PopCap launches ‘experimental’ dev

Casual giant PopCap has opened the doors on a new ‘design centre’, offering its developers and designers a place to realise creations of a more lo-fi aesthetic than typical releases from the Plants vs Zombies outfit.

"4th & Battery is a pressure valve intended to keep our heads from exploding," explained Ed Allard, executive vice president of Studios at PopCap.

"The PopCap brand has become closely associated with ultra-high quality, polish and attention to detail – which is a great thing. But our standard game development process is therefore long and involved, and doesn’t really accommodate all of the creativity pumping through our collective veins. 4th & Battery gives us a way to quickly try really strange or marginal ideas, and to give our designers a safe area to hone their chops."

Develop has the full story.