PvZ2 Secrets: Art Director Monte Michaelis - Part 1

About this episode

Isaac and Steve get into it with Monte Michaelis, Art Director on Plants vs. Zombies 2. Being one of the few people who worked through much of PvZ2's early development, Monte has a unique perspective on the forces that shaped the follow-up to the classic original. Game Jams, unicycles, cat cutouts and the all-important art of distiguishing between what's clever and what's clear are just a tiny fraction of the mysteries these three old-school PopCappers discuss. Chow down, PopCap and PvZ fans! CHAPTERS00:00 The Unofficial PopCap PopCast 00:19 Hello Greetings Bonjour 00:58 Welcoming Monte Michaelis 02:53 Biggs Darklighter 03:13 Semi-rural Alaska 04:18 Animation 11:22 First Introduction to PopCap 12:44 "Where's My Art?" 16:40 Working on Blitz 18:17 Commercial Value of Attention 22:50 Game Jams 23:20 Michael Jackson Unicycle Daredevil 27:37 Disco Zombie 31:48 Being Clever vs. Being Clear 34:03 Snackers 35:05 Moving Into Plants vs Zombies 2 38:49 Vector Rather Than Pixel 42:06 Plant Food 43:47 Farmageddon 46:32 "PvZ2 is cancell bed." 46:59 Higher Fidelity 49:49 New Peashooter & Sunflower Animations 58:32 PvZ2 Design: Mohan Rajagopalan 59:28 Exponentially Better 1:00:35 And On That... LINKSbadpennygoods.com https://www.badpennygoods.com/ (real physical goods)ADPList https://adplist.org/mentors/montye-michaelis (mentoring)thisismonte.com https://www.thisismonte.com/ (Monte stuff!)LinkedIn Monte Michaelis https://www.linkedin.com/in/montemichaelis/ (Monte has been extremely busy since his PopCap days. So many talents and experiences!)