Flora on FILE 2007

FILE SÃO PAULO 2007

Net-Art, Video-Installations, Interactive Works, Games, Robotic Performances and Beyond. Hypermedia Works, Telematic Actions, Artificial Intelligences, Interactive Cinematics, Expanded Realities, The New Culture Of Interfaces, Tangible Immaterialities.

FILE - Electronic Language International Festival was held at Sesi 10-Paulista's Cultural Space, in São Paulo, Brazil, from August 13th to September 09rd,

For the second consecutive year I´ve got something to show at FILE (Electronic Language International Festival), which is a great pleasure and honor. This year, Flora is being exhibited along with other experimental games. Here´s the list.

Check their website for more details.

Flora reviewed on Gameology.org

Zach Whalen was very kind to write a short review on Flora. Here is a passage I really like:

"Similarly, I've found that playing Flora affords the most pleasure by striking a balance between the generative chaos of frenetic play and the order of strategic play. Maybe we could call that a balance between ludus and paidea, but I like the gardening metaphor because of its spatial connotation. From a design point of view, Chico has done a nice job of making that balance available by creating tools and actionability in ways that encourage balance, but because this is a nongame, the player is the one who ultimately gives structure to her play."

Read the whole article.

Flora: play it NOW on this very post!

Here is the online demo:


The "Can You" feature may be unavailable. Other than that, that's the full demo. Enjoy!

If the window is too small for you, try it on its proper website.

(also available at the Great Games Experiment. If you enjoy it, don't forget to rate it.

flora - play online demo version now!

Here´s the link to the website:

http://www.flora-game.com

No downloadable install program available. Instead, a playable flash demo.

Thanks a lot to everyone of you who helped me making this demo.

Another interesting virtual garden application

It´s Packet Garden!

"Packet Garden captures information about how you use the internet and uses this stored information to grow a private world you can later explore.


To do this, Packet Garden takes note of all the servers you visit, their geographical location and the kinds of data you access. Uploads make hills and downloads valleys, their location determined by numbers taken from internet address itself. The size of each hill or valley is based on how much data is sent or received. Plants are also grown for each protocol detected by the software; if you visit a website, an 'HTTP plant' is grown. If you share some files via eMule, a 'Peer to Peer plant' is grown, and so on."

(from their website)

Looks like Flora meets Darwinia :), and it´s available for Mac, PC and Linux.
(via Ludologia)

flora website preview

Still apprehensive from the lack of communication from sponsors, I´ve uploaded a website preview for the demo. No install downloads or press release material are available, but you can check promotional videos, screenshots and some info on the project. Here is the link. Comments are welcome.

Still waiting... (screenshots included)

Still waiting for responses on Flora demo. Until that happens, I won't even dare to setup a hot site for the game.

But I guess it's ok to show some screenshots (in English, this time):

Games on gardening and flowers

Since I´ve previously posted some comments on Plantasia and Cultivation, here´s a list of gardening/flower-themed games I´ve found (most of them, today - which shows I might not researched competitors properly :)). Plus, some comments on how they relate or not to my own project.

Cultivation (experimental game)
What I like the most about Cultivation is how it uses procedurality (is that a word?) to create new plants. The social aspects are great too - but that's something I haven't planned at all for my game. They share the 'genetic thematic', though.

Plantasia (web / casual game)
Plantasia is more like a management game. Fun to play, good use of flower theme, but much more managerial than Flora. It made me think of including pests and bugs - which I didn't do. The game point of view is somewhat similar to Flora.

Enchanted Gardens (casual game).
Haven't played this one. Judging from the screenshots, seems to be a matching tile game.

Plant Tycoon (Pocket PC).
Also haven't played this one, but it sure looks interesting: It´s a gardening sim (tycoon-esque, as far as I could tell), but also invests in genetic manipulation, as flowers can be cross-pollinated.

Blooming Garden (webgame).
"Align rows of five" kind of game.

BBC Virtual Garden (not a game)
Non-game(?) for players to exercise their paisagistic abilities. Interesting. As in Flora, it tries to be a relaxing experience.

3D Garden Composer(gardening sim/encyclopedia - includes a game).
Much more of a learning tool (making use of games to do so) than the other titles on the list.

Flower Shop (casual game)
A sim/management, "keep customers happy" type of game, as far as I could tell. Looks very well done - great production value.

Cbeebies Gardening Webgame.
Using the arrow keys, make the character water the flowers.

US governamental/educational gardening webgame.
Very similar to Cbeebies. Using the arrow keys, make the character water the flowers.

Zen Puzzle Garden (casual game)
Not really on gardening, but I really liked this puzzle game. Zen gardens reminds me of my previous project, Insular.

Plant Maker (web activity).
Like in Flora, you can make your own flowers in this web activity. There are not too many possible combinations, though - just 4 options for each category (below ground, stem, leaves and flower).

Maggie the Gardener 2 (casual game).
Focused on garden decoration, another very well polished gardening game.

The Flower Garden Game (webgame).
Puzzle webgame.

Geffrye Museum Design a Garden (web activity).
Simplified garden design.

Garden with Insight (garden simulation).
Free garden simulator. This one is probably the more complex of them all - it looks very accurate. It can be used as a educational tool.

PlantStudio (2D/3D plant illustration tool)
From the same company that makes Garden with Insight, this is an illustrations tool where you can design your own flowers. Looks very interesting too.

Well, that´s it for now. You can expect more news on Flora any day!

Low-risk, fast-paced, instant gratifications

It´s weird how the finished demo has become different from the original idea. The greatest contrast is in the intended rhythm of the game: I had in mind a very slow-paced, zen game. Instead, it is now close to an "instant gratification" game. Not so much of a challenge - it´s very difficult to get a game over screen - but still fast paced.

I´m not sure that´s better or worse than the initial intention, but maybe that´s what a "casual non-game" is supposed to feel like. Almost like gardening for the Popcap generations.

flora gameplay video

You might need to access the page (and not the feeds reader) to watch the video:

2 minutes - more than enough to learn how to play and start creating.

Demo almost complete

Flora's demo is almost complete - too bad it's not an unlockable demo, but something I will have to make into a full game afterwards. Anyway, I have a deadline I cannot skip. At all.

Although it's not as complete or polished as I would like it to be, I must say I'm actually enjoying to playtest the game. Many things could be bettered, but I feel it's somewhat fun to play it (although I know it's not everyone cup of tea). That's something I would not say one or two months away, when I was quite frankly upset about it. That's changed now. Good.

Is it natural for designers have such bipolar feelings about their creations?

Well, back to work.

The Icon + request

The Icon:



Request:
Does anyone know where I can find a good model for an End-User License Agreement? You know, the text that apears before the installation, which we usually skip saying "I agree with the terms and conditions"...

(more) new screenshots

The game looks the same as the previous screenshots. No visual changes have been made since last version.



Still, pretty flowers, huh? :)

New screenshots

_

Comments, please?

Early game progression x backstory

Disclaimer: If you really want to learn in-depth, insightful thoughts on gameplay progression, you should read Lopez' article on Gamasutra, instead. Myself, I´m just reporting a (not so meaningful) case in which the game's backstory is changed due to early gameplay issues.

If you´ve seen the screenshot I´ve submitted weeks ago, you probably know the game I´m working on is about maintaining flowers. The initial plan (and backstory) was to give the player a completely empty terrain, so he could start his garden from scratch. That, I thought, would emphasize the player´s freedom.

However, given the game´s pace on early tests, we´re thinking of starting the game with a single specimen already planted. Reasons for that include (a) giving something the player can care about right from the beginning, not being subject to (b) a long period of time without any flowers around.

As result, the storyline would have to change from something like "start a garden from scratch and create the flora of..." to something like "save the last flower and recreate the flora of...". Personally, I think players would be more captivated by the second line.

Any thoughts?

Interface Retouch

Note the new 'stats' button (I won't tell you which one it is - I hope it's obvious enough).


I don't know what you think, but I guess it looks better than the previous version.

That was a good advice from Corvus. Thank you, again.

Maybe next week I'll have a new version for the music as well...

The blurb

If my upcoming game had a cover, this is more or less what would be written on it (formated as proposed by Chris Bateman):

Garden Game Project

Wind, Water and DNA.

Control the force of nature: keep your garden and customize flowers down to genetic level.

* Plant and nurture your garden.
* Design your own flowers from millions of possible DNA combinations.
* Export pictures of your creations.

Ages: 4+
Players: 1
Ease of Learning: Suitable for Beginner
Difficulty of Play: Easy-Medium
Play Time: 5 minutes (2 hours total)

I´m not sure about my Play Time accuracy, though. It could be completely different.

the soundtrack

Ok, we've discussed the visuals, so here is the music:



You might remember I was thinking of using only percussion. That's the whole track played only once (although it feels like a loop already).

Again, would you like to comment, please? Your help is being very, very useful (in fact, I did replace the stats icon, as suggested by Corvus. It's much better now).

The screenshot

Comments, please?

Screenshots - good idea?

I really would like to hear some opinions on the game demo visuals, but I'm not so sure I should do it. We're 1 1/2 months from finishing the demo.

PRO:
- It could generate some useful feedback (some of which I could use)
- I feel I need to ask if the visuals are up to par, regarding other casual titles around (specially the ones made with flash)

AGAINST:
- Revealing the game too soon(?)

What do you think? Should I post it?