blog.popcap.com » Mystery P.I.

Giant Collection of Seek-and-Find Fun

Julie — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 16:31:00 +0000

Here’s something to do while you’re waiting for spring to arrive: go on an adventure, solve a case, or take a virtual vacation! All this and more is waiting for you in our 10-game collection of hidden object hits.

Sleuth for clues in three Mystery P.I. games, find your way to safety in Escape the Emerald Star and Escape Whisper Valley, travel to Australia and Hawaii in two Vacation Quest getaways, or search the globe to help the Museum find treasure in three Amazing Adventures journeys.

For a mere $19.99, you’ll spend hours in search of over 21,400 objects in 240 scenes in these 10 games. Look for Treasure Trove Vol. 1 online at Amazon.com, and on the store shelves at Walmart.

Haiku For You

curtis — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:34:48 +0000

It’s National Haiku Day, but only here at PopCap. That’s why we decided to grace you on this beautiful Friday with a few little poems inspired by PopCap characters. Some are sprinkled with PopCap joy, while others are burning with existential angst. Each of us wrote one, and we are all extremely proud of them.

And if you have one of your own to share, add them in the comments section. Because, at least for today, we love haiku!

Jeff

Blue chuzzles in flight
I just popped you and you’re gone
Are you home, or dead?

Julie

Stressful solitaire
The countdown is bugging me
Cannot think clearly

A.J.

Chuzzle, chuzzle, chuz
zle, chuzzle, chuzzle, chuzzle,
chuzzle, chuzzle, chuz

Curtis

My dearest Bonnie:
Your heart, an open bookstore;
Mine, an e-reader.

Dana

Prehistoric eggs
Looming, steadily encroach.
Quick! Whirley’s coming!

Philip

What are you doing
With all the c-clamps I find
Hidden Object game?

Rejected Game Titles

curtis — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:41:49 +0000

We’ve talked a little in the past about all the tinkering and refining and polishing that’s needed to make a great PopCap game. But something people don’t think much about is: game titles are worked on quite a lot, too. They’re an important part of the game.

Don’t believe me? Would you play Zuma if it were called “Amphibious Ballshooter”? Well, okay, maybe that’s a bad example.

You may be aware that Bejeweled was originally called Diamond Mine, way back in 2000. But did you know we once wanted to call Plants vs. Zombies “Lawn of the Dead”? We decided George Romero (or at least his lawyers) wouldn’t like that too much.

Here’s a list of some other title ideas that didn’t make the cut — and some that I wish we could’ve tried. Because why not?

Peggle
Thunderball – Yep. This was a Thor-themed prototype of Peggle
Pego – Too close to another game brand, perhaps? You decide. But we had to change the name just weeks before the game release. That was fun!

Plants vs. Zombies
Lawn of the Dead
Morticulture
Bloom & Doom – In the game, this is the seed packet company’s name
Zombotany – Not easy to say or read, but people at PopCap liked it enough that it became a mini-game title

Venice — the only game I know of starring an unmanned gondola!
Sinking City
Better than Milan
Extreme Gondola!
Gondolamania (And why not? I mean, we already had Rocket Mania and Talismania… why not Gondolamania?)

Mystery P.I. – The Lottery Ticket
Mystery P.I. – The Curious Case of the Hidden Reality
Mystery P.I. – Have You Seen My Pants?

Zuma
Enter the Frog
Fancy Frog and the Frightening Four (no, not really)

Alchemy
Gold-Maker (exciting, isn’t it?)
Solid Gold Prancer

And finally, our old mobile game, Mars Needs Cows, likely had lots of bad title ideas. But we don’t remember any of them. So, we think it may have originally been titled Interrupting Cow.

Okay, I’ll stop there, before I Interrupting Cow.