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:
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Contents
- 1 Early Names
- 2 Builds
- 3 Sub-Pages
- 4 Early Gameplay Media
- 5 Concept Art
- 6 Early Music
Early Names
Before the game had came out, PopCap Games 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.
A HUGE list of the game's concept names, although lots of these sound more like terrible jokes. Notably, some of these names eventually made it into the game or other games in the series in other forms, such as "Zomburbia" being reused for the Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 map.
The final name of the game once more, but in an even earlier screenshot from back when the game's internal code was still right on top of Insaniquarium's, as seen with the window's name.
Another punny concept title, which was decided upon in an October 2007 beta test.
3 different titles for Plants vs. Zombies posted to George Fan's Twitter, though they were mainly made out of frustration towards "Lawn of the Dead" being ultimately rejected.
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.
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.
Builds
Start of development
Weedlings - Unknown, 2005
Insaniquarium Deluxe Version
- Insaniquarium Deluxe 1.0 - July 26, 2006
Lawn of the Dead Versions
Lawn of the Dead 0.5 - August 13, 2006- Lawn of the Dead 0.6 - October 25, 2006
- Lawn of the Dead 0.71 - April 3, 2007
- Lawn of the Dead 0.8 - July 13, 2007
- Lawn of the Dead 0.81 - July 14, 2007
- Lawn of the Dead - Halloween 2007 (0.92) - October 31, 2007
- Lawn of the Dead - 0.93 - April 1, 2008
- Lawn of the Dead - 0.94 - April 22, 2008
Zom-Botany Version
- Zom-Botany 0.96 RELEASE - September 5, 2008
Bloom & Doom Versions
Bloom & Doom COMPANY RELEASE 0.1.1.1006 - October 5, 2008- Bloom & Doom BETA 0.1.1.1014 - December 2, 2008
- Bloom & Doom 0.1.1.1057 - January 2, 2009
Plants vs. Zombies Versions
- Plants vs. Zombies BETA 0.9.9.1029 - February 17, 2009
- Plants vs. Zombies COMPANY RELEASE 0.9.9.1030 - February 18, 2009
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.0.0.1051 - May 5, 2009
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.0.4.7924 - Unknown, 2009
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.0.7.2941 - Unknown, 2009
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.0.7.3556 - Unknown, 2009
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.1.0.1156 - Unknown, 2009
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1065 - July 28, 2009
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1065 DEBUG - Unknown, 2009
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1067 RELEASE - Unknown
Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Versions
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1073 - July 11, 2010
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1073 RELEASE - Unknown, 2010
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1082 - Unknown, 2010
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1091 - Unknown, 2010
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1092 - Unknown, 2010
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1093 - (US: August 9, 2010), (FR: March 31, 2011), (DE: April 12, 2012), (IT: April 19, 2012), (ES: April 20, 2012)
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1095 - Unknown, 2010
- Plants vs. Zombies 1.2.0.1096 - December 15, 2010
Unknown Versions
2006_11_22_LawnDemo - November 22, 2006 (Lawn of the Dead 0.61?)- 2007_03_03 - March 3, 2007 (Lawn of the Dead 0.7?)
- 2007_11_01_Lawn of the Dead - November 1, 2007 (Lawn of the Dead)
Unknown - August 21, 2008? (Lawn of the Dead 0.95?)- Unknown - October 8, 2008? (Bloom & Doom)
- Unknown - October 28, 2008 (Bloom & Doom)
- Unknown - October 31, 2008 (Bloom & Doom)
Sub-Pages
 | Insaniquarium Deluxe Insaniquarium Deluxe Version; During Insaniquarium Deluxe Development |
 | Lawn of the Dead Lawn of the Dead Version; During Lawn of the Dead Development |
| Zom-Botany Zom-Botany Version; During Zom-Botany Development |
 | Bloom and Doom Bloom & Doom Version; During Bloom & Doom Development |
| Plants vs. Zombies Plants vs. Zombies Version; During Plants vs. Zombies Development |
| Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Version; During Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Development |
Early Gameplay Media
Early Graphic Designs
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.
Very first concept sketches of the Chomper and Potato mine as seen on Rich Werner's Twitter.
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.
Many earlier plant designs posted on George Fan's Twitter, featuring the Peashooter, Sunflower, Wall-Nut, Cherry Bomb, Repeater, Hypno-Shroom, Snow Pea, 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.
Early Screenshots
All screenshots are presented and put in order with dates from descending to ascending.
2005
This is the earliest screenshot of Plants vs. Zombies to ever exist that dates somewhere from 2005 based on James Gwertzman's presentation. In this build, you would have to water plants and have them grow to defeat aliens from Insaniquarium (as this game was planned to be an Insaniquarium sequel). Based on the early concept art shown above, the yellow smiling turnip-like plant would give you coins, which was also derived from Insaniquarium and was the early sun system. It appears that the catapult plants are Cabbage-pults, making them one of the earliest and oldest plants in PVZ.
2006
An early Choose Your Seeds screen, based on James Gwertzman's presentation (see later below), you'd have to choose multiple copies of one plant, and plants would have a one-time use similar to how conveyor levels work. Plants also have probabilities of frequencies to when they would appear in a level to use.
The level would play out similarly or exactly the same to how James Gwertzman demonstrated an early prototype. Plants would be chosen based on probabilities, and waves are ordered to 1 zombie per wave.
Dated from the same time, but showcasing the Snow Pea and the early Tangle Kelp, called "Tangleweed" based on the previously mentioned presentation.
2007
Another Lawn of the Dead title screen variant, but this one dates from July 13, 2007, before the Halloween 2007 build.
A build dated somewhere in October of 2007 based on the build's window title. The most notable things are the Sunflower, which costs 100 sun instead of 50, and the UI which most are crudely drawn and visuals are similar to final game, but partially still use Insaniquarium's UI. The lawnmowers have a more conventional and realistic-looking design, and It looks like you are also given 200 sun to start off instead of the final game's 50.
The same exact build with the level following from 1-3. One new difference is that the wave meter has a more crude and pale design.
Same build after 1-4, but the most notable thing is that the potato mine is HUGE compared to the final game and costs 50 sun. Interestingly enough, 1-5 in the release of the game is the Wall-Nut Bowling mini-game, but it looks like this was not considered yet for this level.
From a later, unknown build. This shows the progression of 1-5. It initially started with the removing tangled kelp from the lawn, albeit with its original design, and had no accompaning mini-game. Then it became removing wall-nuts and placing peashooters from a conveyor belt, now known as Can You Dig It from the Limbo Page. Then it became the cancelled mini-game Squirrel where you dig up wall-nuts to try and find Crazy Dave's lost squirrels.
A screenshot of an early Night level, featuring a different Night background, and horizontally flipped graves. The UI differences are that the money bank is using Insaniquarium Java's design. Also, Hypno-shroom costs 100 sun instead of 75.
An early screenshot of the Roof. There are many differences here such as Ice-shroom costing 100 sun, Blover costing 150 sun, Melon-pult has the early and crudely drawn graphics whilst costing 250 sun, and Threepeater costing 300 sun.
2008
A crude mock-up of the Slot Machine mini-game.
Mushrooms sleeping near the pool with early sleeping bubbles. What appears to be an early version of Magnet-shroom can be seen at the bottom left.
An early version of the Dr. Zomboss fight. The roof appears to have a blue hue covering it, and the conveyor belt has a more horizontal design as if you were to see it from the side. Dr. Zomboss seems to have a more distinctly leaned over pose to summon bungee zombies. The level progress bar also has early graphics used.
An early version of the main menu, dated August 21, 2008. Most notably, the gravestone and its buttons have a more beige-tinted color. Survival is placed under Adventure, a "Challenges" button which may have been an early name for Mini-games, and the Zen Garden has its own button instead of a watering can icon. No Puzzle button exists yet, but was introduced with Vasebreaker over a week later (see below). There's also a vase tipped over in the background, and the options vase has one extra flower. Normally the 4:3 aspect ratio doesn't allow you to see the clouds that is under the screen, and some grass can be seen floating, so this menu could've been a mock-up or the window's size was extended for development purposes. The wood player selector sign seems to be imperceptibly different, but it is less detailed compared to other screenshots. Curiously, this menu (or a version close to it) seems to be used on one of Zombatar backgrounds, judging by the flipped vase and similar color of the visible grave piece. There's also a night version of it which features a fence, but it's unknown if it's an edited variant of the previous one, or an actual menu that could be used on night levels, similarly to Crazy Dave's Twiddydinkies changing its background depending on what level you are.
Another early version of the main menu, dated October 8, 2008. The tipped vase still remains intact, but the most notable thing is that one button has been changed. Survival and "Challenges" still remain where they were, while the Zen Garden button was replaced with "Vasebreaker." The current order in the game is Mini-games, Puzzle and Survival. An oddities is seen as there is no text on any of the vases, even though they are present on the August screenshot.
Pre-GOTY Screenshots
Two screenshots of the achievement menu, with a developer adding the "more" button, With various notably switched achievement spots. Both images were found in the same folder.
A screenshot of the main menu.
Early Demos
A gif of the old lawnmower system posted to George Fan's Twitter.
James Gwertzman Presentation
In 2010, James Gwertzman made a presentation on the game, titled "Plants vs. Zombies: Creating a Monster Mobile Hit." Part of the presentation shows very early prototype gameplay.
1st Prototype
[0:21-0:28] Main Menu Screen
The main menu screen shows a generic background with a stock image of zombies. This image also can be seen (plus overlayed with sunflowers and other plants) in George Fan's presentation "How to Choose a Theme for Your Game." The background music in the main menu is playing the track that was left over from the 0.1.1.1014 prototype known as openingmusic.ogg.
[0:29-0:58] Choose Your Seeds Screen
This screen shows the leaves background that was leftover from the previously mentioned prototype.
James explains that in this screen, instead of selecting one type of plant, you would have to select multiple copies of the same packet, as that packet only has 1 use, like to "pick cards, and put them in your deck." The game would then randomly choose what packets it would give you based on the probabilities (percentages) seen on the packets. The plants have early descriptions, like with the almanac entries. They are as followed below. It is worth mentioning that Tangle Kelp had the earlier name, "Tangleweed," which would be reused later on as an ability for Chomper in Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare under the name "Spiky Spikeweed." Tangleweed would basically act as a potato mine in this build as it insta-kills a zombie when the zombie interacts with it.
| Plant | Description |
|---|---|
| Peashooter | Shoots at the enemy |
| Sunflower | Gives you additional sun |
| Snowpea | Shoots frozen peas, which slow the enemy down |
| Tangleweed | Grabs a zombie and pulls it underground |
[0:59-1:21] Start of the Level
No "READY, SET PLANT!" graphics exist. Seeds would have a one time use, meaning you would need to carefully use seeds at your disposal since there is no recharge system or any other way to get them back.
[1:22-2:00] First Waves Begin
When the first wave arrives, it uses text saying "WAVE %". Waves after this will not have the graphic "A HUGE WAVE OF ZOMBIES IS APPROACHING!" appear but rather still uses "WAVE %" to signal other waves. A track with a similar style to openingmusic.ogg plays that was not present in the previously mentioned prototype. Zombies' walk speed also seems to be faster than the final game's. Waves also seem to be a lot more frequent, but usually just contain 1 zombie per wave, and also explains why there are 20 waves in this fourth level.
[2:01-2:43] Wave System Logic
James explains that the waves are "not fun" because the zombies are actually random, and not predetermined like in the final game.
Intermission
[3:10-3:12]
There is a brief moment where the screen shows possibly all of the game's prototypes' directories.
2nd Prototype
[4:23-4:28]
The openingmusic.ogg file plays once more. The gravestone has the same shape, but the buttons are different. There is only 3 buttons instead of 4 like in the final game, with bottom spot unbound. The top button says "Adventure" as usual, and is more rounded than the final's. There is 2 other buttons that are either completely greyed out or missing. There is no wood sign for the player selector. A vase is also tipped over in the background like in this prerelease image:
[4:29-5:05]
The Ice Level is shown, using static, sampled stock textures of glaciers. The zombies in the background are also most likely part of the background and not real enemies. The Snow Pea and Chomper both cost 200 sun rather than Snow Pea costing 175, and Chomper costing 150. James explains that this level was released on April Fools day in 2008, and people were confused as if this level was broken or frozen. This whole event explains why the level appears to not work in the final game, as the whole level was a joke all along. As a result, the Yeti zombie was created after this build.
Screenshot of the level.
Zack Scott's "Plants vs. Zombies 10th Anniversary Interview with George Fan!" Video
On PVZ's decade old anniversary, long renowned PVZ2 enthusiast Zack Scott interviewed the creator of the series George Fan himself on how he created the game, how he grew his success over it, and other quirks.
Gargantuar Pole Alternatives
[48:48-49:29]
George had a few notes written down he still had, and came across that the Gargantuar was going to wield "A leash with a Chihuahua tied to it," which did not make it into the final game (also probably trying to reuse the Dog Walking Zombie concept). Another idea was the Gargantuar holding a phone booth with a person still inside, rather strange. Zack additionally said maybe this will be put on the wiki and the source will be this video,[1] and yes it is Zack, yes it is.
Old Dancing Zombie Design's Removal
[54:23-55:10]
George confirms that the Dancing Zombie's and Backup Dancers' design change was because of a cease and desist letter from Michael Jackson's estate, and they later changed the designs in the GOTY edition.
| Pre-GOTY | GOTY |
|---|---|
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| Pre-GOTY | GOTY |
|---|---|
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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.\
Some plants consisting of what looks like an evergreen tree crossed out, a corn cob which has the text "Secret Agent Corn" which probably became Cob Cannon, but it is also worth mentioning that in Plant vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2, there is a Kernel Corn NPC that is also named "Agent Corn." There is also an angry broccoli, some sort of plant with a mask(?), a tree which would sneeze, possibly an attack, the pumpkin, some sort of potted plant(?), a happy tomato and some squash, and a grumpy non-carved pumpkin.
More early sketches of plants featuring an expressionless strawberry, a cherry without a face which probably became Cherry Bomb, another strawberry but with sunglasses, a plant which has some sort of fruits on a leaf that looks similar to Holly Barrier from PVZ2, the turnip seen from the early build, pea pods, which probably became the variants of the peashooter, a banana, and 2 different versions of a Jalapeno.
Even more early plant designs including a potato which probably became potato mine, a peanut with a appearance that of Mr. Peanut from the Planters brand along with 2 more peanuts, some sort of carrot with a "rock out" pose, a generic mushroom which could be the Doom-Shroom or Hypno-Shroom, celery stalks, a gourd(?) without a face, a more conventional looking Wall-Nut, more generic mushrooms, another potato, and an onion.
Once more, there is early plant concepts. There appears to be another onion, 2 different designs of the Garlic, 2 scrawled out tomatoes with one not scratched out, an eggplant which probably turned into chomper later on, a spearmint, and test that reads "Spearmint (frost), Iceberg lettuce, Snow peas, and Winter melon."
Plants vs. Zombies seems to have an exceptionally great amount of concept art. The plants shown here are a singular cherry bomb without a face, a plant with text saying "small apples(?)," the Garlic along with the text "DISGUSTING GARLIC," a potato which would divert zombies with a resemblance similar to Wall-Nut, a sprout, some dandelions which would grant some sort of speed boost, a pumpkin with "LOTS OF HP," a Jalapeno which is rooted to the ground oddly labeled as "NAPALM PEPPER," the Sunflower, a CLOVER that would slow down flying zombies, the Cabbage-Pult, a Venus Flytrap which would probably later become Chomper, the Threepeater which is called "3peater," a "MIND-CONTROL MUSHROOM" which probably became Hypno-Shroom, a "Carrot Needle," and the BLOVER, which also has 3 other aliases known as "GUSTER," "WINDCLOVER," and "BLAWVER" which would repel zombies. Why would George Fan make two REALLY similar clover plants which do practically similar but not exactly the same functions? Who knows.
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 which then became the repeater, 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 zombie with a cluster of bandages on its head, what is most likely an early Jack-In-The-Box design with a monkey on top of 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 early design of the 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, another potential early Gargantuar, and two zombie children. 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. He was told to tune down the original design as to not be too frightening.
The original lineup Werner made as he was creating characters as to see what they would look like in-game. the hospital gown zombie was changed due to it "not clicking" and the intestines on the bungie zombie was changed to a rope to be more family friendly.
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 isn't present in the final version, as it needs a loop.
- Rigor Mormist
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The early version of Rigor Mormist; the instruments are a bit deeper than in the final.
- Cerebrawl
| Early | Final |
|---|---|
The 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 contains an outro that isn't present 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.
