Q379128

Plants vs. Zombies is a 2009 tower defense video game developed and published by PopCap Games. First released for Windows and macOS, the game has since been ported to consoles, handhelds, and mobile devices. The player takes the role of a homeowner amid a zombie apocalypse. As a horde of zombies approaches along several parallel lanes, the player must defend their home by placing plants or fungi, which fire projectiles at the zombies, or otherwise detrimentally affect them, or aid the player. The player collects a resource called sun to place plants. If a zombie reaches the house on any lane, the player loses the level.

Plants vs. Zombies was designed by George Fan, who conceptualized it as a more defense-oriented sequel to his fish simulator game Insaniquarium (2001), then developed it into a tower defense game featuring plants fighting against zombies. The game took inspiration from the games Magic: The Gathering and Warcraft III, along with the movie Swiss Family Robinson. Its development spanned three and a half years. Rich Werner was the main artist, Tod Semple served as programmer, and Laura Shigihara composed the game's music. In order to appeal to both casual and hardcore gamers, the tutorial was designed to be simple and spread throughout the game.