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Creating a Monster HitJames GwertzmanVice President, Asia/Pacific<br />

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What is Plants vs. Zombies?<br />2<br />

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PopCap’s Fastest Selling Game<br />More than 1,500,000 copies sold so far<br />More than 15M+ downloads for <br />Available on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Xbox<br />Over $1M from iPhoneAppStore in 1st week<br />#1 title on iPhone in China; top 10 on iPad<br />

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Plants vs. Zombies Popularity<br />

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An “Industry” Favorite The top “casual” game in 2009 / 2010<br />Puzzle Game of The Year (2009), PC Gamer <br />Nominee, Outstanding Achievement in Game Design (2009), Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences<br />Nominee, Casual Game of the Year (2009), Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences<br />Nominee, Best Downloadable Game (2009), Game Developers Choice Awards <br />Nominee, Best Innovation in Game Design (2009), Game Developers Choice Awards <br />Nominee, Best Game Design (2009), Game Developers Choice Awards <br />Best Downloadable PC Game of 2009, CrispyGamer.com <br />Top Casual Games of 2009, AdrenalineVault<br />Casual Game of The Year (2009), Chicago Sun-Times <br />Finalist, Best PC Strategy Game 2009, IGN.com <br />Inductee, Game Hall of Fame (2009), MacWorld <br />Nominee, Best Strategy Game of 2009, Gamespot.com <br />Best Games of 2009 (#3), PadsAndPanels.com <br />Best PC Game of 2009, Boysie Awards (Boys' Life Magazine) <br />Best Hand-held & Downloadable Games of 2009, San Jose Mercury News <br />Top 5 Games of 2009 (#5), MTV.com <br />Top 20 Downloadable Games of 2009 (#13), CNET <br />Downloadable Game of the Year (2009), Machinima.com <br />Top 10 Games of 2009 (#3), CrispyGamer.com <br />Best Downloadable Game of 2009, Inside Gaming Awards <br />Best Games of 2009, BoingBoing.net <br />Best Strategy Game of the Year, USAToday.com (2009)<br />Finalist, PC Game of the Year, Spike TV Video Game Awards (2009)<br />Finalist, Downloadable Game of the Year, Spike TV Video Game Awards (2009)<br />Editor’s Choice Award, Mac|Life Magazine (Sept. ’09)<br />Maximum Kick Ass Award, Maximum PC (July ‘09)<br />Editor’s Choice Award, PC Gamer (June ’09)<br />Editor’s Choice Award, WorthPlaying.com (2009)<br />Editor’s Choice Award, GameShark (2009)<br />Heavenly Gold Award, GamingHeaven.com (2009)<br />Editor’s Choice Award, Destructoid.com (2009)<br />Editor’s Choice Award, GamePro (July ’09)<br />Editor’s Choice Award, IGN.com (2009)<br />Elite Award, 411Mania.com (2009)<br />A Global Award-Winning Phenomenon<br />

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Zombie Temp Worker<br />TodSemple<br />Programmer<br />George Fan<br />Game Designer<br />Laura Shigihara<br />Sound / Music<br />Rich Werner<br />Art<br />

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1. Be inspired by other games, but innovate too.<br />

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Swiss Family Robinson<br />(aka “Castaways vs. Pirates”)<br />

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2. Prototype your ideas.<br />“Play early, play often….”<br />

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3. Add fun, remove frustration.<br />

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Plantasia<br />March, 2006<br />

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Garden Dreams<br />March, 2006<br />

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Flower Shop<br />December, 2006<br />

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Alice Greenfingers<br />June, 2007<br />

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Garden Defense<br />November, 2007<br />

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4. Don’t be afraid to be creative.<br />

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5. Don’t worry about the name*.<br />* too much<br />

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Lawn of the Dead<br />Sod of the Dead<br />Backyard of Darkness<br />28 Shrubs Later<br />Suburban Housewives in Zombie Town<br />Suburban House of the Dead<br />Corpseflower 3-D<br />Re-Mowerator<br />Culdesac of the Living Dead<br />Lawnbie Genocide<br />Lawnbie Holocaust <br />Lawnbie Nightmare<br />Lawnbie Town<br />Yard of the Dead<br />Get off My Lawn<br />Lawn Zombies<br />Suburbiundead<br />Dachschund of the Dead?<br />Suburb of the Living Dead<br />Zomburb<br />Zomburbia<br />Tract Home of the Living Dead<br />Zombies vs Plants<br />Plants vs Zombies<br />Zombie Garden<br />Torture Garden<br />Gruesome Garden<br />Rest in Peas<br />Peas Stop the Zombies!<br />Dead Lawn<br />Miracle Zombie<br />Weedz :) (no idea just like it)<br />DeadThumb (you know instead of a green thumb)<br />Piece Corpse<br />The Limb Reaper<br />Field of Screams<br /><ul><li>Undead Lawn

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Lawn Zombies

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DeadWeed

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Undead Landscaping

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Landscape of the Dead

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Dead Man Mowing

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Plants vs Zombies

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Suburban Nightmare

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Zombies Ate my Garden

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Dead Men Don't Grow

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Flower Garden vs The Unholy Zombie Apocolypse

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Plantocolypse

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Zombiegeddon

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Graveyard Garden

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Grave-Yard

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Land-E-scape

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Grave and Garden

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Horticulture of Horror

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Horticultural Horror

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Seeds of the Undead

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Seizure Salad

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Green Fingers

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Better Graves and Gardens

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Fright Fight

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Day of the Daffodil

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Morticulture

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Zombie Lawnmower!

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Plot Rot

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Six Feet Poolside

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Jesus Lives!

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Undead and Property Taxes

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Trading Corpses

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Weed Eaters

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The Body Thatchers

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The Bury Patch

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Zombie Leafeaters!

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Suburban Zombie

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Undead Garden

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Zombie Suburb Attack

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Attack of the Suburban G

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Rotting Green Thumbs

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GAZEBO OF THE DAMNED

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Can I Borrow a Cup of Brains?

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White Picket Crosses

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Cherry Dead Tomatoes

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Mortem Stuart Dying

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Keeping Alive With the Joneses

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Hey That's Not Organic!

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Keep off the Grass! [ Or die! ]

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Mr. Toad's Wild Lawn

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Gravetending

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Shamblefest

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Night of the Shambling Dead

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March of the Zombies

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When Zombies Attack (part 3)

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Zombie Siege

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Gangrene Thumb

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Lawnarchy

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Lawnacy

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Lawnslaught

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Mowtilation

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Loony Lawn

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WackoWeeds

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MowzombEEK!

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Weed&Feed

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Mowghouls

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LunyLawnatics

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MowtownMowdown

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Lawnfellows

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LawnAmok

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Zombie Rose

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BoneYard

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ZombieThumb

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Pray For Sun

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I will eat your garden

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Plant Eaterz

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The Attack of the Tomato Killers

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Z is for Zombie

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Sod Andy

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When Zombies Attack!

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Dial Z for Zombie

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Hey you zombies, get off my lawn!

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A Crop Eclipse Now

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Photosynthesize or Die

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Bloom or Doom: A game of gardens and ghouls

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VooDoo Quince

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Petraeus' Plant Simulator

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Sowing the Seeds of Shove

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Plow and Death

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Plot in Hell

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Fertilizer Frenzy

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Post-Humus Gardening

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Plant or Perish

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Garden Ghouls

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Ghouls in the Grass

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Plantz

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Zombies (kindawierd, I know. also kinda taken)

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Zombie Zap

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Gang Green Thumb (repeat with different spelling)

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Green Thumb Ghouls

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The Vegetarian Dead: "Beeaaannnnssss"

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Zombies ate my beans!

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Creepy Ghouls and Gardening ToolsAttack of the Vegan Zombies!

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Flowerbed Dead

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Beanstalkers</li></li></ul><li>

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3. Add fun, remove frustration.<br />

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Choosing the Artist<br />Artist #1<br />Original Concept (George Fan)<br />Artist #2<br />Rich Warner #2<br />Artist #3<br />Rich Warner #3<br />Artist #4<br />(Rich Warner)<br />

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“Yeah it’s been really great to work at PopCap where I can run with my own ideas. When I worked at Lucas Arts, I did the character animation system for Star Wars Force Unleashed. I used a lot of 3D animation techniques in my “Reanimation” system for PvZ. The first character we did was the Peashooter and I like how we were able to have his head animate independently from his body so that he can shoot from any position. I’m really happy with how the animations are smooth without any pops.<br />“Each person on a game gets to add their own personal touch. George of course put in many things like his signature character design and addictive game play. Rich’s art style really brought the character to life. And the thing that I’m most proud of adding was the silky smooth animation system.”<br /> -- TodSemple<br />

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6. Share creative ownership with the team.<br />

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7. Test early, test often. Encourage feedback!<br />

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Importance of feedback<br />Internal play-testing & feedback process<br />Talk about “burrito” and how we review<br />

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8. Prevent players from making bad choices.<br />Ideally solve for new players without impacting experienced players; don’t rely on instructions.<br />

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9. Measure….<br />

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10. Have fun!!!!!<br />

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Woah. I love the abominable snow zombies. Those are awesome. Best build yet!<br />On the level with the yeti zombies, is there any way to unfreeze your sunflowers after they get snowballed? I tried fireballs but to no avail.<br />Whoa, Santa Zombies!<br />I still don't understand what I'm supposed to do about the polar bears or why they are even in this game.<br />Dude. They drop the pies you need to feed the Yetis to quell their rage. You know- when they scream "TUNDRAAAAAA!" It'll make sense eventually. Keep playing.<br />

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Summary<br />Be inspired by other games, but innovate too.<br />Prototype your ideas.<br />Add fun, remove frustration.<br />Don’t be afraid to be creative.<br />Don’t worry about the name.<br />Share creative ownership with the team.<br />Test early, test often. Encourage feedback.<br />Prevent players from making bad choices.<br />Measure.<br />Have fun!!<br />

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About PopCap Shanghai<br />Set up in 2008<br />75+ Employees<br />Working on new online & social games “In Asia, for Asia”<br />