Prerelease:Plants vs. Zombies (Windows, Mac OS X)
This page details prerelease information and/or media for Plants vs. Zombies (Windows, Mac OS X).
 | This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. |
 | To do: Check the creator, George Fan and artist Rich Werner's Twitters. They have posted early PvZ screenshots and concept art there. |
Contents
Early Names
Before the game had came out PopCap had come up with many different names for it. Ultimately, Plants vs. Zombies was chosen as the name, but some of the scrapped names still made their way into the final product in some form.
Zom-Botany. In the final game, this name (ironically) found life through ZomBotany and ZomBotany 2, two minigames. It's also the name of a scrapped final boss track.
Bloom & Doom, another former name. This name is still seen in the final game as the company who makes the seed packets, and the record studio who published the Zombies on your Lawn music video.
A HUGE list of the game's concept names, although lots of these sound more like terrible jokes.
Another punny concept title, which was decided upon in an October 2007 beta test.
The final name for the game, but in a similar style to the Lawn of the Dead title screen. The Plants vs. Zombies logo also has an exclamation mark in this capture.
A bunch of different artists were chosen to try and create the graphics for the game; Rich Werner, the chosen artist for the game, had 3 different entries for the plants and zombies with some seen in the concept art below.
3 different titles for Plants vs. Zombies posted to George Fan's Twitter, made out of frustration of the game not being called Lawn of the Dead.
Early Plant and Zombie Designs and Game Footage
An early Peashooter animation was seen on George Fan's Twitter, the left showcasing a more Pea pod-like design, and the one on the right with a more finalized version.
Many earlier plant designs posted on George Fan's Twitter, featuring the Peashooter, Sunflower, Wallnut, Cherry Bomb, Repeater, Hypno Shroom, Snowpea, Cabbage-pult, Jalapeno, Stinger, and Garlic. The Cabbage-pult originally countered screen door zombies, which is why it turned into both the final Cabbage-pult and the Fume Shroom.
Many earlier zombie designs once again posted on George Fan's Twitter, featuring the basic Zombie, Conehead Zombie, Buckethead Zombie, Football Zombie, Screen Door Zombie, and Propeller Zombie. These zombie designs went for a more medieval theme.
A gif of the old lawnmower system posted to George Fan's Twitter.
Concept Art
As seen in earlier concept art for the game, the player was to fight against aliens rather than zombies. This concept is derived from another PopCap game, Insaniquarium. Some sketches show plants that do not appear in the final version. It also suggests that Jalapeno was going to be bound to the ground, rather than hovering slightly like in the final.
Mechanics of the game explained including a plant that looks like a turnip or tomato.
Concept art of monsters, early enemies you were to fight in the game.
More concept art of monsters.
Various scrapped plants. Only what appear to be the Cabbage-pult, Wallnut, Garlic, Doom-shroom, Threepeater, Sunflower, Blover, Jalapeno, Chomper, and Marigold made it into the final game.
Some Peashooter designs including another early sunflower, and possibly tangle kelp. The Peashooter's pod design would later be made into the Peapod in the game's sequel.
An early design of the Zombot, looking more like a frankenstein-monsterish Gargantuar.
Early designs of both the Chomper and the Potato Mine. They seem to look slightly more 'organic'.
Various plants, some of which sporting different designs. There is a Peashooter with 4 leaves like a Repeater (or a Repeater with no eyebrows like a Peashooter), a Spikerock that appears to have no spike crowns on its head (as seen in the 0.1.1.1014 Bloom and Doom build, a Coffee Bean that has wings (a feature seen in some promo art), a Kernel-pult that doesn't have eyebrows or a bucket to shoot its corn, and a Cactus that uses its elongated form to pop Balloon Zombies. Some of the art featured here was reused for the HD version of PVZ for iPads and Android tablets.
More concept designs for plants. Among other notable things, a cut bee-like plant known as the “Stinger” can be seen.
Concept designs of zombies which show early versions of the Jack-In-The-Box zombie, and the Zomboni's main design.
Several different scrapped zombie designs, showing off a female zombie with a cluster of bandages on her head, what is most likely an early Jack-In-The-Box design holding a live(?) monkey instead of a jack-in-the-box, an original Buckethead design that reveals what appeared to be blood on its bucket as mere red paint, a zombie wearing a hoodie, a more tank-like Imp or early design of a Gargantuar, and another design of a possible Gargantuar carrying its telephone pole.
More zombies. We can see what appear to be another early Jack-in-the-Box zombie that's going for less of a "mental asylum escapee" vibe in favor of a clown aesthetic, the infamous early backup dancer zombie (but without a face), a Dog Zombie, as seen in the 0.1.1.1014 build (albeit less crudely drawn), a zombie that looks like some sort of mother, and a possible other Gargantuar design.
More concept zombie designs, including a Conehead Zombie wearing some construction worker attire, a zombie twisting itself away from some peas being fired, another potential early Gargantuar, and two zombie children, which could have been early imps. One of these designs is called "The Tangler".
Werner's concept designs of the zombie, each one evolving further into the design we know today. It would seem the game was meant to be a bit more scary at first.
Early Music
| To do: Figure out what the differences are, and possibly the ones that aren't, if any. |
The game's composer, Laura Shigihara, has some early and unused tracks available for sale on her Bandcamp. A few of these tracks were used in the 0.1.1.1014 prototype of the final game.
- Crazy Dave Theme (Main Menu Theme)
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The fadeout is not present, and the song in general is quieter than the final.
- Choose Your Seeds
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The older version of the song has a noticeably awkward cut-off due to the lack of a loop, whereas the final has a proper loop added. The instruments of the first version are also deeper.
- Grasswalk
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The earlier version of the song is in a slightly lower key and is quieter than the final.
- Loonboon
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The older version of the song has a little more echo than the final.
- Moongrains
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
Appears to be missing the "Fast" part of the track, making it much shorter than the final.
- Zen Garden
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The older version of the song is a bit louder than the final version.
- Watery Graves
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
Major instrument changes. Additionally, the "second loop" at the end, which can be found as an unused part of the sequence in the final, is present here. There are also two different versions of the song included, one at a faster tempo that is closer to the final version, but still includes the "second loop". In both versions, the "second loop" sounds different from what is heard unused in the final game, missing a few notes at the end. Shigihara used the final part of the slow version of the earlier song to compose the tune for the song Zombies on Your Lawn.
- Ultimate Battle
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The older version of the song has a four-second outro that was deleted in the final version.
- Rigor Mormist
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The early version of Rigor Mormist; the instruments are a bit deeper than the final.
- Cerebrawl
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
Early version of Cerebrawl. The main instrument is an octave lower than the final. The song is much quieter than the final version due to the use of different instruments. Like the early version of Ultimate Battle, it has an outro that was deleted in the final version.
- Graze the Roof
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The early version of Graze the Roof. The lead instrument is a piano, and the song is much shorter, jumping into the "main" part of the song much quicker. It also sounds rather unpolished in general. Interestingly, the rendition of the DS port seems to be based on this version rather than the final.
- Brainiac Maniac
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The older version of the song is slightly shorter than the final and the instruments are rather different; this is apparent in the opening of the song.
Unused Track
- Zombotany
Intended for the final boss. According to Laura Shigihara, the "intense" parts of the track were not long enough to sustain the entire battle. This led to it being cut entirely and replaced by Brainiac Maniac.
