display enemy information

Performance Monitor

• Toggle with F4
• FPS display
• Active object counts
• Runtime performance information

Extensible Architecture

The framework is designed to be customized and extended rather than treated as a closed system.

Examples of possible extensions include:

• Custom targeting strategies
• Custom placement validation
• Custom events
• New enemy types
• New tower types
• Custom status effects
• Additional gameplay systems
• Custom game modes

The architecture uses several common programming patterns:

• Component-Based Architecture
• Singleton Pattern
• Observer/Event Pattern
• Strategy Pattern
• Factory Pattern
• Registry Pattern
• ScriptableObject-Based Data

Performance-Oriented Design

The framework avoids repeatedly searching the scene for active enemies by providing a centralized EnemyRegistry.

The registry allows towers and other gameplay systems to access active enemies through cached references and range queries.

Additional recommended optimization practices are documented, including:

• Object pooling
• Reference caching
• LayerMasks
• Collision matrix configuration
• Avoiding unnecessary per-frame allocations
• Proper event subscription management

Included

• Tower defense runtime systems
• Visual Path Editor
• Enemy System
• Enemy Registry
• Tower System
• Targeting System
• Tower Placement System
• Projectile System
• Wave System
• Economy System
• Level System
• Game Manager
• Event Manager
• Debug Tools
• Performance Monitor
• Framework Validation Tool
• Example prefabs
• ScriptableObject examples
• Demo scene
• Complete documentation

Requirements

• No external dependencies

Important

This framework provides the gameplay foundation for creating custom tower defense games.

Visual assets, animations, UI, audio, visual effects, progression systems, tower upgrades, and game-specific mechanics can be added according to the requirements of your project.

Placeholder assets are included in the demo to demonstrate the framework's systems and workflow.