Plants vs. Zombies designer George Fan shares techniques he used to teach game mechanics suitable to make hardcore players and non-gamers, like his mother, play through PopCap's tower defense title until the end.
In this GDC 2012 lecture, now free courtesy of the GDC Vault, Fan uses Plants vs. Zombies to illustrate these ten techniques, including using visuals and fewer words to teach. Along those lines, he believes in blending the tutorial into the game and having the player experiment in a controlled environment rather than just reading how to play.
Overview:The final boss of Plants vs. Zombies has been conquered by gamers of all ages as well as people with no gaming background whatsoever. George Fan, designer of Plants vs. Zombies, will walk you through how he managed to get his Mom to play through a full-blown strategy game while not alienating hardcore gamers. He will present 10 techniques he uses to better teach game mechanics to players, using specific examples from Plants vs. Zombies to illustrate these concepts.
About the GDC Vault
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Really great speech. It's telling when George says "I know it seems obvious..". Displayed in this way, it seems hard to imagine how developers could fail to implement these rules, when in reality only a minority do it half as well as PvZ. This should be compulsory viewing for all app developers.
