When I created Plants vs. Zombies, I was sure it would strike a real balance between theme and fun. In the game you can have these delicate plants, but the presence of zombies can make the whole game screen not too sweet.
——George Fan
In 2009, a popular tower defense game was born- Plants vs. Zombies, which was released by PopCap Games, and even now it is a unique feature called a classic.
Some works are still timeless even after the precipitation of time. When we reopen this childhood memory with our current eyes, we will still find that the garden struggle between cute plants and many zombies is still quite interesting. It can be said that the design concept of the work can make people call it wonderful even if it is placed in the present.
George Fan, the world-famous mastermind of Plants vs. Zombies, is a well-known game designer of Chinese American descent. Prior to joining PopCap, he worked for the prestigious Blizzard Entertainment and worked on the diablo 3 project development. 3 years of work experience has allowed him to face himself: "I am more of a programmer than a game designer." I'm better suited to working in a smaller team and then putting my ideas into practice. ”
George Fan
In 2006, George Fan joined PopCap and single-handedly planned Plants vs. Zombies. I believe that the vast majority of people still remember the grassy garden hut, and the change of day and night modes will also make many players marvel at the first contact. Round after round of attack and defense, plants with different functions and zombies are constantly fighting between the lawn, the pool and the roof.
This seemingly simple idea has actually undergone George Fan's continuous research and infinite amplification.
First of all, the "conflicting" design of plants and zombies allows the game to be balanced in graphics. Players plant a variety of plants to resist zombies, zombies will eat the plants planted in the process of advancing, and in this inevitability contains a great deal of accidentality in the player's operating space.
Secondly, the gradual difficulty of the game, the conversion of day and night mode, and the transfer and collocation of maps are also important factors for game designers to consider. How to take the amount between "simple" and "complex", Plants vs. Zombies obviously grasps this balance, attracts players with a simple start to the entry, and then introduces new mechanics during the game.
Introducing strategic elements into the game without the player's knowledge is a big factor in the success of this game, and it is also an important reason for its suitability for all ages.
The success of Plants vs. Zombies didn't come entirely from George Fan's imagination, and if you take Plants vs. Zombies apart, you can see parts of the old 1960 Disney movie Cape Paradise. The plot of the movie setting traps and pirates fighting wits and courage has become the inspiration for trap plants such as "potato thunder" in the game.
Cape Paradise poster
Thanks to his 3 years of experience at Blizzard Entertainment, George Fan is interested in the "Tower Defense Map" in Warcraft 3. The most important "tower defense element" in "Plants vs. Zombies" also comes from this. Unlike the general sense of tower defense games, Plants vs. Zombies designs the defender as cute plants, while the zombies who are the attackers have the "privilege" of being able to attack plants. This makes the simple defense and attack into a confrontation, and the fun of the game is greatly improved.
Since conventional tower defense games only set a single-path fixed attack method, George Fan adopted the horizontal multi-track design in the classic single-player game "Bartender" in order to create a content innovation in Plants vs. Zombies. Subverting the traditional tower single-threaded game mode, 5-6 segments of the path with a variety of plants greatly increase the fun of the game.
Bartender
Players familiar with Plants vs. Zombies know that the way to get the base resource (sunlight) in the game is to plant plants that produce sunlight. This in turn cuts a boundary from the conventional tower defense games of the past, turning passive resource collection into active production, and this design is also full of real-time strategy games. Rational allocation of resources, clever matching of plants, and full use of multi-threading allow players to fully consider the three dimensions of resources, location, and quantity.
The development of leisure modes such as Zen Garden is an explanation for leisure players. Players can pass the time by mini-games at their leisure. This allows both challenge-focused and casual players in Plants vs. Zombies to find their place in it and experience the fun of playing.
Looking at this game, it is not difficult to find that sometimes the reason why the classic is called a classic is not to say that it is so fun that it is unforgettable for a while, but that no matter when you open it, you will find the fun of playing it at the beginning, so that people have a childish heart that feels nostalgic for the past.
(Graphic data from the Internet, invasion and deletion)