dtnovels Chapter 162 Plants vs. Zombies
Chapter 162 Plants vs. Zombies
At 9:00 AM, on the third floor of Alienware Corporation, the newly opened "Spark Games Studio" was located.
There were more than twenty people in the conference room, all of whom were engineers who had come from the merger with Sierra Networks. Two of them were newly recruited artists, and the other was a planner poached from Blizzard.
Ling Yun pushed open the door and came in, holding a stack of papers in his hand.
He didn't sit down, but walked straight to the whiteboard.
"New project." He wrote six words: Plants vs. Zombies.
The people below looked at each other.
"What kind of game is this?" an engineer asked.
"Tower defense," Lingyun said, "but the characters are plants and zombies."
He drew a diagram on the whiteboard.
"On the left is a house, and on the right is an attacking zombie horde. Players plant crops on the lawn to defend against the zombies. The plants have different abilities: the Peashooter shoots peas, the Sunflower produces sunlight—sunlight is the currency, and the Wall-nut provides protection..."
He drew a few simple icons.
"Zombies also come in different types: regular zombies, roadblock zombies, bucket zombies, and pole vaulting zombies, each with its own characteristics and weaknesses."
The meeting room fell silent for a few seconds.
Tom, a planner from Blizzard, spoke first.
"Sounds...interesting, but why plants and zombies? This combination is strange."
"Because of the contrast." Ling Yun put down his pen. "Adorable plants versus ugly zombies. It's visually striking and easy to remember."
"Target users?"
"It's suitable for all ages," Ling Yun said. "Kids find the plants cute, while adults can use them strategically. The difficulty should be gradual, starting simple and progressing to more complex later."
An art student raised their hand.
"What style? Realistic or cartoonish?"
"Cartoon style," Ling Yun said. "Bright colors, exaggerated shapes. Plants should be cute, and zombies should be ugly but not scary. There can be no blood or violence; it has to pass censorship."
Tom wrote it down in his notebook.
"Core gameplay loop?"
"Collect sunlight, plant plants, fight off zombies, and unlock new plants and levels," Lingyun said. "We can add mini-game modes, endless modes, and puzzle modes."
"Payment model?"
"A one-time purchase, usable across all platforms. We can release expansion packs in the future, adding new plants and zombies."
"platform?"
"PC will be the first release," Ling Yun said. "We'll prioritize the Starry Sky system, followed by Windows. If successful, we'll consider porting it to game consoles."
An engineer from Sierra asked.
"Technical challenges?"
"Pathfinding algorithm," Lingyun said. "Zombies need to automatically find their way, and plants need to automatically attack. Multiple units need to operate simultaneously without lag."
Which engine should we use?
"Use our own," Ling Yun said. "Develop a graphics library based on the Starry Sky system, and make sure it's lightweight and efficient."
"Development cycle?"
"Six months," Lingyun said. "A demo will be released before Christmas, and the official launch will be next March."
A collective gasp filled the conference room.
"Six months is too tight," Tom said.
"So efficiency is key." Ling Yun handed out the stack of papers. "This is the preliminary plan. It only includes the core concepts, character settings, and basic gameplay. You'll fill in the specific details yourselves."
Everyone took the paper and quickly flipped through it.
The project proposal was very thin, only fifteen pages long. Most of it consisted of sketches: sketches of plant and zombie designs, level layout sketches, and interface sketches.
"That's all?" one of the artists asked.
"That's all," Ling Yun said. "The rest is up to you. I only ask one thing: have fun."
He walked to the door.
"Tom, you're in charge of the project. You decide the art style, the programming architecture, and the level design. Show me the progress every Friday afternoon."
"What about the budget?" Tom asked.
"Five hundred thousand dollars," Ling Yun said. "We can add more if that's not enough. We can expand the team, but we need to control its size and remain flexible."
"What about the test?"
"After internal testing, we put it in the Spark Lab for players to try out, and made adjustments based on feedback."
"Understood."
Ling Yun left the conference room.
After the door closed, the eight people looked at each other in bewilderment.
Tom spoke first.
"Alright, let's get started. Let's break down the task first."
He wrote on the whiteboard.
Week 1: Determine the art style and create concept art.
Week 2: Program framework setup, basic engine.
Week 3: The first playable prototype, featuring only Peashooter and regular zombies.
Week 4: Add more plants and zombies, and design the first three levels.
"Weekly iterations"
An engineer raised his hand.
What should be referenced in terms of art style?
"Refer to... cartoons." Tom thought for a moment, "Like 'Tom and Jerry,' exaggerated, bouncy, and with smooth movements."
Another engineer asked.
"Where's the sound effect?"
"Light and lively. The zombie sound effects should be clumsy, and the plant sound effects should be cute."
"music?"
"The levels vary. Daytime is light and easy, nighttime is tense."
The division of labor was quickly determined.
Two artists were responsible for character design and scene design.
Three engineers were responsible for the engine and the logic.
Two engineers were responsible for the UI and sound effects.
Tom was in charge of the overall design and levels.
They started working.
The artist opened the drawing board and began to draw a sketch.
The engineer turned on his computer and created a code repository.
Tom is drawing level designs on the whiteboard.
At lunchtime, Tom looked at the preliminary sketches.
An artist drew the first draft of the Peashooter: a round head, big eyes, and a pea in its mouth.
"Cute," Tom nodded, "but the attack needs to be powerful. Open your mouth wide and shoot the peas with force."
Another artist painted a zombie: wearing a tattered suit and walking unsteadily.
"The actions need to be more comical," Tom said. "Like falling down, having your head fall off and then putting it back on."
"Isn't that too scary?"
"No, we'll use a cartoon style."
In the afternoon, the program framework took shape.
The engineer demonstrated the basic loop: zombies appear from the right and move to the left. Plants are placed on the lawn and attack automatically.
How is an attack detection performed?
"Use collision detection. When a pea touches a zombie, the zombie loses health."
"What about the health system?"
"Zombies have health, and so do plants. Zombies will eat plants when they walk up to them, and plants will disappear when their health drops to zero."
"Sunlight system?"
"Sunflowers produce sunlight periodically; click to collect it. Sunlight is used to purchase new plants."
Tom played with the earliest prototype.
There is only one plant (Peashooter), one type of zombie (regular zombie), and one level (five paths).
He played for ten minutes.
"The pace is too slow," he said. "The zombie spawn intervals are shorter. Sunlight production is faster. It needs to keep players busy yet still in control."
The engineer adjusted the parameters.
I tried again, and it felt much better.
"Okay," Tom said. "Next, let's add more elements."
Lingyun came again before I left work.
He looked at the art sketches and tried out the prototype.
"You're headed in the right direction," he said, "but the way the zombies walk... could be a little dumber. Like walking with the same hand and foot on the same side, or tripping after every two steps."
Art notes.
"Plants can have facial expressions when they attack. For example, when the Peashooter fires, its eyes widen, and it looks like it's putting a lot of effort into it."
"it is good."
"Also," Lingyun said, "we'll add some Easter eggs. For example, if players use a specific plant combination to complete a level, they can unlock hidden zombies or special modes."
"for example?"
"For example... use all the Wall-nuts to complete the game and unlock the 'Barrel Zombie Dancing' animation."
Tom smiled.
"This is fun."
"Go ahead and do it," Ling Yun said. "Remember, we're not making just another tower defense game, but a game that people will remember. When people think of tower defense, the first thing that comes to mind is Plants vs. Zombies."
"clear."
After Lingyun left, Tom looked at the team.
"Did you hear that? We're going to set the standard."
"The pressure is immense," one of the artists said.
"But it's interesting," Tom said. "This kind of creative freedom doesn't even exist at Blizzard."
Why?
"Blizzard's processes are too rigorous, with layers of approvals. Here, the boss provides the direction, and we have to figure out the rest ourselves."
"Then let's fly."
At 8 p.m., the office lights were still on.
The art team is refining the zombies' walking animations.
The program is optimizing the collision detection algorithm.
Tom is writing the design document for the second level.
Outside the window, the night in Silicon Valley was deepening.
But at Spark Games Studio, the war between plants and zombies has only just begun.