User blog:Tecku/TT: Aspearagus and the Community

Hello again, guys. As many of you are probably aware, there used to be a PvZ game for Facebook called PvZ Adventures. While no longer active, this game brought several new plants and zombies to the table. The most notable examples include Fire Peashooter, which lives on in both PvZ2 and Garden Warfare, and Bamboo Shoot, which has a potted plant role in Garden Warfare. Now, ever since the game's deactivation, the community has taken it upon themselves to see these plants live on in their versions on the main games. However, one plants has, in my opinion, not been represented to the best of its ability. This plant is Aspearagus, one of the first plants obtained.

In PvZA, Aspearagus was virtually a Peashooter with more range, costing an additional 25 Sun. It would fire slower, but its shots would deal more damage. Now, in PvZA, this was a very fair trade. Sun was in relatively short supply, and the extra range would have to be utilized very carefully to reach maximum effect. However, in the main games, this mechanic.... doesn't work so well.

The mutual agreement I've seen in all fan games seems to state that Aspearagus costs 125 Sun, but can target zombies on the lane above or below. At first glance, this may seem to work. This mechanic would be very helpful early on, as well as stopping zombies on different lanes for ambushes. However, we already have a number of plants that can do something akin to this. Homing Thistle, Rotobaga, Starfruit, Dandelion, and especially Lightning Reed already are great at targeting zombies on multiple lanes. In essence, the idea of just targetting multiple lanes comes off as... bland?

So, what would I do? How about this- we let players choose which direction to have Aspearagus fire. Aspearagus can shoot spears in five directions- straight, Starfruit-diagonal up/down, Rotobaga-diagonal up/down. Players can adjust direction at any time by tapping Aspearagus, and dragging to desired angle. (A dotted line will show the trajectory of the spear while aiming).

This method keeps Aspearagus true to it's nature, but gives it more depth. It has the more flexibility than a Peashooter, but at the cost of more Sun and having to adjust it every time a new direction is needed. It also lacks the raw firepower of Starfruit and Rotobaga, but makes up for it with its lower cost and the ability to shoot straight. Players can use multiple Aspearagus to gang up on tough zombies clusters, but will have to take time to adjust each one.

What do you guys think? Do you have your own ideas about Aspearagus? Let me know!

My next blog will be about how I would balance out the current in-game plants and zombies.