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!

CHAPTERS

00:00 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...

LINKS

badpennygoods.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!)