Plant Wars

Plant Wars (working title) is a personal game project rooted in the early era of mobile gaming — before freemium mechanics became dominant and gameplay-first design was the norm. It draws inspiration from formative titles like Cartoon Wars and the browser classic Age of War, which themselves blended simple mechanics with surprisingly deep strategic loops.

The goal of the project is to reimagine that lineage in a modern context. At its core, the game follows the classic lane-defense formula: one tower versus another, with strategy emerging from constrained resources and timing. Players control a defensive tower equipped with a limited-capacity bow while managing mana to summon ground and air units. The design intentionally leans into clarity and mechanical feel — emphasizing moment-to-moment decision-making over complexity.

Where the project diverges from its inspirations is in how it responds to the modern gaming landscape. Rather than layering on progression systems or monetization mechanics, the focus is on adaptive gameplay. The enemy AI is designed to evolve across repeated encounters, gradually adjusting its behavior based on player tendencies. Instead of simply scaling difficulty numerically, the system introduces light behavioral modeling, creating a more dynamic rock-paper-scissors loop while preserving fairness and readability.

In many ways, the project is both a design exploration and a small homage to a fading era of games — one shaped before aggressive monetization and algorithmic retention design became standard. It's been a chance to think deeply about what made those earlier games memorable: tight loops, strong identity, and mechanics that respected the player's time.

Since relocating to New York and starting full-time work, development has slowed and is currently on hiatus. Still, it remains one of the projects I'm most personally invested in, and I plan to continue refining it with the goal of eventually releasing a polished version.