George Fan (born 1978) is an American
video game designer who currently works as the creative director of
All Yes Good. He is known for designing ''
Plants vs. Zombies
''Plants vs. Zombies'' is a video game franchise developed by PopCap Games, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (EA). The series follows the affiliates of David "Crazy Dave" Blazing as they use his plants to defend against a zombie invasion, led b ...
'' (2009) whilst working at
PopCap Games
PopCap Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Seattle, and a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. The company was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka.
Originally founded under the name "Sexy Action Cool", ...
, in addition to developing ''
Insaniquarium
''Insaniquarium'' is a 2001 virtual pets simulator video game, developed by Flying Bear Entertainment and published by PopCap Games and MumboJumbo. Before PopCap Games's involvement, the game was a web-based Java (programming language), Java g ...
'' (2001) and ''
Octogeddon'' (2018). Before going into game design, Fan graduated from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, in 2000 with a degree in
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
. After graduating, he worked under Arcade Planet to develop games for their website, Prizegames.com. He eventually formed Flying Bear Entertainment and created ''Insaniquarium'', which became a finalist for the 2002
Independent Games Festival. He then joined
Blizzard Entertainment and worked there while simultaneously developing ''Insaniquarium'' further for PopCap Games, releasing the "Deluxe" edition in 2004.
Fan left Blizzard and started developing ''Plants vs. Zombies''. He became a full-time employee for PopCap, who supplied Fan with a team. Upon release in 2009, it became the best-selling game developed by PopCap.
EA bought PopCap Games in 2011 and Fan was laid off after his studio was closed down in 2012. Fan started developing ''Octogeddon'' and submitted it to the 2012
Ludum Dare contest. Fan formed a developing company named All Yes Good with Rich Werner and Kurt Pfeffer and developed ''Octogeddon'' further before releasing it in 2018.
Early life and education
George Fan was born in 1978.
Fan grew up with his brother and lived with their father.
Fan attended the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
and graduated with a degree in
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
in 2000.
Career
Early career
Fan first worked as creator of
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
video games for the online
gaming portal, Prizegames.com,
created by the company Arcade Planet. Fan describes the website as "an online version of
Chuck E. Cheese
Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American family entertainment center and pizza restaurant chain founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bu ...
".
The first video game he designed was the puzzle game, ''Wrath of the Gopher'', released in 2001.
Fan said to Chris Carter, editor-in-chief of ''
Destructoid
''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022.
History
' ...
'', that before creating ''Wrath of the Gopher'', he was unsure of whether or not he could be a game designer.
Flying Bear Entertainment, ''Insaniquarium'', and Blizzard Entertainment
While researching Java games, Fan discovered
PopCap Games
PopCap Games, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Seattle, and a subsidiary of Electronic Arts. The company was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka.
Originally founded under the name "Sexy Action Cool", ...
and took a liking to their game library.
In 2001, Fan and Tysen Henderson founded Flying Bear Entertainment in California to work on a
virtual pets video game project named ''FishTank''.
Fan wanted to create a game "that's easy to get into, yet unfolds into something much deeper."
Flying Bear Entertainment published it on August 31, 2001, as a free Java-based online game called ''
Insaniquarium
''Insaniquarium'' is a 2001 virtual pets simulator video game, developed by Flying Bear Entertainment and published by PopCap Games and MumboJumbo. Before PopCap Games's involvement, the game was a web-based Java (programming language), Java g ...
''.
Fan entered the game into the 2002
Independent Games Festival, to which it became a finalist for.
At the finalist booth at
Game Developers Conference 2002 (GDC 2002), PopCap Games offered Fan help in making ''Insaniquarium'' a downloadable game.
''Insaniquarium'' won in the category of "Innovation in Game Design".
At the time, Fan was looking for a job at
Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard allowed Fan to work on ''Insaniquarium'' on his breaks from working with them.
Because he was a freelance video game designer at the time, Fan was forced to do a majority of the programming and designing of ''Insaniquarium'', along with composing some of the music.
With PopCap Games as the publisher, ''Insaniquarium'' was released on 2004 for the PC, titled ''Insaniquarium: Deluxe'' and was met with critical and financial success.
The game sold 20 million copies on the PC by April 2006, and was released for
mobile phones
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
by
Glu Mobile in the United States on April 13, 2006, and in Europe on June 29, 2006. The game was also released for
Palm OS smartphones,
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants.
Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
phones, and
personal digital assistants
A personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld PC, is a variety mobile device which functions as a personal information manager. PDAs have been mostly displaced by the widespread adoption of highly capable smartphones, in partic ...
on August 6, 2008.
Fan worked for Blizzard for two and a half years.
He was tasked with programming AI and designing enemies for ''
Diablo III
''Diablo III'' is a hack-and-slash action role-playing game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment as the third installment in the Diablo (series), ''Diablo'' franchise. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in May 2012, Play ...
'' during this time.
It was not long after ''Insaniquarium'' was released that Fan realized that he was more of a designer than a programmer. Fan tried to become a designer at Blizzard, though found it hard to persuade other employees to his ideas, leading him to conclude that he preferred to work in smaller teams.
PopCap Games and ''Plants vs. Zombies''
Fan left Blizzard to become an independent game designer for a year.
Fan eventually became inspired by ''Insaniquarium'' and ''
Warcraft III'' mods to create a new game. Fan thought about creating a defense-oriented version of ''Insaniquarium'' for the
Nintendo DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...
utilizing its dual-screen.
However, after playing ''Warcraft III''
tower defense
Tower defense (TD) is a subgenre of strategy games where the goal is to defend a player's territories or possessions by obstructing the enemy attackers or by stopping enemies from reaching the exits, usually achieved by placing defensive struc ...
mods, he wondered if plants could make good defensive structures. Fan wanted to bring new concepts to the tower defense genre and found enemies ignoring the defensive structures unintuitive, which led to the use of lanes.
The enemies, though initially planned to be aliens from ''Insaniquarium'', became zombies to make the game distinctive from other plant games.
The working title was ''Weedlings''. After the enemies were changed from aliens to zombies, the game was renamed ''
Plants vs. Zombies
''Plants vs. Zombies'' is a video game franchise developed by PopCap Games, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts (EA). The series follows the affiliates of David "Crazy Dave" Blazing as they use his plants to defend against a zombie invasion, led b ...
''.
Initially, Fan worked on ''Plants vs. Zombies'' independently.
He became a full-time employee for PopCap Games after they convinced him that joining them would help him make the best game.
PopCap set Fan up with a team consisting of Tod Semple, Rich Werner, and
Laura Shigihara
is a Japanese–American singer-songwriter, composer, video game developer, and Twitch streamer. She is best known as the lead composer and sound designer for the tower defense game ''Plants vs. Zombies'' and the creator of the acclaimed indie ...
, who each filled the role of programmer, artist, and composer respectively.
''Plants vs. Zombies'' took three and a half years to make.
Aside from ''Insaniquarium'' and ''Warcraft III'', ''Plants vs. Zombies'' was influenced by the arcade game ''
Tapper'',
[ the card game '' Magic: the Gathering'',][ and the film '']Swiss Family Robinson
''The Swiss Family Robinson'' (German: ''Der Schweizerische Robinson'') is a novel by Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Australia, goes off course and is shipwreck ...
''. A critical aspect of developing was designing the game to be balanced between casual
Casual or Casuals may refer to:
* Casual wear, a loosely defined dress code
**Business casual a loosely defined dress code
**Smart casual a loosely defined dress code
* Casual Company, term used by the United States military to describe a type of ...
and hardcore gaming.
''Plants vs. Zombies'' was released on May 5, 2009, for the PC and Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
. The game garnered positive reception from critics, being assigned an aggregate score of 87/100 by Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
. It quickly became the best-selling video game developed by PopCap Games. James Gwertzman, the vice president
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...
of the Asia/Pacific division of PopCap, revealed in a presentation at GDC China 2010 that the game had sold 1.5 million copies internationally. ''Plants vs. Zombies'' has been ported to various platforms, including the iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
, Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...
, and Nintendo DS
The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tan ...
.
There were various other projects designed by Fan for PopCap that were either canceled or unannounced. One of them was a role-playing video game
A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
called ''Yeti Train'', which was rumored to become a new franchise after a trademark for the title was filed by PopCap in 2009, though in March 2011, David Roberts, CEO of PopCap, declined there being any plans to release new franchises. Another game in production was ''Full Contact Bingo''.
On July 12, 2011, PopCap and its assets were bought by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...
(EA) for $750million. EA envisioned ''Plants vs. Zombies'' as a major franchise, with the sequel using a freemium
Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (o ...
model, which resulted in Fan losing interest in ''Plants vs. Zombies''. According to Jason Schreier of ''Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History
...
'', when EA directed PopCap towards making free-to-play games with transactions, "Fan no longer fit in."[ In August 2012, 50 employees either left or were laid off from PopCap's ]Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
studio, with studios in Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
; Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
; and San Mateo, California
San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...
where Fan worked at the time closing.[ Fan was fired during this time after months of discussion from PopCap's management team. A circulating rumor that Fan was fired because of his opposition to EA's freemium model was based on a statement by ]Edmund McMillen
Edmund Charles McMillen (born March 2, 1980) is an American video game designer and artist known for his Flash game visual style. His most notable works include 2010's side-scroller '' Super Meat Boy'' and 2011's roguelike game '' The Binding of ...
, the creator of '' The Binding of Isaac'' and ''Super Meat Boy
''Super Meat Boy'' is a 2010 platform game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes under the collective name of "Team Meat". It was self-published as the successor to ''Meat Boy'', a 2008 flash game designed by McMillen and Jonathan McEnte ...
''. George Fan refused to comment publicly on the truth of this story.[
]
All Yes Good and ''Octogeddon''
After his lay-off, Fan created the arcade-style action video game
An action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes a large variety of sub-genres, such as fighting games, beat 'em ups, shooter games, and platform gam ...
'' Octogeddon'' for the 2012 Ludum Dare contest, a contest where developers have to create a game in 48 hours within a specific theme. The 2012 theme was "evolution"; Fan designed ''Octogeddon'' to fit that theme by having the octopus gain weaponized limbs over time. The game was met with positive reception in the contest, inspiring Fan to work on the game more. He formed the indie video game company, All Yes Good, along with Werner the artist for ''Plants vs. Zombies'' and Kert Pfeffer the programmer of the Xbox 360 port of ''Plants vs. Zombies''. All Yes Good developed ''Octogeddon'' for the next four years.
Fan served as the designer, Werner served as the artist, and Pfeffer served as the programmer for ''Octogeddon''. Jimmy Hinson
Jimmy Hinson, also known as Big Giant Circles, is an American musician and composer in the video games industry. Originally adopting the name as a hobbyist submitting video game music remixes/rearrangements to OverClocked ReMix, Hinson now active ...
provided the soundtrack.[ ''Octogeddon'' was released on February 8, 2018, for the video game digital distribution service, ]Steam
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
. The game was met with positive reception, having a score of 82/100 on Metacritic. It was ported to the Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
on May 16, 2019. Fan is currently listed as the creative director of All Yes Good.
Personal life
Fan lives in California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
; he went to University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, for his college education,[ was based in ]San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
during the development of ''Plants vs. Zombies'', worked in the San Mateo, California studio of PopCap Games by the time he was fired,[ and All Yes Good is currently based in ]Redwood Shores, California
Redwood Shores is a waterfront community in Redwood City, California, along the western shore of San Francisco Bay on the San Francisco Peninsula in San Mateo County. Redwood Shores is the home of several major technology companies, including Ora ...
. His girlfriend is Shigihara, the composer for ''Plants vs. Zombies''.[ Fan's hobbies include playing ''Magic: The Gathering'' and ]Lego
Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...
building. He designed the card Genesis Hydra for the ''Magic: The Gathering'' core set Magic 2015
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
.
Works
Notes
References
External links
Official website of Flying Bear Entertainment
Official website of All Yes Good
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fan, George
1978 births
Living people
American video game designers
Indie video game developers
Creative directors
University of California, Berkeley alumni
Blizzard Entertainment people