Chapter 35: Featured on the Homepage!

If one were extreme, they could set up twenty-two cannons or even more, but Alex Parker didn't plan to show this off. It was too easy to mess up, and an accidental demonstration could backfire.

Moreover, all formations with corn cannons require a certain rhythm; it's not just about throwing bombs everywhere. One needs to understand the zombie spawning patterns to prepare in advance.

This formation isn't the only one. In fact, the formations in "Plants vs. Zombies" are quite a study. In the past, there were dozens of pages of forum posts discussing various formations, some as whimsical as only using half the map or arranging plants in arrow shapes, hearts, and many cannon-less setups. There were even extreme manual control setups with more than twenty-two corn cannons.

Alex knew about these, but he couldn't even execute them without some practice.

Especially the timing of deploying corn cannons and various bombs was crucial. In the past, players even devised various mnemonics to remember each formation's strategy.

There were also many other small tricks, such as the "Ice Coral" technique, which involved freezing the water surface at specific times in the Endless Pool mode to prevent the Coral Zombie trio from emerging.

Alex decided not to spoil these and let the players discover them on their own.

Lily Emerson and the others were reinvigorated, all experimenting with Alex's strategies in the Endless mode.

"Hey, it works! I set it up!"

"How is it? Is it useful?"

"Very useful! It's much better than my previous setup!"

"Be careful; protect the corn cannons."

They were all engrossed in the Endless mode and seemed to have forgotten about the game's launch.

Weren't they supposed to be here cheering me on?

Alex felt a bit speechless and opened the app store to monitor the data for "Plants vs. Zombies."

From afternoon to evening, it was prime time for game downloads. Refreshing the data every hour, the download numbers for "Plants vs. Zombies" kept climbing, from 500 new downloads per hour to around 800!

Not only was "Plants vs. Zombies" firmly holding the top spot on the new games chart, but it also began to climb other charts.

It started appearing on the puzzle games, strategy games, and casual games charts and even broke into the top 500 paid games!

Remember, it had been less than 24 hours since its launch. Achieving this kind of performance was like riding a rocket.

Meanwhile, the buzz around "Plants vs. Zombies" was rapidly growing, with Alex's tweet being frequently shared.

Major gaming media outlets were downloading "Plants vs. Zombies" to feature it in their reports.

Other game designers also downloaded it in shock, eager to discover what made this game so compelling.

Everyone was waiting for the 24-hour data for "Plants vs. Zombies."

At that moment, "Plants vs. Zombies" had a rating of 9.2, maintaining a high score, with most player comments being positive.

"A very innovative puzzle game!"

"The game content feels very rich. I've been playing for hours, and there's still new content. Totally worth the money."

"Love the graphics and music!"

"Initially, I thought plants and zombies didn't go together, but they oddly fit perfectly."

"I downloaded this game at noon and have been playing for hours. Why can't I stop?"

"I thought a game made in three months would be rough, but it's totally a high-quality game. The creativity is unbeatable!"

"I'm a professional critic, but I can't find anything to criticize. What do I do? Am I out of a job?"

"For the person above, let me help you: What a trash game, zombies aren't scary at all! (sarcastic)"

"Is anyone else here from Twitter? Feeling sorry for Steven Harris?"

"Haha, who cares about that washed-up designer? He lives off his past fame, constantly criticizing others, but look at him now. Can his games even compare to a single toe of 'Plants vs. Zombies'?"

Alex scrolled through the comments with delight.

There were also a few negative reviews and some critiques, but Alex noted they were mostly baseless insults, possibly from competitors or trolls.

He didn't care; a small minority couldn't affect the game's rating. If they wanted to leave bad reviews, they'd have to buy the game first.

Paying money to rant? If I get angry, it's my loss.

Alex's attitude was excellent; he wouldn't get upset over a few trolls.

Now, Alex was eagerly awaiting to see how much of a stir the globally popular "Plants vs. Zombies" would cause in this world!

...

The next day at noon.

Only Paul Wilder and a few others were in the experience store. Lily Emerson and the others had played until the store closed at 8 PM the previous night and probably played on their phones after returning to the dorm. They hadn't shown up yet.

Paul yawned, "Boss, I tried your strategy all night. It didn't work! Why do I always feel like I don't have enough corn cannons?"

Alex smiled without saying anything.Paul continued, "...Boss, if you keep this up, I'm going to hit you. It's so frustrating! How can you clear 2000 levels effortlessly, and I can only reach 109?"

Alex rolled his eyes, "You advanced over twenty levels in one night, and you're not satisfied?"

Paul thought for a moment and realized it was true, so he buried his head back into the game.

Alex opened the app store to check "Plants vs. Zombies" data.

Meanwhile, many gaming media outlets had their news drafts ready, just waiting for the final data.

At noon sharp, the data refreshed!

"Plants vs. Zombies": Downloads: 23,187, Rating: 9.1!

Over 20,000 downloads in 24 hours!

Previously, Alex estimated that 24-hour downloads would definitely exceed 10,000, but he wasn't optimistic about reaching 20,000. However, when he checked the data in the morning, the downloads had already exceeded 20,000, reaching over 23,000 by noon.

This indicated another burst of downloads the previous night!

Moreover, "Plants vs. Zombies" not only topped the puzzle games, strategy games, and casual games charts but also broke into the top 100 paid games!

As for recommendations, it was even more impressive: the official app store gave "Plants vs. Zombies" a "Today's Must-Play" recommendation on the homepage!

The official app store's homepage recommendations are categorized into four tiers. The best is the top "Classic Games" recommendation, with a rotating banner shared by only five or six games simultaneously.

Next is the "Hottest Today" recommendation, with a few large icons for around ten games.

Below that is the "Today's Must-Play" recommendation, featuring icons for about a dozen games.

The least prominent is the "Today's Featured" recommendation, with about thirty slots.

However, even the lowest homepage recommendation is much better than any second-tier page recommendation.

"Plants vs. Zombies" getting the "Today's Must-Play" recommendation was excellent, as few new games received this recommendation within a day of their release, indicating an extremely high system rating from the app store!