Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Plants vs. Zombies™ System Design
CONDENSED
Controls
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Left mouse button – point and click
Space bar hotkey for in-game menu
Game Grid
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Game grid has a maximum value of 9x5 grid slots
Width of playfield static
Height is 1-5 (changeable)
Height of grid depends on level difficulty
represented by green grass lawn
darker/lighter lines in the lawn represent the grid (check board pattern)
Game Visuals
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Two background images total
One for sunny days, one for night-time, otherwise identical
Background image not related to the grid
Screen tinted on night-time levels to achieve night look
Concrete tiles on each side of the playfield representing the end of the game grid
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Menu button top right corner.
Has mouse over graphical effect
Has no sound effects
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Info box at the top of the screen, from left corner and about 5/6ths of the screen width
Sun points displayed at the left side of the info box
Sun icon displayed directly over the sun points
Sun points will blink red if player attempts to purchase plants with too few suns
Sound will play when player attempts to purchase plants with too few suns
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Rest of info box will display plants purchasable
Maximum of six plants on the lineup
Displays a plant card for each plant with image and price
Mouse over a plant card will display status message as a tool tip
Status message says the plant is recharging if on cool-down
Status message says the plant name in red if the player do not have enough sun
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
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Status message says the plant name in green if the player has enough sun to purchase
Score keeping uses bigger font and images than the lineup
Wall / border between the score keeping on the left, and the plant lineup.
Plant cool-down are displayed on the line-up as a slightly dark, roll-up curtain style loading
bar.
The cool-down “loading bar” covers the entire plant card
To purchase a plant, player has to select plant from lineup
If plant Is selected from lineup, it can be deselected by clicking anywhere on the info box
Progress bar in the bottom right corner
Progress bar displays progress through the level
Contains zombie head which tells the current progress
Progress bar is a tube (basic progress bar)
Will be covered with green color as the progress continues
Progress bar is about ¼ of the total screen width
Flags are placed inside the progress bar to symbolize incoming huge zombie waves
When the zombie head reaches this flags, the flags will be raised slightly upwards in order to
view both flag and zombie head at the same time (don’t want the zombie head to cover up
the flag)
The zombie head has a smooth motion
Level counter in the bottom right corner, directly to the left of the progress bar
Displays level using two 2 digit numbers with a hyphen in between. (level 1-2. Level 2-2, Level
1-9 etc)
First digit from 1-2, last digit from 1-10
Uses same size as used in the score keeping, making the level indicator slightly larger than
the progress bar
Important messages (huge zombie wave approaching) pop up on the center screen with a
huge font and bright red text color
Help messages and clues appear on the bottom center of the screen with the same size but
bright yellow (must be easily readable) text
When more than 6 plants are unlocked the plant selection screen is activated before each
level
Plant selection screen looks the same as the plant lineup, just with 6 slots width and 4 slots
height.
Appears directly beneath the plant lineup on the top of the screen, and fills the entire left
2/3rds of the screen
Plants appear in this screen as they did in the lineup
Mouse over plant cards in the selection box will trigger tool tip displaying a short explanation
of that plant’s ability.
To select a plant to the lineup, the player must click on a plant from the selection box
A sound is played when adding a plant to the lineup
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
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Plants selected from the selection box will be blacked out 50%
Each plant has a static position in the selection box
The player can place the plants wherever he likes on the plant lineup
When six plants are added to the lineup, a “play” button at the bottom center of the
selection box will be lit and activated.
Pressing this button begins the level
If no sun-growing plants are selected on a night-time level, a confirmation box appears (are
you sure? Y/N)
This confirmation box will explain the importance of sun-growing plants in a night-time level,
as well as asking if the player wishes to continue.
Game Initializing
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Background graphics are in place as player enters level
Song played (will repeat endlessly)(different song on night-time levels)
View of the house first
Camera pans to the right viewing the grass / playfield
Camera pans further to the right to reveal zombies on the pavement just outside the grass on
the right side
Camera pans back to the playfield in the middle (the grass lawn)
IF first time playing
--------------Roll of ready-lawn rolls out from the left on the middle grid line
On the second level new rolls will roll out from the left on the 2nd line from the bottom and
the 2nd line from the top (making it at total of three grid lines – the three middle ones)
On the fourth level the remaining rolls of lawn will be rolled out, and the entire 5x9 playfield
will be used
-----------------Lawn mowers roll in from the left side just before player is given control
Level indicator appears
Animated messages appear on the center screen. Ready, Set, Plant
Sound effects played on each of the three messages
Sound effects when the zombies approach the playfield from the right
Sun Score set to 50
Zombies do not move towards the house until about 20seconds
Level progression bar appears only when the zombies get into view
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
If the player has more than six plants, the Game Initializing will be slightly different
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Background graphics are in place as player enters level
song is played (will repeat endlessly) (different song on night-time levels)
View of the house first
Camera pans to the right viewing the grass / playfield
Camera pans further to the right to reveal zombies on the pavement
Camera stops when the zombies are in camera view
Plant selection box will appear on the left side of the screen while the zombies still can be
seen on the right side
When six plants are selected, the “Play” button is lit. Will not initiate the level until the player
has selected six plants, and pressed this button
When the button is pressed, the selection box will drop vertically until it is out of the screen
From here, the same initializing process as normal
Game Elements
Plants
Effects and events equal to all plants
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A sound is played when a plant is selected from the lineup
A sound is played when a plant is planted on the grass
When the player has inadequate suns to purchase the plant, the plant card in the lineup will
be blacked out 50%. Same blackout effect as if it were on cool-down – just without the rolling
curtain graphical effect
Plants can be placed on any slot in the grid
Ghost-plant appears when a plant is hovered over a approved planting spot
Ghost-plant snaps to the nearest approved planting sport when the plant hovered is moved
on the grid
Plants cannot be placed on top of other plants or on top of graves
Plants can be placed on slots regardless of whether a zombie is there or not.
Plants will only shoot towards the right
Chumper eats from the right
Squash jumps both to the left and right
Cherry bomb explodes in a 3x3 radius, dealing damage to anyone in the next spot regardless
of direction
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Peashooter
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Shoots peas on zombies
Graphical effect when shooting
Graphical effect when not shooting (lively motion though stationary)
Sound effect when shooting,
Graphical effect when in idle
Graphical effect when shooting
Sound effect when hitting a target, distinct to this plant
Sunflower
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Grows additional suns
Suns provided by sunflower have a cool-down timer
Graphic effect when sunflower is about to create sun
Graphic effect when sunflower drops the newly made sun
Sound effect when sun is dropped
Graphic effect after sun is dropped
Graphical effect when in idle
Suns made by sunflower gives 25 sun score
Player can collect (by clicking on the sun) as soon as it is visible
Cherry Bomb
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Has a 3x3 grid slot range
Zombies affected by cherry bomb die instantly
No max limit for amount of zombies killable for each bomb
Has a cool-down from start in each level
Graphical effect while in idle
“loading-type” sound played right before it blows
Violent exploding sound played when it explodes
Massive exploding graphical effect when it blows
The word “Powie!” in the middle of the explosion when it blows
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Squash
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One-time usable only
Disappears after use
Can stomp to the left and to the right
Does not work across different grid lines
Graphical effect when in idle
Graphical effect when a zombie is within range
Sound effect when leaping towards a zombie
Sound effect when hitting the ground
Zombies squashed by the squash disappears / drilled into the ground
Squash kills all zombies in the grid slot it leaps onto
Snow Pea
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Fires frozen pea
Substantial slowing effect on all enemies
Hits one target at a time (the first zombie in the line)
Graphical effect when firing
Graphical effect when in idle
Sound when firing
Sound when hitting target
Chumper
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Can only eat one zombie at a time
Eats for a long time
Graphical effect when in idle
Graphical effect when reaching for a zombie
Graphical effect when eating zombie
Sound effect when reaching for zombie
Repeater
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The same as peashooter
fires two times for each attack
Slight delay between shots to show player it actually fires twice
same cool-down between attacks as the peashooter and snow pea
Graphical effect when in idle
Graphical effect when firing
Sound effect when firing
sound effect when hitting target
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Sun Shroom
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Creates suns
Small suns firstly
Grows larger after some time in-game
then creates normal sized suns
Small suns give 15 sun score
Normal suns give 25 sun score
Graphical effect when in idle
Graphical effect when creating small sun
Graphical effect when creating normal sun
Sound effect when creating sun (small/normal has the same sound)
Graphical effect when growing in size
Puff Shroom
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Costs nothing
Short-ranged attack
few hit points, easy to destroy by zombies
Graphical effect when in idle
Graphical effect when firing
Sound effect when firing
Sound effect when hitting target
Fume Shroom
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Looks like the Puff Shroom (with minor differences)
Shoots a beam of fume on the enemy
This attack can damage zombies with shields
Graphical effect when in idle
Graphical effect when firing
Sound effect when firing
Sound effect when hitting target
Grave Buster
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Destroys graves
Can only be planted on top of a grave
When the grave is destroyed, the grave buster will disappear
Graphical effect when destroying grave
Sound effect when destroying grave
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Wall-Nuts (bowling)
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Special plant for special level
Rolls to the right at high speed
Will change direction when hitting zombie
Direction can either be upwards to the right or downwards to the right
Will not stop until it has rolled out of the screen view (Aka not stop ever)
Will change direction to whichever that will take him to the opposite side of the grid
No maximum hits
Graphical effect when rolling
Graphical effect when changing direction
Sound when hitting target
Exploding Wall-Nuts (Bowling)
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Special plant for special level
Performs similar to the regular wall-nut (bowling version)
Explodes on impact similar to the cherry bomb attack
Same range and damage as cherry bomb
Graphical effect when rolling
Graphical effect when exploding
Graphical effect when changing direction
Sound effect when rolling
Sound effect when exploding
Cool-down Chart
showing the difference in cool-down time between plants
shortest cool-down on top, longest on the bottom.
Sunflower
Puff-Shroom
Grave Buster
Peashooter
Fume Shroom
Snow Pea
Grave Buster
Sun Shroom
Chumper
Re-Peater
Wall-Nut
Squash
Cherry-Bomb
Short cool-down
Short cool-down
Short cool-down
Short cool-down
Short cool-down
Short cool-down
Short cool-down
Short cool-down
Short cool-down
Medium Cool-down
Medium cool-down
Medium cool-down
Long cool-down
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Price Chart
showing the difference in price between plants
Puff Shroom
Sun Shroom
Sunflower
Wall-Nut
Squash
Fume Shroom
Grave Buster
Peashooter
Chumper
Cherry-Bomb
Snow Pea
Re-Peater
Lightly Priced
Lightly Priced
Lightly Priced
Lightly Priced
Lightly Priced
Medium Priced
Medium Priced
Medium Priced
Medium Priced
Medium Priced
Heavy Priced
Heavy Priced
Zombies
Effects and events equal to all zombies.
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Sound effect played when zombies enter playfield
Zombies loses head after taken X % damage (graphical effect)
Sound effect when head hits the ground
When head is lost, zombies have 1 hit point left
Falls to the ground dead when killed (graphical effect)
Sound effect when hitting the ground
Graphical effect when zombie eats plant
Sound effect when zombie eats plant
Graphical effect when blown up
Sound effect (zombie voice) when zombies enter playfield
No limit as to how many zombies can be in one grid slot
Graphical effect when hit (blink/highlight for half a second)
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Regular Zombie
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benchmark for the other zombies’ stats
Sound when hit
Zombie with cone on its head
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Orange traffic cone on top of head
Twice the hit points as the regular zombie
Graphical effects when hit
Sound effect when hit
Loses cone when halfway through hit points (graphical effect)
Without the cone on his head, he makes the same sound as the regular zombie when hit
Zombie with bucket on its head
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Metal bucket on the head
Three to four times the hit points as the regular zombie
Graphical effect when hit
Sound effect when hit
Loses bucket when halfway through hit points
Same sound as regular zombie when hit without bucket on
Graphical effect when losing bucket
Zombie carrying flag
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Carrying red flag with a brain image on it
Same hit points as the regular zombie
Appears only when “huge waves” of zombies attack
Damage taken is shown on the flag as it deteriorates
Graphical effect when taking damage
Sound effect when hit (same as regular zombie)
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Pole-jumper Zombie
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Carries a pole (athletics pole-jumping pole)
Dressed like a proper athletic
Jumps of the first plant he encounters
Loses his pole after the jump
While still having pole, he has increased movement speed
Loses this increased movement speed when the pole is lost
Sound effect when jumping over a plant
Graphical effect when jumping over a plant
Sound effect when hit (same as regular zombie)
Is immune to ranged damage during the pole-jump
is NOT immune to damage from explosions or squash during the pole-jump
Shield-carrying zombie
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Carries door as shield
Does not take damage from plants except for the Fume Shroom
Outstanding hit points – very hard to kill
graphical effect when eating plant (distinct effect to this zombie)
Sound effect when hit
Graphical effect when taken damage
Newspaper-reading Zombie
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Spawns with newspaper in hand
“reads” newspaper as he moves along
The newspaper absorbs damage
Graphical effect when taken damage (newspaper deteriorates)
Goes into enrage-mode when losing his newspaper
Enrage-mode gives damage and speed increase.
Enrage-mode does not fade until he is dead.
Sound effect when going into enrage-mode
Graphical effect when eating plant(distinct effect used on this zombie only)
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Enemy AI
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Main objective for zombies is to reach the house
Will eat any plant in their way
Spawn at random
Each level has its own spawn randomizer
Zombies only move to the left.
Zombies will not stop (unless eating a plant)
Will not turn to the right to eat a plant planted behind them
Do not move across grid lines
Misc
Lawn Mower
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Placed on the left side of the screen
outside the playable grid
Spawns seconds before player gets control – rolls in from the left
Graphical effect on spawn
The bottom one spawns first, then the one above and so on.
One lawn mower for each grid line
Face towards the right
Lawn mower is turned active when a zombie reaches the pavement tile on that specific grid
line
Lawn mower will run down the grid line when turned active, killing every zombie in the way
Graphical effect when active
Sound effect when active
Lawn Mower does not harm, destroy or damage plants
One-time usable only. Does not respawn in same level after use
Shovel
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Removes plants
Works on plants only
Needs to be selected from the info box for each use
removal of plants are instant without delays or timers
Appears in a box of its own, to the immediate right of the info box
Free use of shovel, no fee.
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Sun
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Only accepted currency in the game
Two types – Small and normal sized suns
small suns give 15 sun score, normal suns give 25 sun score
Suns drop vertically from the sky (when in daytime levels) and lands randomly on the
playfield
Game grid does not apply to suns, can land anywhere on the grass
Suns appearing from the sky has a cool-down timer similar to those created by sunflower and
Such
Suns not picked up disappears after a while
When picked up, graphical effect is triggered.
When picked up, sound effect is triggered
Graves
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Graves appear in the game grid right before player gets control
Sound effect when appearing
Graphical effect when appearing
Cannot plant plants on top of graves
1 zombie will spawn out of each grave at each “huge wave” zombie attack
Graves are removal with the use of the Grave Buster plant
Graves do not stand In the way of zombies. They have no logical place, only visual – so the
zombie act /move like it wasn’t there.
Achievement /reward
Plant drop
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last zombie in each level drops item or plant
The drop is either an item or a plant card, leaving it on the grass where the zombie was
killed.
Graphical effect when item is dropped
Level is not complete until the drop is clicked on.
Game stops when item is dropped (i.e. no more suns are created, sound and all graphical
effects are halted except for the idle graphical effect for the plants)
Graphical transition when item is picked up
Sound effects when item is picked up
The game enters a “new plant-screen”
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
New plant screen
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New screen accessed when new item is unlocked
Big image of the plant card / item at the center screen
Big title on top center screen
Short description of the plant / item below the image
Next-level button on the bottom center screen
Must press this button to continue.
Song distinct to this screen is played on repeat
Next level initiates directly when the continue button is pressed
In the full version
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in the last two levels the selection box is changed
Entire grid in the selection box is filled with plants
The bottom two rows (total of 12 plants) are filled with blacked out plants
Big text across these two bottom rows saying “49 plants await you in the full version”.
In-game menu
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In-game menu is dead center on the screen
music will stop instantly when entered
No sound effects on any of the buttons
Mouse over graphical effects on all buttons
Player can toggle sound on/off
Player can toggle music on/off
Restart level button which will reset present level
Confirmation box appears when pressed
Try the full version button, which redirects the player to the plants vs. zombies’ web page.
Quit game button, which quits to the main menu
Confirmation box appears when pressed
Back to game button, which quits the in-game menu
This button is twice the size of the other buttons
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Extraordinary Levels
Learning Levels / Tutorial
In level 1-1 the player is introduced to the game and controls through a learning level.
In this level there is only one line in the grid, the center line.
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The player starts with 150 sun score, and a peashooter on the lineup (which is flashing, and
has got an arrow pointing towards it)
On the bottom center of the screen messages are displayed to tell the player what to do.
The player is told to click on the seed packet to pick it up
He is then told to place it on the grid line.
A sun falls from the sky, and the player is asked to collect it by clicking on it.
(these suns spawn rapidly, and despawn just as fast)
Once the player has collected two suns, he is asked to click on the peashooter in the plant
lineup once more to plant another one.
When this is done, the zombies appear from the right and the game is on the way.
When all zombies are killed, the last one drops the sunflower card.
The game goes to a “New Plant-screen” which displays the newly acquired Sunflower.
In level 1-2 a message is displayed on the bottom center of the screen once more, saying that the
sunflower is important and that the player should try to plant at least three of them.
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The player starts with 50 suns.
As soon as one sunflower is planted, the level is turned active and the zombies approach
from the right.
When the player has planted two sunflowers, a new message appears saying that the more
sunflowers the player plants, the more suns he’ll get.
In level 1-5 the player is to learn how to use the newly acquired Shovel.
A figure appears in the left part of the center, covering the entire height of the screen.
He speaks to the player as talk bubbles appear in the center of the screen.
(The man who’s calling himself Crazy Dave greets the player)
He instructs the player to
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Use the shovel (from the shovel icon on the top of the screen. All other visual components
are disabled at this time) and remove three peashooters that are positioned on the playfield
(which is now a full 9x5 grid pattern)
Messages appear on the bottom of the screen as the player continues the removal.
(keep digging, one more etc)
Once all three has been removed, Crazy Dave reappears on the left side of the screen.
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The playfield is now turned into a bowling alley.
The plant lineup is converted to a conveyor belt, with Wall-Nuts and exploding Wall-Nuts
appearing from the right end rapidly.
(If the plants that appear are not used, they do not continue out on the left side of the
conveyor belt / plant lineup, the plants will stop on the left side as they have nowhere to go
and bundle up.
The player is to use the walnuts as bowling balls, placing them on the left side of a line
(which has appeared for this event only, located between the third and fourth slot from the
left.
The walnuts act like bowling balls, and roll towards the right of the screen where zombies
spawn as usual.
If the entire conveyor belt has been clogged up by unused plants, no new plants will appear
from the right until some space is freed up / plants have been used.
In level 1-10 the player does not get to select plants from the selection box prior to the level.
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The camera views the house on the left, pans to the right to see the grass / playfield – and
then the level starts. No view of the zombies.
The plant lineup on the top of the screen is yet again converted to a conveyor belt, where
plants come in from the right.
It is randomly selected which plant that appear on the belt.
New plant each third second on the belt.
All plants are free, since there are no suns in this map.
4-5 times as many zombies spawn on this map as the map before
The duration of the level is longer as well – twice as long.
Noticeable Levels
From level 2-1 to 2-4 the game goes into night-time mode, where the sunny skies are gone and no
suns will appear from the sky.
1. The entire screen is tinted for that night-time look.
2. The background image is changed to an appropriate night-time image with dark skies and
stars.
3. Crazy Dave appears to the left again in level 2-1, with the chat bubble in the center screen
telling the player that this map will be different than the previous ones as this one (and the
rest of the levels throughout the game demo) is at night, there will be no suns falling from
the skies.
4. He gives the player a new plant, the Puff Shroom. This cost no suns to make, and has a
ranged attack.
5. During the night-time levels, sun-spawning plants are essential in order to get through the
map!
6. After Crazy Dave has said what needs to be said, he is gone and the game goes into plant
selection screen as normal.
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Daniel Janson (c) 2009
Game Over
When a zombie walks across the playfield and disappears outside the left end of the screen
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The game stops
Visual elements are disabled
Selected plants/items are deselected
Controls are rendered inactive
Camera pans to the left (to the house)
A zombie walks through the door
Sound effect “scream” is played
Graphical effect is triggered (the text “The zombies have eaten your brains!”) appear on the
Center screen in massive huge font size and green text
The text disappears
Game over box appears on the center screen which says Game Over
The game over box has a Quit Game button on the bottom
The buy the full version screen is initialized
This screen has two buttons, Try the Full version and Quit Game
Try the full version – takes the player to the Plants vs. Zombies web page
Quit - takes the player back to the main menu
Game Completed
When all zombies in the final level are killed:
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The game is rendered in-active
Player controls are inactive.
All sound and graphical effects are turned off (except for the idle movement effect for the
plants)
Crazy Dave appears
Talking bubble on the center screen with info
Crazy Dave disappears
Game goes to “Try the Full Version” screen.
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