Desktop Tower Defense: a cautionary tale

i've spent hundreds of hours playing DtTD at this point. i've lost sleep and been late to work. i've stayed up 'til 11am playing it.
let me put it another way: if you don't like the idea of a videogame that requires you to block out time on your social calender for it, stop reading this article.

i like this game; i think it's fun. it requires a bit of creative thought and logic. it's simple and clever. but the first week or so i played it it just pissed me off. so here's a bit of advice if you have a lot of time to kill (and i mean unemployed, majoring in jazz, green party supporter, etc.).

start with the earlier versions, especially if you've never played a real time strategy or tower-defense games before; 1.2 and 1.0 are still up on the site. the graphics & sound are worse, but all the basic gameplay's the same, but a bit simpler and easier.

there are lots of strategies that work well at first, for certain enemies, or specific situations, but are worthless later; you'll have to try lots of different things, especially on the fun/challenge modes. here's a few general tips:

1. shorter, tougher mazes are better
2. spend money ASAP
3. don't panic and extend the maze for a few creeps
4. fully upgraded squirt towers are key
5. ink, sniper, snap, boost, and dart towers are usually worthless
6. think ahead
7. be agressive
8. don't play this game.
Desktop Tower Defense

p.s. - sorry about writing something like an actual article. it won't happen again.