Concept: Grapes of Wrath and Heal Shroom

Grapes of Wrath
Alternative to Chili Bean Bomb
They're not really that angry most of the time, but lately they've been talking about politics. It's pretty rude, man.

Grapes of wrath scatter when they explode, with lots of small explosions over time. Excellent for clearing armored foes.








Health Shroom
Alternative to Heal Flower
Heal Shroom wanted to be a doctor when he grew up. Fast cars, fast friends, it seemed like a pretty cool job. Wait, no, the Heal Shroom was thinking of being a movie star. Yeah, the Heal Shroom wanted to be a movie star.

Heal Shrooms don't do a lot of healing when they're dropped, but after about five seconds they produce a massive burst of healing, healing nearby plants for as much as +50% of their normal health amount.




Tune in next week for two more additions to the plant family: The Cloakroot and the Telepotato. Want to pitch me a concept? Complain about my theorycraft? Drop me a line in the comments section!

Concept: Springroot and Potato Battery

In my blog On The Subject of Team Fortress I spend a lot of time doing speculative game design: developing interesting or unusual weapon ideas for Team Fortress 2. Team Fortress 2 is no longer the only game I play with any regularity and it's no longer the only game that receives a fair amount of support and attention from its devs. With Plants Versus Zombies: Garden Warfare occupying a lot of my time, and also that Peashooter design contest, I decided to put together some new concepts.

The Springroot

Spikeroot Alternative

The Spikeroot decided to go out and get a stylish new 'do! A little plant shampoo, a little rootspray, some curlers, and BAM! Look at that bounce! Zombies who step on the Springroot will be tossed away. When they land, they'll take damage and be briefly stunned.

As a side benefit, when a Chomper jumps on top of a Springroot, he also gets thrown up in the air, granting access to high-reach areas previously inaccessible to Chompers!

Plants Versus Zombies: Smoking Pistils

Shroom Shooter

Plants Versus Zombies: Garden Warfare came out a few weeks ago and so I've been dutifully ensconced in that colorful world, vanquishing zombies and plants alike.

Recently I found out that, oh boy, there's a contest to design your own Peashooter variant! So I busted out the old sketchpad and knocked out these two ugly mugs.

They're cultivars of the Peashooter line, carrying the same basic abilities, such as Hyper Dash, Chili Bean Bomb, and Pea Gatling, but their primary weapons and statistics are somewhat different.

The first guy, on top, is Shroomshooter, with his unique tri-barrel Spore Blaster. His nutritious fungus shots cause allies to heal themselves while doing damage to enemy zombies.

The Shroomshooter didn't ask for much. A little darkness, a little water. You know, for his photography. Maybe don't mention pictures to him, though. Not when there's zombies nearby.

The second is the Pistil.  A budding bean plant, he fires Pollen Bombs, which trigger zombie allergies! Zombies suffering from allergy attacks take more damage from all incoming sources!

The Pistil likes most of the other plants. The Peashooter, the Torchwood, even the grumpy Squash. He just tries not to spend too much time with the Cattail, because she makes him sneeze. And his pollen makes her sneeze. Ironic, it's true.