Cursed Treasure: Don't Touch My Gems!

Cursed Treasure: Don't Touch My Gems!

Details
Name	Cursed Treasure: Don't Touch My Gems!
Author	IriySoft
Genre	Strategy & Defense
Published	2010-05-06
In-Game Awards?	No
Gameplay Style	Tower Defense
Upgrade System?	Yes

Cursed Treasure: Don't Touch My Gems! is a tower defense game in which you must protect your gems from being stolen by “good” heroes. It features music by Oleg Stepuro. Cursed Treasure: Level Pack!, a sequel with additional levels, was released on May 2011, uploaded to Kongregate exactly one year after the original game.

Gameplay[]

The objective of the game is to prevent the enemies from taking your gems. The enemies must walk along a set pathway to reach the cave(s) where the player's gems reside - the player, in turn, must build towers along the path to attack the enemies.

If an enemy touches a gem, it will begin carrying it back to the other end of the path - if they successfully reach the end, the gem is lost. If an enemy is killed while carrying a gem, the gem will remain where the enemy died, allowing others to pick it up and continue their escape. The player only needs one gem to remain on the screen in order to win a level. However, in order to achieve a higher rating, enemies must not be allowed to even touch a single gem.

There are two resources for the player to spend, gold and mana. The player gains gold from killing enemies, which is spent on building and upgrading towers. Mana, used for casting spells, is slowly gained over time.

There are three types of towers, Dens, Crypts and Temples. Each of them can only be built on one type of tile; Dens can only be built on Grass tiles, Crypts can only be built on Snow tiles and Temples can only be built on Rock tiles. Towers gain Xp from killing enemies; once a tower has enough Xp, the player can spend gold to increase its level. When a tower reaches Level 4, the player can choose a unique upgrade that gives it new abilities. Each tower type has two different upgrade paths, with the advanced form becoming available at Level 4 and the final form becoming available at Level 7.

There are three available spells. The Cut Out spell removes a forest on a single tile so towers can be built on that tile, the Frenzy spell increases the fire rate of all towers for five seconds and the Meteor spell causes damage to a selected area.

After each level, the player is awarded points that go towards leveling them up - at each new level, they receive three skill points that can be used to increase attributes in the Orc, Demon, and Undead trees. Points are awarded for killing enemies, surviving waves, and protecting gems. In addition, players receive a rating based on how well they performed in the level:

Good: Completed the level successfully.
Excellent: Completed the level without losing any gems.
Brilliant: Completed the level without a single enemy touching a gem.

Towers[]

There are fifteen unique towers in Cursed Treasure, divided into three categories: Orcs, Undead, and Demons.

Orc Towers[]

Den: The basic Orc Tower. Fires arrows which travel quickly in straight lines. Moderate range, fire rate, and damage output. Can upgrade to an Orcish Den or a Ballista Den at Level 4.
Orcish Den: An upgraded Den which has a chance to inflict critical hits with its arrows, dealing massive damage. Fire rate increases with each level. Upgrades to a Hunter's Den at Level 7.
Ballista Den: An upgraded Den that fires giant arrows that damage everything within their explosion radius. Lower fire rate and slower projectiles than the Den, but greater range. Upgrades to a Catapult Den at Level 7.
Hunter's Den: A fully-upgraded Orcish Den. In addition to crit chance, has a chance to immediately fire another arrow after a successful hit, very high fire rate.
Catapult Den: A fully-upgraded Ballista Den. Launches three explosive rocks at a time in a spread pattern; each projectile creates an explosion that can damage multiple enemies at once.

Undead Towers[]

Crypt: The basic Undead Tower. Generates energy charges that slowly home in on enemies; if no enemies are in range, the charges are stored above the Crypt, up to a maximum of 2 (3 with the Soul Vault skill), and will all be fired simultaneously when an enemy comes into range. Long range, low damage output, high burst damage. Can upgrade to a Ghost Crypt or a Chilling Crypt at Level 4.
Ghost Crypt: An upgraded Crypt that gives the player some Mana every time it hits something with its charges. Higher fire rate than the Crypt. Upgrades to a Haunted Crypt at Level 7.
Chilling Crypt: An upgraded Crypt with charges that can inflict Fear on their targets; enemies affected by Fear will run away from the Gems/exit until the condition wears off. Upgrades to a Fearful Crypt at Level 7.
Haunted Crypt: A fully-upgraded Ghost Crypt. In addition to generating Mana, its charges have a chance to negate the special abilities of enemies they hit.
Fearful Crypt: A fully-upgraded Chilling Crypt. In addition to causing Fear, its charges have a chance to split on contact with an enemy, allowing them to hit two foes instead of one.

Demon Towers[]

Temple: The basic Demon Tower. Fires a beam that rapidly damages an enemy until it moves out of the Temple's range or dies. Short range, high damage output. Can upgrade to an Evileye Temple or a Burning Temple at Level 4.
Evileye Temple: An upgraded Temple that inflicts its target with Radiance; as long as the Evileye Temple's beam is targeting them, the enemy receives more damage from other attacks. Upgrades to a Beholder Temple at Level 7.
Burning Temple: An upgraded Temple that replaces its continuous beam with an area attack that hits everything in its range at once. High damage and range, but low fire rate. Upgrades to a Hellfire Temple at Level 7.
Beholder Temple: A fully-upgraded Evileye Temple. In addition to the Radiance effect, it causes enemies killed by its beam to explode violently, damaging enemies around them.
Hellfire Temple: A fully-upgraded Burning Temple. Enemies hit by its area attack will suffer the Daze status effect, reducing their speed until it wears off.

Enemies[]

A number of different enemies will attempt to take the player's gems. They have a variety of abilities and attributes, with some favoring brute force and others possessing skills that can hinder the player's efforts to stop them from taking the Gems.

Peasant: The basic enemy. Low HP and medium speed, with no special abilities.
Rogue: Faster and somewhat tougher than the Peasant, but still lacks special abilities.
Warrior: Much tougher than the Peasant, but slower and still lacking special abilities.
Knight: Low speed and high HP. Carries a Shield that reduces the damage of all incoming attacks by a small amount.
Bard: Medium speed and HP. Uses a Lute of Haste to temporarily boost the speed of an ally by 50%.
Ninja: High speed and medium-low HP. Uses a Smoke Bomb after being hit once, becoming invisible to towers for five seconds - however, it is still vulnerable to splash damage and the Meteor spell. Widely regarded as the most difficult enemy to deal with in the game.
Mage: Medium speed and medium-low HP. Protected by a Barrier with regenerating HP of its own - the Mage only takes damage when the Barrier is destroyed.
Assassin: High speed and medium HP. Uses a Mystic Blade to reduce incoming damage by a random percentage (between 30 and 90 percent). Previously had the Dancing Blade ability, which gave it a 50% chance of dodging incoming attacks.
Priest: High speed and medium HP. Uses a Healing Wand to heal an ally's HP.
Paladin: Low speed and high HP. Immune to negative status effects thanks to a Sacred Tome.

Enemies can also level up in later waves, increasing their HP and the potency of their special abilities. Additionally, some waves (usually every tenth wave and the final wave in the level) will consist of a lone Champion - a giant, high-level enemy with enhanced HP, speed (due to having a larger sprite that moves at the same speed as its normal form) and abilities.

Skills[]

By completing levels and gaining XP, the player can level themselves up. For each level, the player gains 3 skill points to level up skills in one of three categories: Orcs, Undead and Demons. Each "tree" benefits a tower type, a spell, and a resource integral to the player's success. In addition, each upgrade category has a global tower bonus that increases with every skill point spent on that tree.

Most skills can be upgraded to level 5. Levels can be repeated to gain additional xp.

Orcs[]

This upgrade tree focuses on Dens, the Cut Out spell, and Gold collection. For each skill point spent on Orc upgrades, all towers gain +1% Fire Rate.

Gold Vault - Increases the amount of gold available at the beginning of a mission.
Height Advantage - Towers on high ground will cause more damage.
Mining - The player begins every mission with six Gems instead of five.
Cut Out Study - The Cut Out spell costs less Mana to cast.
Cut Out Mastery - Using Cut Out on a forest gives the player some Gold.
Marksmanship - Orcish Dens and Hunter's Dens have higher chances of causing a critical hit.
Bounty Hunting - Increases the amount of Gold received from killed enemies
Warchief - Dens gain more experience and cost less to upgrade.
Poison Mastery - All Dens have the Poison Cloud ability, giving their attacks a chance to create a cloud of green fog that damages enemies that step into it.

Undead[]

This upgrade tree focuses on Crypts, the Frenzy spell, and Mana collection. For each skill point spent on Undead upgrades, all towers gain +1% Range.

Mana Stock - Increase the amount of Mana available at the beginning of a mission.
Mana Pool - Increases the maximum amount of Mana the player can hold at one time.
Soul Vault - All Crypts can store up to three charges at once instead of two.
Frenzy Study - The Frenzy spell costs less Mana to cast.
Frenzy Mastery - All towers fire more quickly when Frenzy is active.
Mind Control - Increases the chance of Chilling Crypts and Fearful Crypts inflicting Fear on enemies.
Mana Extraction - Increases the rate at which the player gains Mana.
Lich King - Crypts gain more experience and cost less to upgrade.
Ice Mastery - All Crypts have the Freeze ability, giving them a chance to freeze enemies with their attacks, preventing them from moving for a time.

Demons[]

This upgrade tree focuses on Temples, the Meteor spell, and making the Gems more difficult to steal. For each skill point spent on Demon upgrades, all towers gain +1% Damage.

Basic Training - All towers gain more experience,
Scorching Treasure - Enemies will gradually lose HP while carrying a Gem.
Adoration - The player gains 20 Mana every time they build a Temple.
Meteor Study - The Meteor spell costs less Mana to cast.
Meteor Mastery - The Meteor spell does more damage.
All-seeing Eye - Evileye Temples and Beholder's Temples gain more Radiance, increasing the damage they and nearby towers do to enemies.
Return Portal - When a stolen Gem is dropped by an enemy, a timer appears over it and begins counting down. If the Gem is not lost by the end of the countdown, it automatically returns to its cave.
Demon Lord - Temples gain more experience and cost less to upgrade.
Fire Mastery - All Temples have the Blaze ability, allowing them to set enemies on fire with their attacks. Blazing enemies will steadily lose HP until the flames die down.