Calling Waves Early
Confident in your defense? Call the next wave early for a bonus.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- Design focus
- Risk · Timing · Economy
No.084Kingdom Rush01The core loop
Action → feedback → next choice- 01Assess your defense
- 02Call the next wave early
- 03Collect the bonus
- 04Handle stacked waves
↻Feedback changes the situation — the next round starts from there.
Walk through one round
A simplified design example. Situations and numbers illustrate the mechanic, not exact rules from a reference game.
- T1
Turn 1 · The situation
The next wave arrives in 20 s; calling now grants 40 gold, and a new tower costs 100.
- T2
Turn 2 · The player chooses
With 70 gold, the player calls immediately, reaching 110 to build.
- T3
Turn 3 · The feedback
The new tower comes online in time, and the overlapping waves leak only one enemy.
- T4
Turn 4 · The next decision
The following wave is armored, and the player hesitates to call early again.
How it plays
Before a wave ends, players can call the next one manually, earning more the earlier they call, such as gold or cooldown cuts. The cost is that waves may stack and overwhelm the defense. The countdown and bonus on the call button make the stakes clear.
What the player weighs
- Calling early speeds up the economy but risks stacked waves leaking.
- Spend the bonus on towers now, or hold it as an emergency fund.
02Start small
Scope is an editorial estimate for the minimum prototype, not the reference game or a production schedule.
03One mechanic, different implementations
Kingdom Rush
Clicking the next wave's entry icon calls it early for bonus gold and reduced spell cooldowns, rewarding skilled players for speeding up.
GemCraft - Chasing Shadows
As I recall waves can be summoned early for extra mana or score, which players use to accelerate resource growth.
The difference worth noticing
Kingdom Rush uses early calls for pacing and modest rewards; in GemCraft it's closer to a core resource accelerator.
Case notes are Yoroll editorial summaries; rules may change between versions.
04What could you combine?
Pay early-call bonuses as loans with interest due over later waves, so too many leaks drag players into debt.
Prototype this combo in Yoroll→Follow the next idea
Haggling
A back-and-forth tug over price where a little greed pays and too much kills the deal.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01They make an offer
- 02You counter
- 03Their patience shifts
- 04Deal or walk away
Build by Day, Defend by Night
Spend on growth by day, and the night tests whether you spent wisely.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Gather resources by day
- 02Invest in buildings and units
- 03Repel enemies at night
- 04Count losses and replan
Know Your Max Bid
Holding your limit while others raise the bid is the hardest auction lesson.
- Prototype complexity
- Who plays
- Solo decisions
- 01Appraise the lot
- 02Set a personal cap
- 03Raise or drop out
- 04Win it or let it go