The meeting room fell silent.
Takada stared at the grid on the whiteboard, his mind racing.
This kind of gameplay completely shatters existing game categories, he thought.
It wasn't an action game, nor was it a traditional tactical RPG. It perfectly blended the resource management of a real-time strategy game, the base defense of a tower defense game, and a light, casual art style.
"Each round will be controlled to around five minutes," Takuya Nakayama said as he sat back in his chair and took a sip of coffee. "It can be paused at any time. No infrared communication is needed, and you don't need to compete against others. It relies on a pure, single-player gameplay loop that's impossible to put down."
Oguchi Hisao drew a heavy circle on his notebook, enclosing the words "Plants vs. Zombies."
"This project is indeed a perfect fit for a handheld console," Oguchi Hisao remarked.
He looked up at the other Team Leaders.
"Do you see it now? This is what it means to think outside the box. You're always trying to build more complex systems and stack more stats. The Managing Director's project only uses the D-pad and AB buttons, yet the strategic depth is still immense."
The Team Leaders all nodded, thoroughly convinced.
This "less is more" design philosophy had truly taught them a lesson.
"Mr. Koguchi, finalize the personnel transfers by the end of the day." Takuya Nakayama pulled the development kit closer to himself. "I want those ten newcomers in my temporary office tomorrow morning."
"Understood." Hisao Koguchi snapped his notebook shut.
The meeting adjourned.
The team leaders hurried out of the conference room, each clutching their development kit. Takuya's words had spurred them all into a frenzy, eager to return and perfect their own projects.
Takuya remained in his seat, tapping his fingers on the table as he gazed at the now-empty room.
Plants vs. Zombies.
When this game was released on PC in his past life, it had swept the global casual gaming market.
Now, bringing it to a handheld console over a decade early, paired with the precision of a D-pad...
He couldn't wait to see what kind of storm this incredibly addictive masterpiece would unleash on this era.
Sega Headquarters Building.
In a small conference room on the third floor, ten young employees, all wearing intern badges, sat around a meeting table.
Three programmers, five artists, and two game designers.
No one spoke.
Just yesterday afternoon, they were still running errands for their respective project teams—photocopying documents and buying coffee.
Just before the end of the day, a call from HR summoned them all.
The buzz-cut programmer wrung his hands, his knuckles white.
The long-haired artist bit her lower lip, glancing at the door every few seconds.
The bespectacled planner took a deep breath and pushed up his glasses.
"I heard Executive Director Nakayama personally requested us," the buzz-cut programmer whispered.
"We've never even written official code," the long-haired girl said, her voice trembling. "Why would the Executive Director want us?"
The doorknob turned.
All ten people in the conference room shot to their feet.
The chair legs scraped dully against the carpet.
Takuya Nakayama pushed the door open and walked in.
He went straight to the front, placing a development kit with a black engineering plastic shell on the table.
"Sit."
Takuya Nakayama turned and grabbed a black marker.
The marker screeched against the whiteboard.
A large rectangle.
A few intersecting horizontal and vertical lines.
The rectangle was now a grid of five rows and nine columns.
The ten newcomers stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"This machine is the new handheld development kit the Hardware Department just finished," Takuya Nakayama said, tapping the whiteboard with his marker. "For the next few months, all ten of you will report directly to me. Your mission is simple: create a launch title for this machine."
The room fell so silent you could hear a pin drop.
The buzz-cut programmer's jaw dropped.
The long-haired girl stood frozen.
A launch title?
For us? A bunch of rookies who haven't even passed probation?
"Don't be nervous. I've already completed the core design. Your job is to bring it to life." Takuya Nakayama drew a house on the far left of the grid and a few tombstones on the far right.
"The game's title is Plants vs. Zombies."
The ten of them grew even more bewildered.
"Plants... fighting zombies?" the bespectacled planner couldn't help but blurt out.
The two words were completely unrelated.
"Exactly." Takuya nodded, scribbling and drawing on the whiteboard as he explained the game's basic design and core mechanics from yesterday's planning meeting in one breath.
He tossed the marker onto the table with a sharp clack.
The ten newcomers were completely absorbed.
Their earlier tension and anxiety had been tossed to the wind, replaced by an irrepressible excitement.
This gameplay is so fresh! Even the fail-safe mechanisms are designed so brilliantly!
"Managing Director, what's the art style?" the long-haired girl asked, raising her hand. "Should the zombies be... really scary? On a handheld screen, horror elements might not translate well."
"Not scary," Takuya said, holding up a finger. "Go for a chibi, American cartoon style. The zombies shouldn't be bloody and gory—they should be goofy, cute, and infused with a bit of black humor."
"The plants are no different," Takuya Nakayama continued. "The Sunflowers need to be smiling, and the Peashooters should look spirited. The whole screen needs to be bright and colorful. We want kids to see it and not be scared, and adults to see it and find it amusing."
The long-haired girl nodded repeatedly, pulling out a sketchbook and starting to sketch rapidly.
"As for the numbers," Takuya turned to the two planners, "this is your main focus. The Sun production rate, the plants' cost, the zombies' health and movement speed—all of this must be iteratively tested. The first few levels should be so easy a player could clear them with their eyes closed, just to get them familiar with the mechanics. The later levels, however, should leave them scrambling but still barely able to win. You two are in charge of managing that kind of Flow experience."
The Bespectacled Planner nodded vigorously, his pen scribbling furiously in his notebook.
"And the programming side—the logic is crystal clear, right?" Takuya looked at the Buzz-cut Programmer.
"Crystal clear!" the Buzz-cut Programmer slapped his chest. "We're using a grid-based system with extremely simplified collision detection. The dual-core architecture of this machine is powerful enough to handle dozens of zombies and plant projectiles on-screen without any issues."
"Excellent."
Takuya glanced at his watch.
"That's the core vision. You guys can brainstorm the rest of the details yourselves."
He pushed the black Development Kit to the center of the table.
"The machine is all yours. The development tools are already installed."
"I don't care how you divide the work or schedule it. I just want results."
"In one month, I want to see a playable demo. At least one level, with Sunflowers, Peashooters, and regular Zombies."
Takuya Nakayama shoved his hands into his trouser pockets and turned toward the door.
"Managing Director!" the bespectacled planner stood up. "Then what about you—"
"Me?" Takuya Nakayama stopped in his tracks, looked back, and smiled. "I'm only responsible for digging the hole. Filling it in is your job. Come find me if you hit a technical wall you truly can't solve. Otherwise, don't bother me."
The door closed.
The conference room fell silent for three seconds.
Then, it instantly erupted into chaos.
"Quick, quick! Copy everything off the whiteboard!"
"Art team, get the character sketches finalized! We're reviewing them this afternoon!"
"Programming team, get the basic grid framework set up first! Use the control logic the Managing Director specified."
Ten young people crowded around the conference table, staring at the development kit resting quietly on its surface.
No one complained about the heavy workload. No one complained about their lack of experience.
Sega's Managing Director, the future President, had just thrown a stroke of genius and the latest hardware directly into their laps.
If they couldn't pull this off, they might as well find a block of tofu and bash their heads against it.
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