Rebirth 08: Can a mobile game company also build a tech empire?

Let's get back to tower defense games.

Most tower defense games today have rudimentary graphics and primitive mechanics.

But they have laid the foundation for tower defense games.

For example, the Flash game "Desktop Tower Defense" which appeared in 2007.

This game defined many of the standard rules for modern tower defense.

For example, the placement of towers can be used to guide and prolong the enemy's marching route.

Does this gameplay look familiar?

This is the core gameplay of the future "Protect the Carrot".

The first major breakthrough for tower defense games was achieved with Plants vs. Zombies, which successfully broke out of its niche on the iPad.

As a result, various tower defense games emerged one after another, such as Kingdom Rush and Arknights.

So it's normal that many people don't know about tower defense games.

Seeing that no one understood what was going on.

Lu Chen then realized that it was only 2008.

Many concepts that people in the future are familiar with are unknown to people in the present.

It's good that I didn't know.

Lu Chen can explain the gameplay of Plants vs. Zombies to help everyone gradually understand the concept of tower defense games.

Tower defense games

If I were to explain in detail, it would probably take three days and three nights.

However, to put it simply, it's about using the defense to stop the attacker's attack.

Lu Chen, like a patient and earnest teacher, meticulously explained things to everyone.

"Uh-huh."

The audience listened attentively.

To be honest, Lu Chen's explanations of the game were inaudible anywhere.

Even within Tencent Games, they couldn't hear it.

Lu Chen's ability to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary has indeed benefited them greatly.

Even if they were placed in any game company in the future, they would be capable individuals who could lead projects to completion.

Immediately afterwards, Lu Chen turned around and drew a chessboard on the whiteboard.

He then explained:

"This chessboard is the 'battlefield' of tower defense games."

Our game will take place on this chessboard; all player actions will take place here.

The people below nodded repeatedly, indicating that they understood.

"Let me first say that the name of our new game is 'Plants vs. Zombies'."

Lu Chen threw out a brick to get the jaded idea, first revealing the name of the new game, and then introducing the specific gameplay.

"Plants vs. Zombies?"

"What a strange name."

"Plants can fight zombies?"

People can only be baffled by the name and cannot imagine what the game is about.

Seeing everyone's confusion, Lu Chen continued to add details to the whiteboard.

Draw some grass leaves in the middle of the chessboard to represent that the chessboard is a lawn.

On the left is a house that has completely lost its perspective.

It is surrounded by a fence above, and a road is painted on the right side, running longitudinally through it.

The top left corner is divided into three sections by a rectangle, but the blank space is left empty.

With just a few strokes, Lu Chen sketched a classic daytime scene from Plants vs. Zombies.

"Did anyone notice anything?"

Lu Chen countered with a question.

"What is this?"

"I can't tell."

Given Lu Chen's drawing skills, everyone simply shook their heads.

"This... seems to be a family's backyard?"

Tao Manwen, who is usually a step behind, pondered for a moment and said uncertainly.

"Bingo!" Lu Chen snapped his fingers. "It's just a typical backyard of a foreign family."

"Our game will begin here."

No one could have imagined that Lu Chen would place the game scene here.

So I simply gave up thinking and followed Lu Chen's lead.

"Our game is called 'Plants vs. Zombies,' so there has to be zombies in the game."

As he spoke, Lu Chen drew a stick figure on a lawn, indicating that it was a zombie.

"It's common knowledge that zombies love to eat brains."

???

What kind of common knowledge is this? How come I didn't know?

"So the zombies would walk along the lawn all the way into the house and eat the owner's brain."

Our goal in the game is to protect the backyard and prevent zombies from getting into the house and eating the owner's brains!

"Um?"

"This seems interesting."

With Lu Chen's explanation, everyone gradually grasped the point he wanted to make.

But it always falls short by just a little.

Note that this is a tower defense game.

So what should we use to defend against zombies?

"plant!"

Chu Yu realized what was happening.

The riddle itself was the answer.

The game's title, "Plants vs. Zombies," already tells everyone the key to the game.

"But plants don't move, so how can they defend against zombies?"

Jiang Chang's mind started working, but he still hadn't quite grasped the situation.

"Duh, this is a game, of course the plants need to move!"

Lu Chen said through gritted teeth.

If these people don't use their brains soon, Lu Chen will really be driven crazy.

"Plant a basic plant on the grid—the Peashooter—which can shoot peas to attack zombies."

An ugly pea shooter appears on the whiteboard.

Lu Chen used circles to represent peas, and then drew several speed lines behind them to represent the peas flying towards the zombies.

The appearance of just one plant instantly brought the entire game to life.

Tower defense, tower defense, we've been talking about it for so long.

Zombies are the attackers, and plants are the defenders.

What else is this but tower defense?

Everyone suddenly realized what was happening, and the image finally appeared in their minds.

These images are no longer scattered fragments, but form a complete game.

So this is what tower defense games are like.

"I see."

"So this is what tower defense games are like."

"That's amazing!"

"I feel like it can be combined into countless variations, just like Angry Birds."

"Yeah, wouldn't this make a game without an ending?"

Everyone marveled.

Lu Chen kept bringing out such amazing games one after another.

These games are completely different in terms of gameplay and art style.

If Angry Birds was a forced beginning, then Fruit Swordsman is a towering mountain.

The zombies in Plants vs. Zombies that have appeared now are Mount Everest.

I wonder how many more ingenious game ideas Lu Chen has in his head.

I really want to pour it all out at once and see it.

"I haven't finished speaking yet."

As everyone sighed in amazement, Lu Chen tapped the whiteboard, drawing everyone's attention back.

"One of the joys of tower defense games is that players can freely combine and match various gameplay styles."

Therefore, we need to increase the variety of plants.

Lu Chen then spent another period of time writing and drawing.

Continue adding various details to the backyard scene we just saw.

I drew a sun in the sunshine section and wrote numbers below it.

Different plants are drawn on the plant slots, and each plant is labeled with a different number to indicate the amount of sunlight it needs.

Draw a shovel on the shovel bar, which can be used to remove plants at any time.

This is the complete appearance of Plants vs. Zombies that Lu Chen is familiar with.

Of course, Lu Chen's drawing skills were not very good; the various plants that filled the lawn were all crooked and twisted.

All I could see were hordes of demons dancing wildly; I couldn't tell which side was zombies.

But none of that matters, as long as Lu Chen can understand it.

Anyway, the art team will take care of it afterwards, and they can just modify any parts that are not drawn properly.

Lu Chen pointed to a bunch of crooked "grass" and began to explain:

"Let me first introduce some basic characteristics of plants and zombies."

These are potato mines. After players plant them, they need to wait a while before they spawn. Zombies that step on a potato mine will trigger an explosion, eliminating the zombie.