Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Plants vs. Zombies
of ers a good example of a current game that displays
intentional emergent behavior. The simple choices that a player makes
early in the game lead to a complex set of circumstances and behaviors
as the game progresses from level to level. The programmers and
designers of this game have laid out a set of rules to create countless
variations and even some unpredictable outcomes.
Plants vs Zombies
from Popcap Games is a popular casual game that displays emergent
behavior.
To describe the game briel y: the object of the game is to protect your
house from wave after wave of invading zombies—don't you just hate it
when that happens? On the right-hand side of the screen zombies come
through your hedge and head for the house in single i le—they are quite
polite and organized. On the left-hand side is your house and above
your house is a menu bar where you can select from dif erent objects
that help you to perform specii c tasks, like planting sunl owers that spit
out little balls that knock the zombies over, or collecting sunlight for
energy. These simple events and interactions multiply as you move from
level to level in the game. Zombies learn to jump over obstacles and
other interesting things unfold so that by the time you get a few levels
into it, complexity abounds.
Now, to bring us around to the topic of audio, this whole scenario presents
an audio designer with a very interesting audio puzzle. Namely, how do
we create a satisfying experience for the player when we don't know when
