Plants vs Zombies Match
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Electronic Arts
Professional
Small Team
Jan 2022 - Oct 2024
3,5 years
Contributions
Game design
Animations
Description
Plants vs Zombies Match (PvZ Match) is a spin-off match 3 puzzle game on the classic tower defence game Plants vs Zombies (PvZ). In PvZ Match the player creates plants when matching specific tile patterns. With the plants the player defeats zombies and completes puzzles. We followed best in class to make a high quality match 3 game with added PvZ magic.
My role, the team and the process
I was the lead (and only) game designer in a small and diverse team spread across Europe and the USA, from Barcelona to Helsinki to Bucharest to Seattle. This diverse and remote setup of the project means we need to have razor sharp communication and to follow best project practices to meet our deadlines and goals.
From design briefs, to design documentations, to stories, to tasks, to subtasks. This is the order we operated, I made a design brief that I presented to the team, then we talked about it and afterwards I iterated on the design. When we were happy with the design brief I turned it into a proper design document, then I gathered feedback on the document from the stakeholders that the document is for. I iterate one or two times on the doc and then it is time to turn it into user stories that my producer and I turn into tasks and then the stakeholders add subtasks. This way we could communicate and collaborate effectively across different cultures and time zones.
At least 4 times a year we got together at the office where the project was based in Helsinki, Finland. We did this to make stronger bonds in the team and to connect. The last couple of years Helsinki has become my second home in some ways. (Sauna is in my weekly routine now).
As the only game designer in the team I designed everything in the game. From timings of swiping and falling tiles to the zombie mode. At this point I can tackle any design challenge that comes to me.
When I start to work on a design I start to dig into research first. To see what other games have done before us. This is important for me because I don’t think we should design the wheel over and over again. We have so much good design that we can stand upon. This way I can be very grounded in my design decisions.
The following sections are some examples of what I have designed:
Gameplay loop
Complete levels to gain coins and suns. Use the suns in the meta game to progress. This sounds a bit dry and flat when you read it like this so if we add more flair to it this is what the player does; Players create plants to defeat zombies and solve bite sized puzzles. When the puzzle is solved the player is rewarded with a sun that they can use to progress in the story!
Zombie Mode
We decided that we should have a game mode that should be similar to the tower defence gameplay in PvZ. We designed it to follow the same layout and flow, meaning that zombies spawns from the right and walks to the left. Then when a zombie reaches the end they lose a brain (life). The player has three brains, when all three brains are lost the player fails the level and needs to start it over.
Meta Game
In the meta game the player is rewarded with some light narrative and delightful animations where plants defeat zombies. I made many of these animations myself, simple yet expressive.
The metagame is a task list and each task costs an amount of suns. When the player completes a level/puzzle they gain one sun. When all tasks for the current area are completed the player is rewarded with some coins and boosters.
End Game Purchase
When the player loses a level they get the opportunity to purchase more moves with the coins they have earned from playing levels. If the player chooses not to buy more moves they have to restart the level and one heart is deduced. When the hearts reach 0 the player can buy more hearts or they have to wait until the hearts are refilled.