Crystal Tower Defense

Released: Jul 19, 2023
Platforms
Last updated: 14 Sep 2026, 14:38 GMT

Updates & announcements

20 posts

21 Jun 2026Developer post
Map Editor, Steam Workshop & Daily Challenges
This is our biggest update yet . Build your own maps , share them with the community , and put your defenses to the test in a fresh challenge every single day . New Map Editor Design your own tower defense maps from scratch. Design the grid, place obstacles, gates, and shape the
This is our biggest update yet. Build your own maps, share them with the community, and put your defenses to the test in a fresh challenge every single day.
New Map Editor
Design your own tower defense maps from scratch.
Design the grid, place obstacles, gates, and shape the enemy path however you like
Complete stage editor with waves, formations, timing as well as per wave enemy sequences
Let them get auto generated or hand craft every spawn yourself
Difficulty tuning
per enemy type stat multipliers
spawn limits
enemy variants
per-stage scaling
Set starting money, lives, turret limits, upgrade costs, and pre-placed turrets
Steam Workshop Integration
Share your maps and play maps made by others. Compete in per map leaderboards
Publish your maps to the Workshop
Browse, subscribe and launch workshop maps directly in the game
Maps must be beaten by their creator before they can be published
Per map leaderboards
New Daily Challenges
A new challenge every day with global leaderboards.
30 unique challenge archetypes (Boss Rush, Swarm, Shield Breaker, Armor Piercer, and more)
Four difficulty tiers: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Hell
Every challenge has its own modifiers, per-stage scaling, available turrets and abilities
Compete on global leaderboards and climb the ranks
Earn loot boxes for completing runs
Only currency earned during the run can be spent and personal turret upgrades are not taken into account, so the leaderboard stays even for everyone
Leaderboards
Redesigned leaderboards/statistics screen
Added a leaderboard panel to the game end screen, to show your new rank and how much you climbed
Polish & Quality of Life
Smooth fade transitions between scenes to reduce freezing when loading
Faster statistics and leaderboard screens
Per-turret kill counter and live DPS readout in the side panel
Restart button added to the pause menu
Some UI readability and styling fixes
Please provide us with your feedback and share your map creations on our Discord.
We can't wait to see the maps you build!
Original post
09 Mar 2026Developer post
Map Editor [Beta]
Custom Map Editor We are currently working on a custom map editor and want to make our current progress available to the community in a beta branch called map-editor . You can find out how to switch to the branch here Branches (Betas) (Steamworks Documentation) . Switching branch
Custom Map Editor [Beta]
We are currently working on a custom map editor and want to make our current progress available to the community in a beta branch called map-editor. You can find out how to switch to the branch here Branches (Betas) (Steamworks Documentation).
Switching branches will still use your current save, so please back it up from here \\AppData\\LocalLow\\HotRoofStudios\\CrystalTowerDefense
Please keep in mind, as this is a beta, there can be bugs and mistakes.
Create your own maps and share them with the community through the Steam Workshop.
Grid & Map Design
Build your map from scratch
Adjustable grid size
Place entry and exit gates anywhere on the grid
Add obstacles to shape enemy pathing
Pre-place turrets on the grid
Choose from our visual themes
Wave & Stage Design
Design your challenge with two stage modes that can be freely combined.
Manual Stages
Full control over every wave. Choose enemy types, formations, spawn timing, stat multipliers, and wave delays.
Auto-Generated Stages
Configure difficulty parameters and let the system build balanced waves for you. Set base difficulty, enemy type weights, formation preferences, and per-stage scaling.
Endless Mode
Enable endless mode to keep generating stages with escalating difficulty after your designed stages run out.
Rules & Restrictions
Enable or disable specific turrets and abilities
Modify turret stats: adjust damage, range, reload time, cost, and more
Limit how many of each turret can be placed
Limit how often abilities can be used per stage
Adjust enemy stats globally: health, speed, armor, shields, rewards
Configure per-stage stat scaling for increasing difficulty
Set starting gold, lives, and per-stage bonuses
Enable/Disable obstacle selling
Steam Workshop
Publish your maps and play maps made by others.
Browse, search, and subscribe to maps by other creators
Per-map leaderboards, compete for high scores on every published map
How Publishing Works
You must beat your own map before it can be published. For endless mode maps, you need to survive at least 5 endless stages. Updated
Feel free to drop by on our Discord to leave some feedback or ask questions.
Original post
13 Jul 2025Developer post
Accessibility Uptade
Accesibility Added a toggle for high contrast cursor in the settings Added a slider to change cursor size in the settings
Accesibility
Added a toggle for high contrast cursor in the settings
Added a slider to change cursor size in the settings
Original post
16 Jun 2025Developer post
Bug Fixes & Chinese Translation
Translation Added Chinese translation. If you have any suggestions for improvement, please send them to us via Discord. / 添加了中文翻译。如果您有任何改进建议，请通过 Discord 发送给我们。 Bug Fixes Fixed forge upgrade animation getting stuck Fixed items disappearing inside the forge Fixed inventory being st
Translation
Added Chinese translation. If you have any suggestions for improvement, please send them to us via Discord. / 添加了中文翻译。如果您有任何改进建议，请通过 Discord 发送给我们。
Bug Fixes
Fixed forge upgrade animation getting stuck
Fixed items disappearing inside the forge
Fixed inventory being stuck in dismantle mode
Original post
02 Feb 2025Developer post
Quality of Life Improvement
Quality of Life Added copy and paste functionality to targeting system Added grey out when the player has not enough money for a turret upgrade Added controls UI in the settings for hotkeys Bug Fixes Fixed wording for new unlocks Fixed selectable enemy types for targeting to appe
Quality of Life

Added copy and paste functionality to targeting system
Added grey out when the player has not enough money for a turret upgrade
Added controls UI in the settings for hotkeys
Bug Fixes

Fixed wording for new unlocks
Fixed selectable enemy types for targeting to appear on the correct wave (UI Bug)
Original post
12 Aug 2024Developer post
Fixed Colliders of End Portal
Bug Fixes Fixed the projectile collider of the end portal, projectiles now pass through
Bug Fixes

Fixed the projectile collider of the end portal, projectiles now pass through
Original post
21 Feb 2024Developer post
Added Setting for Video Background
Added setting to disable the video background in the menu
Added setting to disable the video background in the menu
Original post
15 Oct 2023Developer post
Improved Targeting & Quality of Life
Targeting System Enemy types are now defined by their current HP bar status and not by the type they spawned as. This means if an enemy loses all their armor, they are counted as a normal type. A turret targeting armor, will now switch to the next enemy with armor, once he destro
Targeting System

Enemy types are now defined by their current HP bar status and not by the type they spawned as. This means if an enemy loses all their armor, they are counted as a normal type. A turret targeting armor, will now switch to the next enemy with armor, once he destroys the armor of the current target.
Quality of Life

SPACE works as a shortcut to start a new stage. It also functions as a pause/play button during a stage.
Bug Fixes

Fixed Blaststone not turning blue when it is slowed
Fixed wave type not getting saved properly
Original post
30 Sep 2023Developer post
New Localization
Thank you @berry for providing us with the Russian translation to the game! Added Russian language support If you too, are interested in translating the game, feel free to reach out to us.
Thank you @berry for providing us with the Russian translation to the game!

Added Russian language support
If you too, are interested in translating the game, feel free to reach out to us.
Original post
19 Sep 2023Developer post
Break down your Items
Break Down System We implemented the option to break down any items that you have in your inventory. When breaking down items, you gain Crystals. The amount of Crystals depends on the rarity. Common - 10 Rare - 100 Epic - 300 Legendary - 500 It is possible to multi select items a
Break Down System
We implemented the option to break down any items that you have in your inventory. When breaking down items, you gain Crystals. The amount of Crystals depends on the rarity.

Common - 10
Rare - 100
Epic - 300
Legendary - 500
It is possible to multi select items and use buttons to quickly select all items of a specific type or rarity.
General Improvements

Changed the UI layout to have a cohesive theme
Bug Fixes

Fixed achievement "The whole Arsenal", the game now checks on startup how many turrets you have unlocked and will unlock the achievement retroactively.
Fixed the spent points in the stage selection not being distributed as visualized inside the run
Tips
Rewards
If you are struggling with currency or rewards, make sure you "Take Rewards" after finishing a stage. If you do not take the rewards, but end up dying to the enemies, you only get a small fraction of the rewards.
Weigh the risk and reward in every stage and make calculated decision.
Tutorial/Stuck
We keep getting questions/requests that players are stuck in specific screens. Please check the whole screen for Pop-Ups with an OKAY button.
You need to complete the tutorial before being able to click anything else.
Especially in the stage selection, please scroll to the last available stage and then you should see the Pop-Up. If that is not the case, or you need any other help, please contact us via Discord.
Here is an example of how this might look.
Thank you for playing Crystal Tower Defense! We are looking forward to seeing your labyrinths and hear your feedback.
Original post
03 Sep 2023Developer post
Hotifx
Fixed lower graphic settings causing the menu to not appear on startup
Fixed lower graphic settings causing the menu to not appear on startup
Original post
03 Sep 2023Developer post
Change Hearts System & Balancing
Heart System You now start each run with a maximum of 25 Hearts . Everytime you are under 25 Hearts and complete a stage, you regain 1 Heart . This improves the early game and rewards you for completing stages without leaks as you can rebuild your Hearts Pool. General Improvement
Heart System
You now start each run with a maximum of 25 Hearts. Everytime you are under 25 Hearts and complete a stage, you regain 1 Heart.
This improves the early game and rewards you for completing stages without leaks as you can rebuild your Hearts Pool.
General Improvements

Changed Tutorials to represent the new Heart System
Added a Tutorial for when you lose the first time whilst being under Stage 9, to explain the mechanic of taking rewards
Changed the Game Ended screen to make it more obvious you missed out on rewards
Added Hover Text to armor & shield waves to explain the mechanic again
Targeting System now focuses the enemy based on spawn values and not current values (HP, Speed)
In a run, you can now see the armor & shield damage turrets do. Hover over the turret in the bottom bar, you now have two additional stats.
Increased the time for error and info texts showing up in a run, to make them readable more easily
Balancing Changes

Decreased the amount of armor & shield points enemies gain per stage
Lowered the starting value of armor & shield points
Bug Fixes

Not having an Enemy Type selected now focuses any enemy and not just normal ones
Fixed the Tutorial for the Stage Selection, this can lead to you having to go through it again
Tips

Use the number row 1-9 to select turrets
Use TAB and Space to switch between the speeds or pause the game
Use CTRL + 1-3 to upgrade turrets
Use SHIFT + 1-9 to select abilities
Press X to toggle between SELL and BUY mode
If you have any feedback, want to share your maze or come hang out, join our Discord.
Original post
29 Aug 2023Developer post
Video Guide
We create a video containing a strategy to get you started in Crystal Tower Defense, explaining what you need to pay attention to.
28 Aug 2023Developer post
New Maps, New Enemy Types, New Items, New Targeting System
!This update will reset your current run! !This update will reset your current run! New Maps Unlock three new maps. After reaching the required stage, the map theme gets put into a pool and randomly selected on starting a run. Forest - Stage 20 Ice - Stage 40 Hell - Stage 60 New
!This update will reset your current run!
!This update will reset your current run!
New Maps
Unlock three new maps. After reaching the required stage, the map theme gets put into a pool and randomly selected on starting a run.
Forest - Stage 20
Ice - Stage 40
Hell - Stage 60

New Enemy Types
We introduced two new enemy types. This will improve the late game difficulty and leads to the use of more different turrets. These enemies can also appear from the start, once you start on higher difficulties.
Armor
Enemies with armor take 60% reduced damage through normal attacks. To be able to penetrate the armor more efficiently, you need to equip the right upgrades. You can spot these enemies by their bronze shield bar and you can spot upcoming armor waves by the bronze color of the formation icon.
Shield
Enemies with shields can only have one of their shield bars broken at a time, no matter how strong the attack. Upcoming waves with shield enemies will have their formation coloured in blue. Monsters of that wave have a second blue healthbar. Equip items to increase the number of shield bars you can break.
New Items
We introduced two new items, to help you combat the new enemy types.
Armor Damage

Equipping turrets with this item, increases their damage against armor.
Shield Damage

Equipping turrets with this item, allows you to break multiple shield bars at once. One shield bar per 100%.
New Targeting System
We improved the targeting system available to you. You can now no longer only switch between two options, but target specific enemies to pick out the most threatening target.
General Improvements

Changed how points are spent in the stage selection screen to have a more realistic difficulty scaling
Selected turret/abilities are now highlighted
Turrets not affordable are greyed out
Increased zoom range to be able to view the whole map at once
Improved tutorial highlighting
Mouse camera movement doesn't deselect turret anymore
Enemies that are slowed, have their crystals turn blue
Added 15 handmade waves that spawn randomly throughout a playthrough
Balancing Changes

Selling a turret gives back 50% of the gold spend on upgrades
Decreased the gold you get back when selling a base turret to 50% of its cost
Items received from lootboxes drop on the lower end of the rarity range
Upgrading items now scales with the rarity, lower rarity receive a higher % gain than higher rarities.
Buffed late game turrets to be viable around the stage you receive them, even without major upgrades
Bombarding Battery

Splash Damage Falloff: 0.75 => 0.85
Digging Defender

Damage: 150 => 250
Range: 2.5 => 1.5
Missile Matrix

Damage: 90 => 400
Plasma Pulse

Time to max damage: 25s => 10s
Damage: 62 => 60
Range: 3.5 => 3
Performance improvements and small bug fixes.
Feel free to drop by on our Discord to leave some feedback or ask questions.
Original post
09 Aug 2023Developer post
Preview of upcoming new Maps
Teaser for upcoming maps We are currently working on adding more visual variety by adding more themes to the maps. Here you have a preview for two of the themes we are currently working on. Can you guess what themes they will be? Theme A Theme B What other themes would you wish t
05 Aug 2023Developer post
Español, Português, Italiano Language Support & Bug Fixes and Improvements
New Language With this update we added spanisch, portugese and italian localization to the game. You can now choose between, English, German and French, Spanisch, Protugese, Italian . Bug Fixes Fixed Switching between Ability and Turret Placement via Shortcuts breaking the placem
New Language
With this update we added spanisch, portugese and italian localization to the game.
You can now choose between, English, German and French, Spanisch, Protugese, Italian.
Bug Fixes

Fixed Switching between Ability and Turret Placement via Shortcuts breaking the placement system - it now switches between the Turret and Ability
Fixed Achievement "The whole Arsenal" - Turret unlocks were counted multiple times, now only count once
Fixed Enemy death animation stuttering - Now drops smoothly onto the ground even on low FPS
Fixed having sold blockers broke the save of the run
Improvements

Added permanently visible Crystal counter underneath the money counter
Improved visibility of the range indicator - Width now doesn't scale with radius
Improved load time when switching into the Statistics screen
Increased number of players shown on the leaderboard from 15 to the complete leaderboard
Switching from Windowed to Fullscreen now resets your resolution to the native monitor resolution, to change you resolution to a custom one, just change it again. This change was implemented to stop Windows from shifting all your other windows around.
Improved Range Indicator
We wanted to communicate that the forge does not have a "failed" upgrade result. The upgrade result will always be inside one of the ranges shown. To find out more how the forge works, please check out the ingame tutorial. Just click on the "?" inside the forge.
Feel free to join our Discord to share your labyrinth, ask questions or bring up suggestions on what you want to see.
Original post
31 Jul 2023Developer post
Français Language Support
New Language With this update we added french localization to the game. You can now choose between, English, German and French . Bug Fixes Fixed Digging Defender stops shooting Fixed getting stuck in various tutorials Based on feedback received, we are evaluating the current stat
New Language
With this update we added french localization to the game.
You can now choose between, English, German and French.
Bug Fixes

Fixed Digging Defender stops shooting
Fixed getting stuck in various tutorials
Based on feedback received, we are evaluating the current state of balancing internally.
Head over to our Discord to give feedback and report any bugs you encounter.
Original post
28 Jul 2023Developer post
Save/Reload Fix
Fixed Reloading & Saving We apologize for any trouble caused by the defect save & reload feature With this patch we have changed the reload & save feature...once again...this time for the last time. The changes were necessary as we introduced bugs with it, e.g. not be
26 Jul 2023Developer post
Bug Fixes & Performance Improvements
This Patch includes the previously reverted patch . Save migration is fully possible but may lead to longer (a few seconds) load time on the first start up and load of your run. We also reworked how the migration system works, to make rollbacks possible in the future with a norma
This Patch includes the previously reverted patch. Save migration is fully possible but may lead to longer (a few seconds) load time on the first start up and load of your run.
We also reworked how the migration system works, to make rollbacks possible in the future with a normal update, instead of changing files manually.
Bug Fixes

Fixed Shock Ability & Money Up Ability => now only apply to enemies inside their range and not afterwards as well
Improved FPS => Changed Money Pop Up System, Changed Audio System
Balancing Adjustments

Thundering Turret => Increased the Damage upgrade from 20% to 25%
Feel free to drop by on our Discord.
Original post
24 Jul 2023Developer post
More Bug Fixes & Slight Balance Adjustments
Bug Fixes Fixed low FPS/lag leading to weird enemy behaviour Fixed bullets becoming too slow => Increased bullet speed proportional to enemy speed. Improved bullets circling enemies => Increased enemy/bullet hitbox, increased bullet speed Improved Blinking Boulder (the one
Bug Fixes

Fixed low FPS/lag leading to weird enemy behaviour
Fixed bullets becoming too slow => Increased bullet speed proportional to enemy speed.
Improved bullets circling enemies => Increased enemy/bullet hitbox, increased bullet speed
Improved Blinking Boulder (the one that come from the green crystal enemy) => Now spawn in a smaller location and follow the path. If the enemy lands off path, tries to get back onto the path.
Fixed Blinking Boulder circling the end portal
Fixed Digging Defender range indicator
Fixed Digging Defender animation to fit reload speed
We implemented more logging to be able to better reproduce bugs and find them faster. If you run into any weird behaviour please contact us about it in Discord or Steam.
Known Issues

Blinking Boulder has a low chance of becoming indestructible - we received some logs already and are investigating this. If you run into the problem, please contact us.
Having very low reload time and a lot of turrets leads to lag - we have a list of changes that we need to work through, which will improve overall perfomance.
Balance Adjustments

Reload Buff Zones value divided by 2 - e.g. 10% => 5%
Added a fixed turret min. reload time that is not depending on the added upgrades. This min. reload time can only be overwritten by the "Rage" ability
Minimum Reload Time

Spinning Sentry - 0.02225
Laser Lancer - 0.5
Grenade Gun - 0.675
Thundering Turret - 0.75
Bombarding Battery - 1.2
Digging Defender - 0.75
Missile Matrix - 1.2
Original post

Updates & announcements

New Map Editor

Steam Workshop Integration

New Daily Challenges

Leaderboards

Polish & Quality of Life

Custom Map Editor [Beta]

Grid & Map Design

Wave & Stage Design

Manual Stages

Auto-Generated Stages

Endless Mode

Rules & Restrictions

Steam Workshop

How Publishing Works

Accesibility

Translation

Bug Fixes

Quality of Life

Bug Fixes

Bug Fixes

Targeting System

Quality of Life

Bug Fixes

Break Down System

General Improvements

Bug Fixes

Tips

Rewards

Tutorial/Stuck

Heart System

General Improvements

Balancing Changes

Bug Fixes

Tips

New Maps

New Enemy Types

Armor

Shield

New Items

Armor Damage

Shield Damage

New Targeting System

General Improvements

Balancing Changes

Bombarding Battery

Digging Defender

Missile Matrix

Plasma Pulse

Teaser for upcoming maps

Theme A

Theme B

New Language

Bug Fixes

Improvements

Improved Range Indicator

New Language

Bug Fixes

Fixed Reloading & Saving

We apologize for any trouble caused by the defect save & reload feature

Bug Fixes

Balancing Adjustments

Bug Fixes

Known Issues

Balance Adjustments

Minimum Reload Time