GDC 2017 Flash Forward: The Flexible Music System of 'Plants vs. Zombies Heroes'
2,344 views · Published 24 February 2017 · 1:10 · Indexed 25 September 2026
Channel: GDC Festival of Gaming · 2017 · Education
The music systems of Plants vs. Zombies evolved over time and are the result of several phases of iteration and reinvention through game development. This talk is an in-depth look at the experiments that shaped these music systems initially, rebuilding the entire score using custom-recorded MIDI sample banks halfway through, and continuing to tighten the link between music and gameplay all the way up until the game's release. The guiding principle for the music of PvZ: Heroes was to support the gameplay first and foremost. We wanted music to dynamically track gameplay more closely than previous PvZ games, and switching genres meant room for some fairly big stylistic departures. Extensive prototyping eventually led to a "Saturday morning cartoon" vibe with exciting music and systems being created making the game feel punchier and more alive. Becky Allen | Audio Director, PopCap Location: Room 3006, West Hall Date: Friday, March 3 Time: 1:30pm - 2:30pm Format: Session Track: Audio Pass Type: GDC All Access, GDC All Access + VRDC, GDC Main Conference, GDC Main Conference + VRDC, Audio Track Pass, GDC Main Conference + VRDC More details: http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/always-be-composing-the-flexible-music-system-of-plants-vs-zombies-heroes?_mc=sm_x_gdcsf_le_tsnr_gdcsf_x_x-yt GDC talks cover a range of developmental topics including game design, programming, audio, visual arts, business management, production, online games, and much more. We post a fresh GDC video every weekday. Subscribe to the channel to stay on top of regular updates, and check out GDC Vault for thousands of more in-depth talks from our archives. Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/Official_GDC Check out our Facebook page for GDC exclusives https://www.facebook.com/GameDevelopersConference Visit our site: http://ubm.io/2ctNvqZ
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